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Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin
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This Week's Topics:
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| For the past three years at its national conferences, NSTA has presented Professional Development Institutes (PDIs) -- focused, content-based programs led by NSTA partners that explore key topics in significant depth. South Carolina's Coalition for Mathematics and Science (SCCMS), in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education Mathematics and Science Unit has been selected to offer a pathway entitled, "Coaching as a Pathway to Reflective Practice in Science." Coaching is tangible, dynamic, embedded adult learning within the context of the school day. Abundant anecdotal data support coaching as a professional development strategy, but data related to its effectiveness are limited. South Carolina's coaching initiative includes collection and analysis of impact data in its design. The institute begins with a full-day session on March 28, 2008 followed by additional pathway sessions daily throughout the conference. The institute is limited to 60 participants. NSTA Professional Development Institutes are ticketed events, and require an existing registration for the Boston NSTA conference. Tickets are available beginning December 17. A continental breakfast and lunch are provided in the ticket price. More details are online. Triangle Coalition member, the South Carolina's Coalition for Mathematics and Science (SCCMS), brings together advocates who seek constancy and quality in South Carolina's approach to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. The organization's history and impact on instructional improvement date back to the South Carolina's Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) and Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) partnership forged in 1998. SCCMS partners view South Carolina's teachers as paramount to the success of mathematics and science education for children. They work closely with the South Carolina State Department of Education to support efforts designed to improve instruction and increase student achievement. Find out more at www.sccoalition.org. . |
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Employers are projecting a 16% increase in college hiring in 2007-08, the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases, and starting salaries are reflecting this positive growth, according to "Salaries of Scientists, Engineers and Technicians: A Summary of Salary Surveys," recently released by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. Published biennially for more than four decades, the report contains nearly 300 tables and charts from more than 80 public and private sources on starting and advanced salaries by field, experience level, degree level, and type of employer, with differentials by sex, race/ethnicity, type of job, geographic area, and more. According to the report, gains were seen in starting salary offers across all science and engineering fields in summer 2007, with the most significant increases in political science (up 5.9%), chemical engineering (up 5.4%), civil engineering (up 5.4%), and computer engineering (up 4.8%). By occupation, median salaries were highest at the bachelor's level in 2003 in engineering ($70,000) and computer science and mathematics ($68,000), and lowest in the life sciences ($42,000) and social and behavioral sciences ($45,000). . |
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| A new aeronautics competition encourages high school and college students to share their ideas of future aircraft with NASA for a chance to receive trophies, student internship offers, and cash prizes. The Fundamental Aeronautics Program of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate recently announced this new competition for the 2007-2008 academic year. The competition challenges students to write about the next generation of aircraft, what they would look like, and how they would operate. For the competition, high school students will write a research paper that explains ideas for a future aircraft that could revolutionize passenger and cargo travel in the year 2058. Papers should include sections on fuel, environmental effects, noise levels, runway length and conditions, operating costs, passenger and cargo loads, and service operations. A group of federal, university, industry, and other expert representatives will judge the high school entries, which are limited to 12 pages. Entries will be judged on how well students focus their essays and meet four basic criteria: informed content, creativity and imagination, organization, and writing. Subject to availability of funds, team entries can win cash awards up to $1,500 and individual entries up to $1,000. Click here to learn more about the competition.
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MIT President Susan Hockfield announces today the launch of a new website, Highlights for High School, that will provide resources to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) instruction at the high school level. The website builds on the success of MIT's revolutionary OpenCourseWare initiative and is designed to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists and to be a valuable tool for high school teachers. "Strength in K-12 math and science will be increasingly important for America if the nation is to continue to lead the innovation economy," Hockfield said. "Highlights for High School will provide students and teachers with innovative tools to supplement their math and science studies," she added. "We hope it will inspire students to reach beyond their required classwork to explore more advanced material through OCW and also might encourage them to pursue careers in science and engineering." . |
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| This week, math and science faculty from institutions around the country came together in Washington, D.C. with the goal of sharing strategies to promote student success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from the elementary grades through higher education. The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program run by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been partnering STEM faculty with K-12 teachers since 2002, helping teachers improve their content knowledge while receiving mentoring and professional development opportunities in their field -- all with the goal of better preparing students for success in college and beyond. A complementary Mathematics and Science Partnerships program at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has been providing funding to each state since 2003, focusing on partnership and professional development opportunities. Among the topics covered were approaches to working with teachers to deepen their scientific and mathematical content knowledge so that they can be increasingly effective in working with their K-12 students, and providing incentives to STEM faculty for the work they do with K-12 teachers. "This is the first time that STEM faculty involved in the NSF and ED programs have been together to share their observations and ideas," says MSP program director Kathleen Bergin. Find out more about MSP programs at ED and NSF.
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| If you never thought you'd see the day when kids played cards at school, think again. It's happening -- and helping kids develop important critical thinking skills. Fueling this in-school card craze is Microsoft Chairman and bridge enthusiast, Bill Gates, who along with Berkshire Hathaway founder, Warren Buffett, pledged $1 million in support of creating a youth bridge program. Debuting nationally this month, the School Bridge League (division of The League) is bringing back the brain-building game of bridge -- by taking it to school. "The game of bridge is full of strategy and tactics," says Mickie Rinehart, Director of Operations, The League. "It is part science, math, logic, reason, and all fun. Bridge builds bridges, as it embodies cooperation and team problem solving - and is linked to higher test scores." According to a study by Dr. Christopher Shaw, Board Member for the ACBL Education Foundation, students who played bridge scored higher on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills than their non-bridge playing counterparts after 20 months and again after 32 months. What's more, they scored higher in all five subject areas (reading, language, math, science, social studies). The School Bridge League is now up and running. A website, "Bridge in a Box" learning kit, and lesson plans (coded to state educational standards) are helping teachers integrate the game into their existing curriculum. A network of bridge enthusiasts and community groups to help teach the game is also under development. . |
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| Girls swept the top prizes in America's premier high school science competition for the first time in its nine-year history as Isha Jain and the team of Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff were named $100,000 Grand Prize winners in the 2007-08 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, is administered by the College Board. Isha Jain, a senior at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, won the $100,000 scholarship in the individual category for research on bone growth. Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, seniors at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, New York, won the $100,000 prize in the team category, which they will share equally, for research on tuberculosis. The national finals were judged by a panel of nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians headed by lead judge Dr. Joseph Taylor, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. The Siemens Competition was launched in 1998 to recognize America's best and brightest math and science students. This year, 1,641 students registered to enter the competition with a record number of projects submitted, including a 9% increase in team projects. Entries are judged at the regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research universities which host the regional competitions: California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Notre Dame; and The University of Texas at Austin. . |
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TCEB Sponsors
This issue of the TCEB is made possible by grants from: To find out how your organization can sponsor the TCEB or support the Triangle Coalition in other ways, visit www.trianglecoalition.org/support.htm __________________________________________________________________________ |
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