Please add articles in chronological order, so that the newest articles are first
What the 'Nation's Report Card' Means for Science Education (published in THE Journal online newsletter, Jan. 21, 2010)
The latest science results from the "Nation's Report Card" have set a new baseline for student science achievement in the United States, and that baseline is low--"unacceptable," according to Francis Eberle, executive director for the National Science Teacher's Association. THE Journal discussed the latest national assessment results with Eberle, whose organization today issued a call to bolster resources for science education to avoid producing a "scientifically illiterate workforce."
http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=6896001:9951306
With the generous support of Learning.com, we’ve compiled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant resources from around the web, to help you and your staff best answer this challenge in your own schools. As the workplace changes and becomes increasingly global, today’s students must be educated with a 21st-century mindset. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills are no longer just “good skills” to have; they are increasingly vital to a 21st-century education—and students should begin cultivating these skills as early as possible.
Attracting students to the STEM disciplines is the first hurdle, and retaining student interest in these areas is the second. But once student interest in STEM-related fields is established, they will discover they are on a successful path not just for higher education, but for the workforce as well.
A design and manufacturing competition open to high school students, in which they build a race car while learning STEM skills
Edutopia's summary of this amazing undersea exploration project where the students join in the research! JASON no longer does an annual satellite broadcast, but both of the newly designed curriculum units have won a number of awards, including the Software and Information Industry Association's 2008 CODiE Award for Best Online Instructional Solution for the free online curriculum Operation: Monster Storms.
brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. We celebrate your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your own will. Published as a quarterly since February 2005, MAKE is a hybrid magazine/book (known as a mook in Japan). MAKE comes from O'Reilly, the Publisher of Record for geeks and tech enthusiasts everywhere. It follows in line with the Hacks books and Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks, but it takes a highly visual and personal approach.
Discussion of math as an art and what public education had done to it to make it not so anymore. "A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. This is why it is so heartbreaking to see what is being done to mathematics in school...In place of...simple and natural question[s} about shapes, and a creative and rewarding process of invention and discovery, students are treated to this: 'The area of a triangle is equal to one-half its base times its height.' Students are asked to memorize...formula[s] and then 'apply' [them] over and over in the 'exercises.' Gone is the thrill, the joy, even the pain and frustration of the creative act. There is not even a problem anymore. The question has been asked and answered at the same time— there is nothing left for the student to do...By removing the creative process and leaving only the results of that process, you virtually guarantee that no one will have any real engagement with the subject. It is like saying that Michelangelo created a beautiful sculpture, without letting me see it. How am I supposed to be inspired by that?"
Acclaimed oceanographer Robert Ballard, founder of the JASON Project, wants to make some waves in science education.
PBS TeacherLine and INSPIRE at Purdue University develop online course to support
integration of engineering into elementary curricula and improve STEM learning
An annual challenge calling for innovative classroom ideas. Their gallery is full of great ideas, categorized by grade level. You can vote on your favorites or just use the teachers' ideas as a springboard for your own projects.
Rising Above the Gathering Storm Two Years Later: Accelerating Progress Toward a Brighter Economic Future summarizes a convocation held in April 2008 to commemorate the release of the original Gathering Storm report. The convocation featured participation by Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, leaders from industry and academia, and other experts. The discussions reviewed progress made thus far in implementing the Gathering Storm recommendations to strengthen K-12 education in math and science, research, higher education, and the environment for innovation. Participants also noted that much additional work is needed to ensure that America remains a leader in science and engineering in the long term.
An EdWeek.org article about "a selective, specialized high school in Baltimore [that] uses an interdisciplinary approach that enables students to experience STEM as a way of life."
ASQ, American Society for Quality, recently teamed with Harris Interactive to seek the views of kids grade 3-12 on science in schools. Harris polled 1,134 U.S. youth on behalf of ASQ December 16-28, 2009. The career-related questions were only asked of 7-12th graders.
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