Blogs
The 21st Century Supply List
Submitted by Change the Equation on Wed, 2012-08-01 13:16
Before you go out and buy your child's homeroom teacher that 24-pack of Kleenex and 10 reams of paper for the first day, double check: Those longtime staples might not be what they'll actually need for a successful year.
A recent survey (check out the infographic) by PBSLearningMedia found that many teachers, hoping to better engage their digitally-reared students -- for whom the iPod has always been on the market and who likely have a cell phone by the second grade -- would love
In Defense of Algebra
Submitted by Change the Equation on Mon, 2012-07-30 10:54
Just because most babies cry when receiving disease-preventing vaccinations doesn’t mean that pediatricians and parents should halt the practice. Reasonable people realize that that the benefit outweighs the cost. Andrew Hacker’s article in the New York Times, “Is Algebra Necessary?” starts from the questionable premise that since many students do poorly in algebra, they should not be subjected to learning it.
Success in algebra matters. The question we should be asking is what algebra should be taught. If it is merely computation with variables—first with whole numbers, then with fractions, then with decimals—we can justly question its usefulness in this age of technology. But algebra
We're Not the Only Ones
Submitted by Change the Equation on Thu, 2012-07-26 17:07
Even with our concerns about the global economy, it's sometimes easy to forget that other countries are concerned about their STEM performance as well. Despite the Olympic fervor across the pond, Britain's Parliament this week released a report finding that the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, responsible for ensuring that British university students are held to and reach high standards, has not properly prepared graduates for the economic market.
According to the Times of London, the report, released by the House of Lords, charges that the QAA has not set a high enough bar for graduation, leaving students underprepared
Sally Ride, 1951-2012
Submitted by claus on Tue, 2012-07-24 09:34A Little Parent Intervention Goes a Long Way, Study Finds
Submitted by Change the Equation on Sun, 2012-07-22 14:23
We often focus on maximizing class time to get students to engage with math and science, but it's important to remember that learning also begins at home, and that parents matter in education. Involving parents -- even a little -- can go a long way.
A recent study in Psychological Science, in fact, showed that when schools underscore the importance of STEM to parents, their children were more likely to enroll, and stay enrolled, in STEM courses.
It's long been understood
A Corps of STEM Master Teachers
Submitted by Change the Equation on Wed, 2012-07-18 13:39Today President Barack Obama announced the immediate creation of new national corps of leading math and science educators to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math
Math Anxiety Might be Cause of Gender Gap
Submitted by Change the Equation on Mon, 2012-07-16 09:00
That twinge of trepidation is something familiar to many who’ve taken math tests over the years. But a new study out of England shows that not all math anxiety is created equal: Female students often feel math-related stress more acutely than male students, possibly hurting their scores.
We’ve written extensively lately on the relative achievement of female and male students, especially to mark the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which was just last month. While achievement gaps such as those between rural and suburban students and white students and students of color often have socioeconomic roots, the performance differences between genders is a more intrinsic. Possible causes include
'Lost Opportunity' sparks discussion on improving STEM out-of-school opportunities
Submitted by Change the Equation on Mon, 2012-07-16 05:12
Late last week, Change the Equation released 'Lost Opportunity,' the third brief in our Vital Signs series, focusing on out-of-school STEM opportunities for students in America. Through surveys conducted by Nielsen, an information and measurement firm, we ascertained that only 19 percent of households report that their children participate in out-of-school STEM programming. This new insight provided the foundation for a conversation on how to improve the quality and accessibility of STEM after school programming during our latest STEM Salon, held July 12, 2012.
After an overview of the findings by CTEq Director of Research Claus von Zastrow and reflection and analysis from Jen Rinehart of the Afterschool Alliance and Martin Storksdieck of the National Research Council, conversation quickly pivoted to what businesses, organizations, and individuals can do moving forward.
While the statistics are sobering,
The Post Takes a Swipe at STEM Education--and Misses
Submitted by Change the Equation on Wed, 2012-07-11 07:15An article in Sunday’s Washington Post takes a swipe at the recent focus on science education, but it misses. Here's the most jarring passage: “[President] Obama has made science education a priority, launching a White House science fair to get young people interested in the field,” the article reads. “But it’s questionable whether those youths will be able to find work when they get a PhD.”
What? Who said those youths were destined to get PhD’s in science or anything else? A passion for, and strong grasp of, science is important for more than just the doctoral class. What's more, the article conflates science with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), strongly implying that the broader focus on (STEM) is setting kids up for failure simply because jobs for science PhD's in some fields have become scarce. The “Science Fair” it cites, like so many others, was actually more of a STEM fair. It featured canons, robots, and a host of other projects that point students in all kinds of directions other than a science PhD.
The article does make a teensy concession to STEM: “Although jobs in some high tech areas, especially computer and petroleum engineering, seem to be booming, the market is much tighter or lab-bound scientists.” “Some high tech areas?” Nine of the ten highest-paying bachelor’s degrees are in engineering. High skills in math and technology are
Gain the Skills, Get the Jobs
Submitted by Change the Equation on Tue, 2012-07-10 14:34
It’s not your grandfather’s economy anymore.
In today’s job market, few opportunities are exempt from needing STEM skills. But, as NPR details, some industries that are slowly gaining workers, like the manufacturing industry, are finding that prospective employees often lack the basic math skills they need as the nature of the industry shifts. Workers need to know how to work with decimals, fractions, and compute basic trig to operate technically precise machinery. So despite high unemployment, companies are saying they don’t have enough skilled workers. And as we showed, this is not an isolated phenomenon.
To fill this need, several community colleges and nonprofits, especially in the Midwest –whose manufacturing base was hit hard by the recession – are stepping up
