Wikipedia Year of Science
The Wikipedia Year of Science 2016 is an initiative to improve Wikipedia’s potential for communicating science to the public. The Wiki Education Foundation seeks to improve Wikipedia articles in the sciences by challenging science faculty and instructors, graduate and undergraduate students, and librarians to help improve Wikipedia’s science coverage for millions of readers. Read more
2016 National Education Technology Plan
The fifth National Education Technology Plan was released by the U.S. Department of Education in December 2015. The new plan represents a call to action, a vision for learning enabled through technology and a collection of recommendation and real-world examples for teachers, policymakers, and administrators. The new plan offers best practices for how technology should be used in schools focusing on five key areas: learning, teaching, leadership, assessment, and infrastructure. National Education Technology Plan 2016
Securing Our Future: Closing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap
Raytheon and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) commissioned Securing Our Future: Closing the Cyber Talent Gap, a survey to understand the career interests and educational preparedness of millennials (ages 18 to 26) in 12 countries around the world. Results from the October 2015 survey indicate that millennials aren’t acutely aware of cybersecurity job opportunities but they are generally interested. Schools are also not preparing young adults for these jobs, and there is a gap within the gap, with females less interested and informed about careers in cybersecurity than their male counterparts. Read more.
Revisiting the STEM Workforce
The National Science Board’s Revisiting the STEM Workforce is a companion policy report to the Science and Engineering Indicators 2014. The report provides a data-driven overview of the U.S. workforce and offers key insights that are aimed at helping government, education, and business leaders make more informed decisions about how to maintain a strong, STEM workforce. Primary insights include: The “STEM workforce” is extensive and critical to innovation and competitiveness. It is also defined in various ways and is made up of many sub-workforces. STEM knowledge and skills enable multiple, dynamic pathways to STEM and non-STEM occupations alike. Assessing, enabling,…
Solving the Education Equation
The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) and the Johns Hopkins School of Education released a report calling for a national commitment to “rebalancing the education equation to create the equitable learning environments necessary to improve STEM literacy and competency “ in today’s diverse society. The report, Solving the Education Equation: A New Model for Improving STEM Workforce Outcomes Through Academic Equity provides six recommendations needed to address the culturally based explicit and implicit biases that exist in education, particularly in STEM. Read more.
Bayer Facts of Science Education XVII
Conducted annually since 1995, the Bayer Facts of Science Education survey series gauges the public’s opinion on the state of science education in the United States, support for reform, and the recognition of the roles that science and science literacy play in everyday life. The surveys have polled a number of different audiences, including the nation’s Ph.D. scientists and science teachers; corporate CEOs of STEM companies and other business leaders; and deans of colleges and universities, as well as parents and the general public. The 2015 survey represents the 17th survey Bayer has commissioned during those 20 years. To celebrate…
In Japan, the Rise of the Machines Solves Labor and Productivity
Photo caption: An automated lift moves an elderly at a private nursing home in Chiba Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg The rise of the machines in the workplace has U.S. and European experts predicting massive unemployment and tumbling wages. Not in Japan, where robots are welcomed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government. His government launched a five-year push to deepen the use of intelligent machines in manufacturing, supply chains, construction and health care, while expanding the robotics markets from 660 billion yen ($5.5 billion) to 2.4 trillion yen by 2020. Read more.
A Sharing Economy Where Teachers Win
Teachers often spend hours preparing classroom lesson plans to reinforce the material students are required to learn, and many share their best materials with colleagues. Founded in 2006, TeachersPayTeachers speeds up this lesson-plan prep work by monetizing exchanges between teachers and enabling them to make faster connections with farther-flung colleagues. As some on the site develop sizable and devoted audiences, TeachersPayTeachers.com is fostering the growth of a hybrid profession: teacher-entrepreneur. Read more.
A Look at What the Public Knows and Does Not Know About Science
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that most Americans can answer basic questions about several scientific terms and concepts, such as the layers of the Earth and the elements needed to make nuclear energy. But other science-related terms and applications, such as what property of a sound wave determines loudness and the effect of higher altitudes on cooking time, are not as well understood. Read more.
Building a STEM Workforce
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee spent the summer engaging with scientific stakeholders to inform possible reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act, or legislation authorizing the National Science Foundation (NSF). In July, the Committee put out a request for input on the topic of “Maximizing the Impact of Basic Research.” COSSA submitted detailed comments to the Committee on August 14. The Committee is now seeking input on the topic of “Building a STEM Workforce.” Interested parties are invited to comment. Read more