STEM
Partnership for LA Schools & DIRECTV Announce a $200K Investment in ST Math
The Partnership for L.A. Schools is celebrating Digital Learning Day with the largest blended learning initiative at scale among urban public school districts nationwide. Ritter Elementary plans to announce a $200,000 continued investment in MIND Research Institute's ST Math in partnership with DIRECTV.
Let’s Give Girls a Chance to Succeed in STEM
There is a digital divide threatening the future of girls in this country. Three of the top ten “Best Jobs of 2013” are in the computing field, according to U.S. News and World Report, yet women make up just 25% of the labor force in science, technology, engineering and math-based (STEM) jobs. With all projections pointing to STEM-sector jobs continuing to grow at a higher-than-average rate, today’s young women cannot occupy just the fringes of the field.
Q&A: Jenn Karson of Vermont Makers
SparkFun’s Department of Education engages in educational outreach all over the country, and we’re always impressed and excited when we run into people and organizations as enthusiastic about electronics as we are. Over the past few years we’ve met a lot of people involved in the maker movement on the east coast, and Vermont continues to stand out as a state invested in furthering STEAM and electronics education in new ways. (In fact, Vermont’s Department of Education recently instituted a grant structure that will give SparkFun Inventor Kits to Career and Technical Education Centers around the state to provide preliminary Arduino training for FIRST Robotics teams!)
MSOE: An Example of Education for Employability
The Milwaukee School of Engineering experience is a pretty good example of “rigor, relevance, and relationships” (as my friends from Big Picture would say). Their commitment to employability is as strong as any campus that I’ve visited. It’s a place that seems to be asking the right questions about what’s next. Unemployment rates would be lower and economic growth rates would be higher if every city had an urban jobs engine like MSOE.
Next Generation Science Standards: A Guide to the 2nd Draft
The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now available for public comment at http://www.nextgenscience.org/. This final public draft will be available online for everyone to review and provide feedback until January 29. Following this comment period, Achieve and the lead state partners will continue revising the draft, and expect to release the final standards for states to consider adopting in March.
Desmos Unveils Tables of Data for Greater Math Understanding
Desmos unveils a sweeping new set of changes to its online graphing calculator to meet the requests and needs of its thousands of users over the last year. Today, Desmos introduces Tables of Data, which will improve students' abilities to organize data at the heart of statistic.
LEGO Launches Next Generation LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Platform for STEM Learning
LEGO® Education announced today the launch of LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 platform, a next generation platform for the 15-year robotics technology that will help students build a robot in a 45-minute class.
The Virtues of Daydreaming & 30 Other Surprising (& Controversial) Research Findings About How Students Learn
Have you checked your assumptions about student learning at the door? People in general, hold onto beliefs that are shaped by early experiences, the media, and faulty influences. The following list is a compilation of research that may surprise you. Video games, e-books, playtime, and music are all a part of an educator’s repertoire. Read on, and be prepared to put your traditional beliefs aside as science points to innovative methods that indicate future success.
Seattle School Breaks Down Language Barrier to Improve Math Proficiency
Personalizing and engaging students in math is an ongoing challenge in schools across the country. In Washington State, where countless organizations are working diligently to improve access to quality math learning for students’ futures, some schools are implementing a blended learning math program that draws upon game-based learning to increase math proficiency.
Big History: An Organizing Principle for a Compelling Class, Block or School
After Bill Gates saw a series of lectures by David Christian on big history Gates said, "He really blew me away. Here's a guy who's read across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences and brought it together in a single framework. It made me wish that I could have taken big history when I was young, because it would have given me a way to think about all of the school work and reading that followed. In particular, it really put the sciences in an interesting historical context and explained how they apply to a lot of contemporary concerns."