June 2011
STEM EQUITY PIPELINE NEWS
State Facilitator Susie Wheeler Interviewed by Education News
Susie talked with report Michael Shaughnessy about promoting gender equity in science
and math. "Generally, when people ask what I do, I say, 'I'm a gender equity consultant.'
If their eyes glaze over, I try to explain in more detail..."
Read the Interview
Howard Glasser, former STEM Equity Pipeline Consultant, Published in International
Journal of Science, Gender, and Technology
Arguing Separate but Equal: A Study of Argumentation in Public Single-Sex Science
Classes in the United States investigates students' grades and the discursive
practice of argumentation in an all-boy and an all-girl science class taught by
the same teacher at a public co-educational middle school in the United States to
explore whether they learned the same science.
Learn More
ARTICLES
Pres. Obama Rolls out Engineer Training Program
Hayley Peterson, Washington Examiner
On June 13, 2011, President Obama rolled out a proposal to train 10,000 new engineers
annually through a privately funded program. "Today, with the leadership of the
jobs council, we're announcing an all-hands-on-deck strategy to train 10,000 new
American engineers every year," Obama said during a trip to North Carolina.
Read More
STEM Education Advocates Outline Ideas for Revising ESEA
Erik Robelen, Education Week
A broad-based coalition focused on improving STEM education is seeking to put its
imprint on legislation to revamp the main federal law for K-12 schools, including
with a call for science achievement to be considered alongside math and reading
as a "core element" of the statute's accountability system.
Read More
Women in Power: Susan Hockfield, MIT President, on Women in Science, Revolutionary
Technologies, Why U.S. Policies Must Change
Matthew Dakota, Huffington Post
MIT President Susan Hockfield discusses promoting STEM subjects to women, the MIT
Energy Initiative (MITEI) and related research efforts. Noting that MIT's student
population was nearly half female, Hockfield said that the core of our efforts to
make sure that places like MIT and the enterprises of science and engineering and
mathematics are open and welcoming to women and men and to people of all backgrounds.
Read More
Women Atop Their Fields Dissect the Scientific Life
Gina Kolata, New York Times
Four female scientists at the top of their fields talk about their lives as scientists,
the joys and struggles of research, and the specific challenges women in science
face.
Read More
Business Taking a Greater Interest In Education
James Hagerty, Wall Street Journal
Big U.S. employers, worried about replacing retiring baby boomers, are wading deeper
into education and growing bolder about telling educators how to run their business.
Several initiatives have focused on manufacturing and engineering, fields where
technical know-how and math and science skills are needed and where companies worry
about recruiting new talent.
Read More
NRC Calling for Science to Receive Equal Footing with Math, Reading
Nora Fleming, Education Week
The National Research Council released a report calling for science to be tested
as frequently and taught as rigorously as math and reading to ensure a high status
in the nation's classrooms. The report also urges policymakers to craft new assessments
for all the STEM subjects.
Read More
Worried About Jobs, College Women Go "Geek"
Ilana Greene, Christian Science Monitor
A rising share of computer science majors at top schools are women. High-tech jobs
offer stability in an uncertain economy.
Read More
Many STEM Teachers Don't Hold Certifications
Jason Koebler, Education Week
Roughly 30 percent of chemistry and physics teachers in public high schools did
not major in these fields and haven't earned a certificate to teach those subjects,
according to a new survey released Monday by the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES). Half of earth science teachers are similarly unqualified.
Read More
How Can Schools Interest More Students in Science Fields?
Ben Wolfgang, Washington Times
Educators and scientists nationwide are pondering how to increase students' interest
in science-related fields. To combat a societal focus on sports and entertainment,
some say hands-on learning, such as that needed to take part in a recent national
science competition, helps to better engage students.
Read More
Girls Get IT Camp Buoys Surfing, Science Skills
Annie Martin, Daytona Beach News Journal
As waves crash onto the sand, a dozen girls sit at a picnic table under a canopy
on the west side of State Road A1A in Flagler Beach. Despite temperatures deep in
the 90s and a smoky haze in the air, the girls were learning about how airplanes
and hot air balloons fly. Later that morning, they would be hitting the waves on
surfboards or paddleboards.
Read More
Girl Scouts' Prosthetic Hand Device to Get Patent
John Donvan, ABC News
If there was a way for trees to talk, then a big, old fir residing in Ames, Iowa,
would tell a magnificent story about six Girl Scouts who meet in its branches and
last year hatched a splendid idea. Today, the team of six who call themselves "The
Flying Monkeys" were in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Patent Office to be recognized
for their idea -- a prosthetic hand device that helped a 3-year-old to write.
Read More
RESOURCES
Microsoft DigiGirlz High Tech Camp for girls works to dispel
stereotypes of the high-tech industry.
The Siemens Competition
fosters intensive research that improves students' understanding of the value of
scientific study and informs their consideration of future careers in these disciplines.
The
National Science Teachers Association Angela award honors one female student
in grades 5-8 who is involved in or has a strong connection to science.
The NCWIT Scorecard
is a status report on women's participation in computing and information technology
at every segment of the pipeline.
In Public Agenda's Out Before the Game Begins, Hispanic leaders talk about
what's needed to bring more Hispanic youngsters into STEM professions.
SAVE THE DATE
K-12 STEM Education
Policy Conference, Washington, DC, July 12-13, 2011
Education Week Webinar: The STEM Teacher as Project Manager,
July 13, 2011, 2 pm Eastern
Franklin Institute and Free Library
of Philadelphia: LEAP into Science, Philadelphia, PA July 18-20, 2011
Education Week Webinar: Engaging Girls and Other Underrepresented
Populations in STEM, July 26, 2 pm EDT
League for Innovation in the
Community College: Second Annual STEMtech Conference, Indianapolis, IN,
October 2-5, 2011
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