Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray spoke at the annual MA STEM Summit last week, held at the Newton Marriott.
Continue reading Gov. Patrick and Lt. Gov. Murray speak at MA STEM Summit
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Raytheon’s Announces Another $1M for Teacher Scholarships
In his keynote at the MA STEM Summit last week, Raytheon CEO William Swanson announced that his company will increase its earlier pledge of support to the Boston Museum of Science’s Education is Elementary (EiE) program by an additional $1 million. This fund, part of the company’s MathMovesU initiative, will create the Raytheon-EiE Teacher Scholarship fund to facilitate teacher access to STEM training and materials. In his keynote, Swanson emphasized the need for better alignment between academia and business regarding workforce development, pointing out that too many students and adults are training for jobs in which labor surpluses exist and demand is low, while high-demand jobs, particularly those in STEM fields, go unfilled. Swanson also unveiled new videos outlining Our STEM Challenge and Raytheon’s Support of STEM Education.
Engaging 6th Graders in STEM at Oak Hill
Norma Sullivan, 6th grade math/science teacher at Oak Hill MS, believes kids need to get the STEM bug by the end of middle school — ideally by the end of 6th grade. She’s doing her part. Besides her LIFT2 professional learning program and summer internship and her classes’ early participation in the DIGITS program, she is engaging her students to explore STEM careers with these ideas: Continue reading Engaging 6th Graders in STEM at Oak Hill
MIT BLOSSOMS: Free STEM Videos & STEM Education Links
MIT’s BLOSSOMS program offers over 50 free math and science videos online, as well as a library of links to resources for STEM teachers in biology, engineering, math, physics, and science. The videos, all freely available for online viewing or downloading, are aimed to be used by high-school teachers in classrooms, enhancing classroom teaching: They serve as a guest lecturer in the classroom and contain frequent pauses for classroom discussion and exercises led by the classroom teacher. Each video comes with downloadable handouts and discussion guides and links to related resources. Students may also find these videos useful for viewing at home. The initial videos were made by MIT faculty and educators in Jordan and Pakistan, and new videos are being added by educators from around the world. (Thanks to Mass Science Fair for pointing this out.)
Free Math Enrichment for Grades 5-8
Gentle Knowledge, a local math education organization, is offering a free weekly math circle for students in grades 5-8. These weekly one-hour sessions are based on the same principles as Eastern European math circles, where collaborative learning around a set of interesting extra-curricular problems and ideas replaces lectures. Each session involves a set of “non-standard” problems from an area of mathematics, like number theory and combinatorics, that does not usually appear in the standard school curriculum. The goal of the math circle is to introduce students to the beauty of mathematics while both exposing them to useful problem solving methods and inspiring them to further pursue mathematical studies. Occasionally, sessions may feature guest speakers who are practicing mathematicians. For more information, visit: gentleknowledge.com/mathcircle or email info@gentleknowledge.com.
Space Night for Girls!, Thurs., Oct. 27 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Boston section is partnering with the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston (ATMOB) and MIT Lincoln Laboratory for a Space Night! Girls in Grades 2 – 8 will be exposed to various hands-on workshops bringing out the excitement of space exploration, and the AMTOB will set up their telescopes for observation of the dynamic night sky! $5 registration fee includes snack and workshop supplies. Visit sweboston.org/SpaceNight.html for more details and registration. If you have any questions regarding the event, please email swespacenight@sweboston.org.
Wait List for MA STEM Summit, Oct. 18 in Newton
Registration is now closed for the Massachusetts 2011 STEM Summit, Advancing the STEM Agenda Locally & Nationally, to be held at the Newton Marriott, 7:30AM to 4PM on Tuesday, Oct. 18. If you would like to join a waiting list, please Lesley Smythe at lsmythe@donahue.umassp.edu with your name, email address, and affiliation.
Parent/Student Perceptions of STEM Preparedness, Inspiration
Microsoft has released STEM Perceptions: Student and Parent Survey (PDF), reporting the results of two Harris Interactive surveys — one of college students pursuing STEM degrees, and one of parents of K-12 students The goal was to gain insight into how to better prepare and inspire students to pursue STEM in college and STEM careers. The PDF linked above is a 20-page Powerpoint of charts, stats, and insights. Its summary findings: Continue reading Parent/Student Perceptions of STEM Preparedness, Inspiration