With three months off in the summer, American students suffer a learning loss — and that’s particularly true of low-income students, who have few options for productive activities. With all U.S. students losing out to their international peers, engaging and fun summer programs may be the answer.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Research on Learning

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in a contest to show the best school reform plans. Winners – there could be 10 to 15 – will share up to $3.4 billion.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy

The world’s number two professional golfer Phil Mickelson says that some of his success on the links comes from a firm grasp of math and science — he can calculate the odds of sinking a putt from how many feet away the ball is from the hole, for example. Today, the Mickelson ExxonMobile Teacher Academy in Jersey City, N.J. is helping third, fourth, and fifth grade science teachers hone their math and science teaching skills.

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Tags: Math, Mathematics, Outreach, Outreach for Schools, Science, Sports

President Barack Obama recently announced the names of 103 science and math teachers selected as this year’s recipients of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Each teacher will pocket a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. Obama noted that the scientists and engineers who have helped to make America great all shared one thing: “science and math teachers who brought these critical subjects to life.”

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Tags: Math teachers, Science Teachers, Teacher Awards

A new Harvard study finds that students who had strong teachers when they started school reaped benefits later on. More went on to college, and they earned more than their peers whose kindergarten teachers were mediocre. The study followed a cohort of 12,000 Tennessee students from the 1980s who are now around 30.

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Tags: Grades Pre K-2, Research on Learning, Teachers

Summer camp isn’t always about crafts, swimming, and mosquito bites anymore. In Warner Robins, Ga., the STARBASE Robins Engineering Academy allows middle school students to gain familiarity with basic engineering principles and hands-on prototyping on a 3D printer. No 2011 information provided.

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Tags: Museums, Outreach, Robotics, Summer Camps & Programs (Students), Summer Programs (Students)

A committee of science, engineering, and education experts has completed the first of a two-step process to produce a framework for new science education standards. The final framework will serve as a guide to develop the next generation of science standards, highlighting the core science and engineering, technology, and cross-cutting concepts that all students need to understand.

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Tags: Education Policy, Publication

Thanks to a $7 million government grant, Carnegie Mellon University’s Fostering Innovation through Robotics Exploration (FIRE) program is giving kids hands-on experience with robots. The researchers hope to combat a national decline in the number of college students majoring in science, engineering, and math.

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Tags: Building robots, Career Planning, Programs for Students, Robotics, STEM subjects, University outreach

Middle School students in McLean, VA, took up a challenge to take a snapshot of the Earth’s curvature without spending more than $200. They pulled it off, using a cooler, camera, weather balloon, GPS cellphone — and all their math ability.

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Tags: Math, Mathematics, Technology, Technology for Learning