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Triangle Coalition Electronic Bulletin
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This Week's Topics:
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| Students from Gardner Edgerton High School in Gardner, KS recently won the third annual JETS/Ability One National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC), a competition which educates young people about careers in engineering, raises social awareness, and inspires a spirit of engagement and a willingness to help others. Six teams of high school students from across the country competed in the NEDC Finals. This is the second consecutive year that students from Gardner Edgerton won the NEDC. The Gardner-Edgerton team, consisting of students Alyssa Zimmerman, Zheng (Alice) Zhao, Paul Keithley, Jared Barton, and Christian Warner, along with their teacher/coach David Kling, created "BART," the Bag Attachment and Replacement Technology, a compound device that allows a user to change and tie a trash bag with only one hand. BART consists of three main components: a cylindrical dispenser for trash bags, a clip that holds the trash bag in place on the trash can, and a tying mechanism. The NEDC is a real-world high school design competition in which teams of students from across the nation design and build an assistive technology device for use by a person with a disability in his or her workplace. "Since the return of NEDC in 2005, participation has increased by 400%. This is exciting because it is JETS goal to get young people excited about engineering through our programs and resources and the more students we reach the better. NEDC illustrates how engineering can make a profound impact on a person's quality of life through the application of imagination, practical solutions, community service, and teamwork, and that really resonates with today's youth," said Leann Yoder, JETS Executive Director. NEDC is a JETS program made possible through a partnership with NISH and the AbilityOne program. Triangle Coalition member, JETS, is dedicated to promoting engineering and technology careers to America's youth. From exciting student competitions to assessment tools and career exploration materials, JETS helps students plan for rewarding futures by showing them how engineering can help them pursue their dreams. JETS programs touch more than 40,000 students and 10,000 educators from 6,000 high schools across the country every year. For more information, visit www.jets.org. . |
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Thinkfinity.org is the cornerstone of Verizon Foundation's Literacy, Education and Technology initiatives. The goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings and beyond by providing high-quality content and extensive professional development training. Thinkfinity.org currently provides more than 55,000 free educational and literacy resources, including K-12 lesson plans and interactive materials, to teachers, parents, and students. One of the key enhancements to the enhanced site is the alignment of Thinkfinity.org resources to meet individual state standards. Since March 2007, the Verizon Foundation has committed more than $32 million to update and expand Thinkfinity.org and provide training to teachers. Content for Thinkfinity.org is created by 11 of the nation's leading education and literacy organizations, including the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the National Council on Economic Education, and Triangle Coalition member, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. . |
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| The U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative is accepting nominations for 2008 American Stars of Teaching until March 31. Parents, students, colleagues, school administrators, and others can nominate an exemplary teacher who they believe has the qualities to be an American Star of Teaching. The project seeks nominations of teachers across the United States who are improving student achievement, using innovative strategies in the classroom, and making a difference in the lives of their students. Teachers across all grade levels and disciplines will be honored as 2008 American Stars of Teaching this fall. To nominate a teacher, click here. The U.S. Department of Education received more than 4,000 nominations for the 2007 school year. A list of previous honorees can be found online.
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The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will meet in Boston March 27–30 for its 56th National Conference on Science Education. At this year's conference, which is hosted in conjunction with the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers (MAST), participants from across the country will learn about the latest in science content, teaching strategy and research; network with fellow education professionals; and hear thought-provoking presentations from world-renowned scientists and educators. Designed to enhance and expand science educators' professional growth, the four-day conference will feature hundreds of hands-on workshops, presentations about the latest breakthroughs in science, and demonstrations covering every discipline, grade level, and teaching focus. Teachers will discuss popular issues including the teaching of global climate change and evolution, the No Child Left Behind Act, science teacher recruitment and retention, inquiry-based mentoring, science literacy and K-12 education, science assessment, safety in the school science laboratory, and much more. In addition, more than 400 companies and organizations from across the country will display the latest, state-of-the-art science education materials, tools, products, and services available in NSTA's Exhibition of Science Teaching Materials. . |
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| On March 29 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA, local girls will learn how to extract DNA from a strawberry, take apart a computer, and search for life on other planets. The twist? These young scientists are not college students; they are upper elementary and middle school students attending the Sally Ride Science Festival. The festival is presented by Sally Ride Science, a science content company dedicated to fueling girls' and boys' interests in science, math and technology. The Sally Ride Science Festival at Santa Clara University will bring together hundreds of upper elementary and middle school girls, parents, and teachers for a day of science and socializing. The festival features an inspiring talk by astronaut Janice Voss, discovery workshops for students given by local scientists and engineers, and workshops for parents and teachers on ways to support students' interests in science and math. Another Science Festivals is currently planned for May 10, 2008 at Towson University, in Towson, MD. Dr. Sally Ride, best known as America's first woman in space, founded the company in 2001 to create quality programs and products that educate, entertain, engage, and inspire. The organization's programs include Sally Ride Science Festivals, TOYchallenge, Educator Institutes, summer camps, and after-school programs. For more information, visit www.sallyridescience.com. . |
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| New research published in the spring 2008 issue of Education Next shows that the cognitive skills of a nation's students have a large impact on its economic growth. Using data from international tests administered over several decades, economists Eric A. Hanushek of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Ludger Woessmann of the University of Munich, and their research colleagues found that increased years of schooling by the labor force boost the economy only when such schooling boosts cognitive skills, as measured by performance on math and science assessments. In the latest international math and science test conducted by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), U.S. students again trailed the average international scores achieved by students in the 57 test-taking nations. Students from a diverse array of countries, including Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, scored significantly higher than those from the United States, with Finnish students beating those of all other countries. The United States now lags behind Poland, which raised its scores more than any other nation. Hanushek and Woessmann's findings demonstrate how critical the quality of the education students receive is to a nation's economic performance. According to the report, "Education and Economic Growth," had the United States joined the world leaders in math and science by 2000, as the nation's governors called for in 1989, the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would, as measured by past results, be 2 percent greater than it is today. Although this may sound small, it would amount to more than $300 billion additional income this year. If one projects those effects into the future, the GDP could be 4.5 percentage points higher by 2015 -- enough to cover the full cost of the nation's K-12 education system in that year. Hanushek and Woessmann used performance on 12 standardized tests to measure the average level of cognitive skill in a given country. With this data, they were able to assess how human capital relates to differences in economic growth for 50 countries from 1960 to 2000 -- more countries over a longer period of time than any previous study. "Education and Economic Growth" is available online. . |
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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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