House Republicans Offer Bill
Posted on May 15th, 2011 by Mary Lord
House Republicans made their opening bid to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act, introducing the first of what are expected to be as many as five bills seeking to change specific parts of federal education law and eliminate “wasteful” education programs. A bipartisan group of Senators is seeking broader changes, however.
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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy
Ever since Virginia inventor Cyrus McCormick perfected the mechanical reaper in the 1830s, engineers have sought ways to grow more food using fewer people. Now, they’re close to taking Old MacDonald off the farm altogether. Meet the agribot, already in use harvesting hard-to-pick edibles.
How much does your state spend on STEM education? What are the job prospects for science and engineering majors? The National Science Board’s new Web-based tool helps teachers, students, parents, and guidance counselors answer these questions and more. 
If your students want to become engineers, encourage them to explore an array of scholarships offered by colleges and universities, non-profit organizations and foundations, honor societies, companies, and government. They can also compete for prizes. But, caution them that the search can get complicated.
Mike Town has worked in steel factories and forests, tricked out a “green” house, persuaded legislators to save the wilderness, and started a student-run “Cool Schools” energy audit, saving his district $30,000 a year. Now, the Redmond, Wash., teacher is turning an environmentalist’s eye toward federal STEM education policy.
For more than 40 years, Earth Day — April 22 — has been inspiring individuals and communities to protect the planet. For 2011, Earth Day Network, the world’s largest environmental advocacy group, hopes to mobilize 1 billion “Acts of Green.”
What’s not to love about robots? They explore space, conduct surgery, and inspire movie fans and aspiring engineers alike. The second annual National Robotics Week rolls out April 9. What is your school doing to celebrate?
Many kids dream of exploring space, but few get much further than their schoolyards. This is not true of students in Tekna-Theos, a Florida after-school program bursting with science activities and contests. They’ve set their sights high, designing and building mini-satellites and preparing a payload to test the effect of weightlessness on bone cells. Some have actually experienced “Zero-G.”
What does basketball have in common with engineering? Plenty, if you’re Rhodes Scholar Reed Doucette, a former University of Southern California stand-out player and student now pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Oxford.
