July 2009
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON
USDOL Announces Grants Under the ARRA
The U.S. Department of Labor announced five grant competitions, totaling $500 million,
to fund projects that prepare workers for green jobs in the energy efficiency and
renewable energy industries. More details and grant applications are now available
on the USDOL's website.
USDOL Website
USDOL
Press Release
ARTICLES
Bill Gates Offers the World a Physics Lesson
(Ina Fried, CNET News)
It's been a year since Bill Gates left full-time work at Microsoft, but he's found
plenty to keep him busy. In between trying to eradicate polio, tame malaria, and
fix the broken U.S. education system, Gates has managed to fulfill a dream of taking
some classic physics lectures and making them available free over the Web. The lectures,
done in 1964 by noted scientist (and Manhattan Project collaborator) Richard Feynman,
take notions such as gravity and explains how they work and the broad implications
they have in understanding the ways of the universe.
Read More
Real Life Science and Math Project Launched in Boyle Heights Schools
(Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGPNews.com)
An initiative to arm Latino students with skills to lead the country and set the
pace for other young people in the world of technology was launched in Boyle Heights
on Monday. STEM-Up, a pilot program funded by the United States Department of Defense
(DoD), is the first of it's kind in the nation, and aims to transform the low-income
Latino community - with an estimated 35 to 50 percent high school drop-out rate
in the country's second largest school district - to become a future pool of highly
skilled labor in the STEM fields.
Read More
Scientist Shortage, Maybe Not
(Greg Toppo and Dan Vergano, USA TODAY)
As the push to train more young people in STEM - science, technology, engineering
and math - careers gains steam, a few prominent skeptics are warning that it may
be misguided - and that rhetoric about the USA losing its world pre-eminence in
science, math and technology may be a stretch.
Read More
Rockin' Out for Science
Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the government's successful effort to decode the
human genome (he also happens to play the guitar) is among a handful of preeminent
researchers featured in a slick six-page photo spread in the June issue of GQ. The
photos are part of a larger ad campaign called "Rock Stars of Science" designed
to celebrate scientists, highlight the importance of their research and draw attention
to the funding needed to make their work possible.
Read More
Sketching a Path to Better Education
(Markham Heid, Medill)
"If you don't learn to read well early on, there are ample studies showing that
you are crippled all through school," said Ken Forbus, head of the Cognitive Systems
Division at Northwestern University's Department of Computer Science. "The question
is: Is there an analogous phenomenon in spatial thinking" that relates to sketching?
Forbus said spatial ability is a great predictor of whether a student will excel
in the "STEM" disciplines: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Read More
PUBLICATIONS
Swimming Against the Tide: African American Girls and Science Education
(Sandra L. Hanson)
Hanson uses USDOE data as well as a recent survey of young African American women
to examine the experiences in families, communities, and peer-groups that help young
African American women "swim against the tide" of the white, male science education
system.
Learn
More
RESOURCES
Under the Microscope:
Female scientists share their stories, advice, and tips on how they got through.
SciGirls:
This new show from BS will spotlight real girls using science to make a difference.
CalWomenTech
Learning Library: The library is divided into six topic areas: spatial relations,
tool identification, Math Made Easy, problem solving, blueprint reading, career
tools.
Career and Technical Education's Role in Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math: This Issue Brief from ACTE describes how CTE can help to meet
the critical need of developing a skilled, professional STEM workforce to secure
America's economic future.
STEM Education Model:
Ohio State joins the Business-Higher Education Forum for the public launch of Raytheon's
STEM Education Model.
SAVE THE DATE
"Center Stage: Effective Strategies for Recruitment and Talent Development"
Oakland, CA
August 3-5, 2009
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