Here's a mystery for you to solve. It has been baffling people since it was first mentioned by the then-chair of the Metro Tech Centers, David Kreher, in 2003. One day after his retirement, Kreher said that he had decided that he wanted to build a mystery into the annual competition for individuals and teams who built innovative technologies at Metro Tech Centers across the nation. For years now, this winning team has remained a secret from all but those who have created it and won it.
The mystery, according to Kreher, is this: In order for the team to win the prize and be eligible for certain funding from private grants associated with the competition, the team must be able to prove that it is not alone in its creation. That there are other teams or individuals who have created similar technologies. This way, it is fair for everyone involved. Finding others who have created comparable technologies has so far been impossible.
What are "Metro Tech Centers"?
Metro Tech Centers are a national program of the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement in the Sciences. Each year, they select 20 local high school science teachers to build and test one or two innovative technologies built to test some aspect of elementary and middle school science education. The Metro Tech Center program is supported by grants from Microsoft Research, NSF, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Gates Foundation, and others.
How big is the prize?
Representatives from Carnegie have not yet said exactly how much teams would receive if they solve the mystery. However, considering that similar projects in the past were awarded over $20,000 in grant money from private sources and that other awards have been as high as $35,000 and included job offers for team members at major tech companies, it would be reasonable to assume that the prize will be substantial.
Has anyone won this mystery yet?
Nobody has claimed it yet. For years, there have been rumors about teams who are working on solving this mystery. There were also rumors about people who were within a year of being eligible to win the prize but did not. No one had any idea what it was all about, but there were those who said that they would possibly take the prize because they believed that they had solved the mystery, and knew the answers to this riddle that Kreher had presented them with at the time he retired. They have yet to open their cards and find out if they are correct.
What is this "Metro Tech Center"?
This is not just a science fair program or local educational program or a teacher training or education initiative. It's all of these things at once. As it was explained to me, it's "a national science and technology education program that brings together local high school teachers and their students with researchers, engineers, and scientists who are experts in their fields."
What is it?
The Metro Tech Center is a way for qualified people to experiment with building something new in the sciences. These experiments are built as tests of how effective different kinds of technologies are in helping students learn difficult ideas and procedures better than they do now. The Center also selects 20 teachers who, along with their students, hope to solve some of the most difficult problems still facing science education today.
Who can participate?
Any qualified high school teacher from any part of the United States. To qualify, these teachers must first apply to be a part of the science education program. This program has two parts to it. First, it selects a handful of teams that will be given the opportunity to compete for a piece of the annual prize pool. Second, it selects teachers who will get the chance for one week in an intensive training session where they learn about robotics and how to build their entry into the national competition.
Conclusion
So there you have it. If you feel that you are up to solving one of the great mysteries of the 21st century, it may be time for you to build your project and submit it to Metro Tech Centers, who say that they will make all decisions about how their program is run. Whether anyone chooses to join this mystery or not is unknown at this point. However, if your goal is to solve some science education problems for today's children and tomorrow's adults, then please look for one of the 20 teams participating in the upcoming competition and try your luck with them. Because as Kreher said in his last remarks as chair of Metro Tech Centers: "It's a very interesting problem.
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