Lawmakers’ efforts to expand America’s research and development enterprise dominated discussions about STEM education policy in 2021. While questions remain, it seems likely that 2022 will see really big increases to funding levels at the National Science Foundation and some of the other federal agencies involved in science and technology discovery and education.
Read MoreWhy (and How) to Do K-12 Cyber Career Awareness "Backwards"
Career awareness in K-12 is not working very well for the tech-driven, rapidly-changing workforce that awaits students upon graduation. To fix this problem, we think career awareness should be done “backwards.” That’s how our career awareness program works. What does all this really mean? Keep reading to find out.
Read MoreHow to Make Career Awareness Work for Elementary Ages
Career awareness for elementary school might sound awful. But if we ask kids the right questions, we can help them take their first steps towards work that’s meaningful to them and beneficial for the world.
Read MoreIs K-12 Engineering Doomed?
Engineering is riding a long wave of growing popularity in K-12 education, much to the satisfaction of students, colleges, and employers. But finding and training teachers could be the rock on which the wave crashes. Are we entering the make-or-break phase for the “E” in STEM? Read more to find out.
Read MoreHow to See Cybersecurity as a STEM Field
In the areas of career preparation, ethics, and multi-disciplinary learning, cybersecurity education can extend the capacities of STEM education to serve the interests of both student and country. That’s not to say it’ll be easy to do.
Read MoreThe Secret to Success in Elementary STEM Education
Elementary teachers are great all-around educators. There just aren’t enough of them prepared to teach STEM fields. Integrating STEM into their training and support plays to their strengths. Here are some successful approaches for doing so, at all stages of their learning and development.
Read MoreGirls Flip the Script (Again) on National STEM Test
The achievement gap between girls and boys widened with the 2018 NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy test. Girls averaged five points higher than boys on the test this time. The innovative test rewards “soft” skills and content knowledge alike, an example that schools might do well to emulate.
Read MoreThe Budget Request; or, Wait, Haven’t We Seen This Before?
The White House budget request kicked off another appropriations cycle that promises to look like previous ones. That is, a discarded set of funding proposals, Congress moving ahead in fits and starts on its own, a continuing resolution or two, all setting up another shutdown drama in the fall. So, nothing much to see here.
Read MoreSTEM Seems Strong in the New Congress
Our read on support for STEM education in the 116th Congress is guardedly optimistic. The turnover in control from Republicans to Democrats should have little impact on the generally bipartisan favor the field has enjoyed. What comes out of the White House, on the other hand, can scramble anything. Watch the budget request for clues.
Read MoreSTEM Education: Academic Program or Workforce Initiative? Part 1
Is STEM education an academic endeavor or a workforce development enterprise? Are the two approaches impossibly conflicted? Or is there a middle ground that serves both purposes? Examining through the filter of assessment might help plot the way to an answer.
Read MoreFederal STEM Education Efforts Don't Add Up
Tax reform is just one of various forces at the federal level acting to confuse or undermine STEM education. From elementary school to graduate school, students and educators could soon pay (a lot) more to learn and teach. In response, STEM professionals and educators are starting to get more politically active.
Read MoreQuestions Surround $200 Million in STEM Education Funding
The announcement of a $200 million STEM education initiative comes with more questions than answers. With education spending in general the target of big cuts, what does this program tell us about White House priorities and prospects for spending on schools?
Read MorePeople Really Don't Like the Budget Request
Nobody likes the White House budget request, which has inspired fierce rhetoric in opposition to radical, dangerous cuts to STEM education and research.
Read MoreLast Word on STEM Budget Better than the First
Congress passed a FY2017 spending bill with strong support for research and development activities, but a bit less than that for STEM education. See whose ox got gored, and whose didn’t.
Read MoreTough Budget for STEM Not the Last Word
The White House budget blueprint would decimate funding for STEM research and education programs. How likely is it actually to happen?
Read MoreIs the Climate Changing for STEM Education?
The new administration has given few clues about its views of STEM education. The nominee for Secretary of Education provides plenty of reasons to wonder if the changes will be positive.
Read More9 Great Answers to "What Is STEM and How Can I Use It?"
STEM commands great attention in K-12 education, but how does it actually work? Here are 9 places to go to find out what it's all about and how it can help in the classroom.
Read MoreAn Advocate for STEM Before STEM Even Existed
The rise of STEM education owes much to advocacy work done in Washington and across the country. Patti Curtis, Director of the Washington Office of the National Center for Technological Literacy, has been front and center in this effort for more than 15 years. Here's what she knows now.
Read MoreSTEM Ed Change Starts to Get Real
Passing ESSA was the end of the beginning. For K-12 engineering and computer science, big ideas for change have to start getting real for STEM education in general to hit its marks.
Read MoreSTEM "Dangers" Just Don't Rate
Fareed Zakaria marshals sophistry to defend liberal education against incursions supposedly mounted by a push for technical, job-related skills under the rubric of STEM education. People respond.
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