States Form STEMx Network
Posted on July 2nd, 2012 by Mary Lord
What does quality STEM teaching and learning look like? Where can teachers find resources? STEMx, a just-launched collaboration of 13 state STEM education networks developed by Battelle, offers a way for everyone from educators to policymakers to parents to share proven STEM techniques and tools.
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Tags: Battelle, Community Awareness, Engineering, Math, Science, state STEM networks, STEM education, STEM frameworks, STEM teaching, STEMx
Albert Einstein is no Caped Crusader. But as a comic book, his theory of relativity can pack as much punch as any superhero–at least in Japan, where students have learned math and science from manga (comic books) for decades. Now, a U.S. publisher has translated a host of these STEM comics, giving English readers access to manga versions of subjects ranging from calculus to biochemisty and yes, relativity.
Engineering rarely rates more than a passing nod in most K-12 science programs. A new report from the National Research Council could change that. Its sweeping recommendations for “next generation” science standards put engineering on a par with physics and other disciplines as key to meeting society’s most pressing problems while helping citizens make informed daily decisions.
Teacher layoffs nationwide threaten to make a bad STEM education situation worse, as more educators must cover subjects they are not certified to teach. A new survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that fewer than half the chemistry and physical science teachers in public high schools had degrees in those fields, with about 30 percent lacking certification in those subjects. 
Could an approach developed to help deaf and hearing-impaired undergraduates overcome educational disadvantages work for anyone–including mainstream K-12 students who struggle with reading and math? Scott Bellinger, an instructor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, America’s only technical college for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, thinks so.
Who says science is for nerds? Not the Council of Chief State School Officers, which just named Michelle Shearer, an AP chemistry teacher from Frederick, Md., the 2011 National Teacher of the Year. President Obama will honor her and other state teachers of the year at the White House on May 3.
In this activity, students will explore how sensing is part of robotics by tying their shoes with different constraints. After lacing their shoes normally, try it wearing thick gloves or with popsicle sticks taped to fingers so they can’t bend. Can students tie their shoes now? A connection is made to the limitations of the motion of robots, and to the role of design in allowing robots to perform different functions.
Skyline High School in Boulder, Colo., showed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar what a high quality program looks like when he visited the STEM Academy March 21. Students must earn 28 credits for a STEM certificate, instead of the 24.5 needed for a regular high school diploma, and maintain at least a 2.5 GPA. Graduates are guaranteed acceptance in the University of Colorado’s engineering program.
