In an effort to help their students attain the kind of stellar math scores regularly achieved by Singapore students, some U.S. schools are adapting the Asian city-state’s mathematics teaching model.

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Tags: International K-12 Education, Math teachers, Mathematics, Research on Learning

A National Academy of Engineering report says it’s not time to introduce a new set of K-12 engineering education standards. Given the importance of national technological development, however, engineering learning should be incorporated into existing subjects.

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Tags: Education Policy, National Academy of Engineering, Public Policy, Publication, Research on Learning, STEM education

Lincoln Unified school district in Stockton, California, is betting that the newly-opened Jeff Wright Engineering and Construction Academy will be well worth its $8.5 million investment. Some 500 students will study topics ranging from carpentry to computerized drafting to mechanical engineering.

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Tags: Education Policy, Mechanical engineering, Public Policy, Technology Education, Vocational Education

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) wants to tap into the collective brain power of super-smart high school geeks. The Pentagon agency is spending $10 million on a project that would have teen braniacs using Web 2.0 social-networking skills to speed up and improve defense manufacturing technologies.

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Tags: Computer Engineering, Computer Programming, Computer Science, DARPA, Grades 9-12, Programs for Students, Social-networking

Amir Abo-Shaeer, a Goleta, California physics and engineering teacher at Dos Pueblos High School, last week got more than just a bit of spotlight — he was one of the 23 MacArthur Fellows of 2010. The MacArthur Foundation annually gives out so-called Genius Awards — a no-strings grant of $500,000 each — to folks who excel in their professions.

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Tags: Minority Group Teachers, Teacher Awards, Teachers

A Northern California program underwritten by an $11.96 million National Science Foundation grant is going to make masses of public domain scientific data readily available to middle schools. Students will be able to track hurricanes, weather patterns, and even earthquakes as they happen.

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Tags: Grant Opportunities, NASA, National Laboratories, National Science Foundation, NOAA, U.S. Department of Energy

The eleven states and the District of Columbia, which won the Race to the Top competition, will divvy up a prize of $4 billion in federal education grants. But the ultimate winner may be STEM education. All the winning states have plans to bolster STEM subjects and to fully integrate them into their future K-12 education reforms.

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Tags: Education Policy, School Budgets, STEM education, STEM subjects

Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, now tackles another big issue: poor education. America spends more than any other developed country on education, but its students attain bottom-bumping test scores. In Guggenheim’s new film, Waiting for “Superman,” the villains are America’s two largest teachers unions.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy

Many education experts decry the length of America’s school year, saying it’s too skimpy and a century out of date. Now, President Obama has stepped into the fray, insisting the school year should be lengthened, and that teachers who perform badly should be fired.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy