May 2011
STEM EQUITY PIPELINE NEWS
News from Iowa
Iowa's STEM Education Roadmap, a strategic plan, is ready for use in focusing the
state's wealth of talents on an Iowa imperative for a STEM-literate citizenry and
globally competitive workforce. Many of the members of the Iowa state leadership
team served as collaborative writers on the Roadmap, and it embeds equity in the
strategies.
Learn More
News from New Hampshire: Sarah Frazier Leading the Way
(Katie Beth Ryan, Valley News Staff Writer)
When the time came to give her talk in front of 200 audience members at the NAPE
conference last month, Sarah Frazier was unfazed. Speaking on the topic of the role
of women in engineering, the Stevens High School senior approached the moment with
the same ease and confidence she's exhibited throughout the year as the only woman
in her engineering classes at both Stevens and the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical
Center. In class, she's not at all intimidated by the men. "They give me more competition,"
she said. Sarah, the first student to present in the 32-year history of the conference,
received a standing ovation.
Learn More
The National Girls Collaborative Project Program Directory
This directory lists more than 2,100 STEM programs serving more than 5 million girls,
with listings from every state. Programs list their needs and resources, and there
is a matching function that allows programs to find each other and collaborate.
We encourage you to register
your program and to identify your association with the STEM Equity Pipeline
Project.
ARTICLES
Creating the Next Generation of Black Physicists
(Marybeth Gasman, Chronicle of Higher Education)
According to the NSF, African-Americans earn only 1 percent of Ph.D.'s in physics.
The author recently attended a workshop focused on collaboration in the sciences
with the express purpose of increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities
in the STEM fields. One of the most successful partnerships highlighted was the
Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program. Currently, the Fisk-Vanderbilt
program leads the country in the production of black master's degrees in physics.
Learn More
Bridging American Indian Students' Scientific Achievement Gap
(Erica Gies, High County News)
This article profiles Michael Ceballos, a man of Tepehuan descent, who earned a
bachelor's in physics while holding down a day-job as a draftsman for Boeing, and
recently earned a Ph.D. in integrative microbiology and biochemistry. In 2007, he
founded the Native American Research Lab (NARL) at the University of Montana-Missoula
to mentor Native students working in the sciences, who often lag academically due
to socioeconomic disadvantages.
Read More
Obama: Top Teacher Helps Students "Discover the Scientist Within"
(David Jackson, USA TODAY)
President Obama praised National Teacher of the Year Michelle Shearer in a ceremony
in which he focused on her dedication to science education. The Maryland teacher
works with students who typically shy away from science, such as minorities or those
with disabilities, and helps them "discover the scientist within," Obama said.
Read More
New Study Sees Little Benefit for Staff Development in Math
(Erik Robelen, Education Week)
If a teacher gets intensive and well-designed professional development in a particular
subject like math, you might imagine the opportunity is bound to pay dividends in
the classroom. But don't bet on it, a new, federally funded study suggests. The
study on the cumulative impact of providing 7th grade math teachers with two years
of professional development failed to discern a measurable impact on either teacher
knowledge or student achievement.
Read More
How to Fix the STEM Deficit
(Arthur Levine, reproduced in Washington Post (Summary from ASCD))
The push to promote the teaching of STEM in schools is being hampered by a lack
of qualified STEM educators, says Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson
National Fellowship Foundation and former president of the Teachers College at Columbia
University. He advocates a new model for preparing and educating STEM teachers,
which includes fellowship programs already in place in some states that put STEM
professionals and recent graduates in hard-to-fill classroom positions.
Read More
Less Talk, More Action: Improving Science Learning
(Benedict Carey, New York Times (Summary by ASCD))
A recent study suggests science teaching could be improved by including more group
work and interaction rather than lectures. Researchers found improved physics scores
among college students who were taught under a collaborative teaching model, which
they said actively engages students and enables them to retain new information.
