ASTE- Alaska Society for Technology in Education

09/03/2026

NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge is expected to open in September. Teams of four or more students in grades 6-12 write a three-page proposal for an experiment they want to fly. Sixty winning teams nationwide each receive $1,500 to build it, a flight box with a microcontroller kit, weekly mentorship from NASA advisors, and a spot on a high-altitude balloon flight at roughly 70,000 feet. Entry is free, no travel is required, and students do not need prior electronics or coding experience. Winning teams build from January to May.

Q&A webinar: Wednesday, September 9, 4:00 PM. Register here: https://education-alaska-gov.zoom.us/meeting/register/OlST4iIJStm1Eg3wqgggpA #/registration

This fits a regular class, a school club, a gifted and talented program, or a correspondence program with a supporting teacher. Entries are judged within each state, and NASA anticipates at least one winner per state when enough eligible entries come in. Alaska has not had a winning team in any of the five cycles so far.

09/03/2026

We hope everyone is enjoying the start of a new school year. We understand life gets busy, but we know you have something amazing to share with other educators!

Deadline to submit is September 30th. Presenters receive a discount on registration.

Need help generating ideas? Check out our AI planning parters: aste.org/ai-planning-partners

Submit 👉🏼 aste.org/conference

08/25/2026

STEM For Change Comes to ASTE via iDidaContest Category "iDidaImpact!”

Check out all the information at aste.org/ididaimpact 👈🏼

🖊️ Sign up your classroom here by September 1st! 🙌🏽

Program begins on September 14th.
Follow STEM For Change Instagram to see the program in action!

Alaska students don't have to wait to change the world.

08/18/2026

Why are we so excited to bring STEM For Change to ?

Because we know our students will learn skills that they will use throughout their lives!

Listen to STEM For Change Creator, Yaritiza Villalba, explain Creative Pitch Day!

Interested? Fill out form in the comments!

08/18/2026

Check out our August Newsletter:

📢ASTE 2027 Call For Proposals OPEN

08/14/2026

Share with the educators in your life!

Submit 👉🏼 ASTE.org/conference 🙌🏽

08/12/2026

Alaska's first statewide student game jam starts September 1. Sign up by August 28.

Students in grades 6 to 12 spend September building a video game. In October, those games get showcased at the Alaska Game Dev Expo in Anchorage, where people who actually make games will play them.

Can't start that first week? Fine. All the resources and checkpoints stay up all month. Jump in when you can.

We're working mostly in MakeCode Arcade, which runs in a browser, works on a Chromebook, and needs no student accounts. Already building in Roblox, Minecraft, Unity, Unreal, or Godot? Bring it.

Open to classrooms, individual students with an adult point of contact, homeschool families, charter schools, and anyone else working with young people who have a computer and an internet connection.

And after the expo, students can enter their game in ASTE's iDidaContest for actual cash prizes, statewide recognition, andthe possibility of world domination*.

Sign up by August 28: https://www.aste.org/2026-alaska-student-game-jam/

*We can only personally guarantee the cash prizes.

08/12/2026

Melody is having a great time at Anchorage School District’s New Teacher Symposium at Clark Middle School!

If you are there, stop by & sign up for the ASTE Newsletter & enter a chance to win Full ASTE 2027 Registration!

Thank you, ASD!

08/11/2026

Bring STEM For Change to your High School classroom!
https://forms.gle/eUc4R7E1PUoEKnRt9

We’re excited to launch iDidaImpact, a new category within the ASTE iDidaContest designed to amplify student voice, innovation, and real-world problem solving across Alaska. Led, supported, and facilitated by McKenzie’s Adventures, this opportunity invites high school classes statewide to take p...