Connecting TAME Club activities and STEM Competitions with a shared focus on an urgent, real-world engineering challenge 

At TAME, we’re excited to welcome back our students and volunteers to a year of learning focused on the essential role that engineers play in helping the world access clean water. In 2022-23, TAME will focus all our programs, including Clubs and STEM Competitions, on the theme of clean water for all.  

 

We’re calling it the Dive Deep into Water Challenge. 

 

One of the United Nations’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, clean water and sanitation is also among the Grand Engineering Challenges of the 21st century. Tomorrow’s engineers will be increasingly faced with water access and quality challenges for business, humanitarian, and environmental needs. That’s why it’s so important for TAME students to learn about the world’s water challenges, where our water supplies come from, and the emerging technologies for water purification.  

That is precisely what TAME’s Dive Deep Water Purification Challenge is designed to do.  

 

Curriculum and Toolkit Focused on Water Purification 

Because engineers play a central and growing role in innovating solutions to the world’s water challenges, TAME is introducing a shared curriculum in 2022-23 focused on water purification.  

TAME is working with our partner Make Water, a nonprofit focused on STEM education and water innovation, to provide each registered and eligible TAME Club with a toolkit and curriculum. TAME is also working with the digital curriculum designer Blooming with Birdie to create two multimedia engineering curriculum extensions.  

The Dive Deep Water Purification Challenge curriculum and toolkit will provide everything Club Sponsors need to deliver an engaging learning program focused on water. The shared focus on water will help ensure that all TAME students have high-quality and consistent learning experiences in our Clubs and STEM Competitions. In spring 2023, STEM Competitions will focus on a water purification engineering challenge, allowing students to draw on what they learned throughout the year.  

Click here for 2022-23 TAME Club registration and information.  

Because the shared curriculum is new this year, TAME Clubs have the option of using it or leading their own STEM learning activities. We encourage TAME Clubs to use the water purification and toolkit so TAME can adapt and improve our approach in future years.  

 

Aligning Club Learning with STEM Competitions

The new curriculum and toolkit that is part of TAME’s new Dive Deep into Water Challenge will help level the playing field at STEM Competitions by allowing students of all ages to compete from the same base of knowledge.  

With every student focused on the same engineering challenge preparation, TAME Club learning and STEM Competitions will be more meaningful learning experiences for all students.   

This school year, Chapter STEM Competitions will take place in February and March. TAME has made the difficult decision to pause the State STEM Competition in 2023 while we assess the pandemic conditions and prioritize the safety of all our students, Club Sponsors, and volunteers.  

 

Narrowing Focus to Deepen Impact 

For more than 45 years, TAME has worked to inspire and prepare the next generation of diverse engineers and STEM professionals. TAME Chapters and Clubs across the state have delivered a wide array of engaging STEM learning opportunities that had a transformational impact on countless Texas students. 

Until now, TAME has operated with a program model that relies on the Club Sponsors and partners to direct the theme and focus of STEM education activities in Clubs and at STEM Competitions. Previously, the engineering design challenge at the annual STEM Competitions was not necessarily aligned with what students learned about in their Clubs. This year, the STEM Competitions will offer a culminating challenge that will align with what students have been studying all year. 

By focusing all program activities on water purification – an urgent, real-world engineering challenge – the TAME STEM Competition experiences will be more welcoming to all students. 

The new shared curriculum will ensure TAME Clubs and Competitions deliver a consistent, aligned and high-quality learning experience for all students.  

Thank you for believing in TAME’s mission and in the incredible potential of the students we serve. We’re immensely grateful for the support of our Club Sponsors, Chapter Leaders, and partners.  

Here’s to a wonderful school year!