Read More
Persuading Girls to Count on Math
(Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune)
Barbie's much-ballyhooed decision last year to choose computer engineering as her
latest career was aided by the Society of Women Engineers and heralded as a key
step toward urging young girls to pursue careers in math and technology. But a recent
study from the University of Washington found that as early as second grade, American
children associate math as an endeavor for boys.
Read More
Researchers Probe Causes of Math Anxiety
(Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week)
Math problems make more than a few students-and even teachers-sweat, but new brain
research is providing insights into the earliest causes of the anxiety so often
associated with mathematics. Experts argue that "math anxiety" can bring about widespread,
intergenerational discomfort with the subject, which could lead to anything from
fewer students pursuing math and science careers to less public interest in financial
markets.
Read More
Green Tech: Finally, a Female-Friendly Engineering-Tech-Energy Field?
(Sonita Lontoh, Forbes)
Although it is still a male-dominated area, there is a lot of hope that unlike the
telecom, semiconductor or computer fields, cleantech can become a sector where women
become more engaged. While many clean technology leaders come from the male-dominated
oil and gas and utility industries, research suggests that women are more likely
to be drawn to cleantech because it serves a higher purpose of creating a sustainable
environment for this generation and beyond.
Read More
Bringing Them Back
(Inside Higher Ed)
Increasing the ranks of women faculty members in STEM disciplines has become an
area of intense focus for academe in recent years, and attempts to boost these numbers
have focused on everything from probing the barriers at individual institutions
to encouraging more girls, while they are still in school, to consider careers in
these fields. The organizers of the On-Ramps into Academia workshop have taken a
different approach: encouraging and coaching talented and accomplished women to
leave their positions in private industry and return to campus.
Read More
Children of Recent Immigrants Lead America's Scientific Competitions
(Lisa M. Krieger, San Jose Mercury News)
Quantifying what has long been obvious in Silicon Valley, a new analysis shows the
majority of America's top high school science competitors are the children of new
immigrants. The report by the National Foundation for American Policy, found that
about two-thirds of the finalists at the Intel Science Talent Search were born to
parents who hailed from either China or India.
Read More
RESOURCES
How Can Unbiased Software Facilitate Girls' Interest in IT?
A Checklist for Evaluating Software
CSCP Archived Webcast: The Power of Collaboration: Providing High-Quality Computer Science
Opportunities to K-12 Youth
STEMposium Winners: Five Outstanding STEM Projects
Media and Informal Science
Learning is an NSF-funded website that features the best practices in innovative,
media-based science education programs and concepts.
Purvi Mody, co-owner of Insight Education, offers advice for students pursuing an engineering degree.
IWITTS has introduced a new series of Unlimited Potential posters, highlighting career options
for women in trades, technology and science.
SAVE THE DATE
AAUW National Convention:
Breaking through Barriers--Advocating for Change, Washington, DC, June 16-19, 2011
NGCP Webcast:
The Society of Women Engineers and 4-H: Resources and Partnerships to Enhance Girl-Focused
STEM Programming, June 16, 2011, 11:00 AM Pacific
Advancing Girls in
STEM: An NCGS Symposium: Wellesley, MA, June 21, 2011
CSCP Webcast: Collaboration
Projects Engaging Youth with Disabilities in Computer Science, June 23,
2011, 10:00 Pacific
ASEE
8th Annual K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education: Collaboration Can Improve
Engineering Education, British Columbia, Canada, June 25, 2011
K-12 STEM Education
Policy Conference, Washington, DC, July 12-13, 2011
Franklin Institute and Free Library
of Philadelphia: LEAP into Science, Philadelphia, PA July 18-20, 2011
League for Innovation in the
Community College: Second Annual STEMtech Conference, Indianapolis, IN,
October 2-5, 2011
DISCLAIMER
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published in the NAPE Update are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of NAPE. Furthermore, inclusion of a product, program, or practice in
the NAPE Update does not imply its endorsement by NAPE.
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