Obama Announces "Educate To Innovate" STEM Training Initiative

President Obama launched his $250 million "Educate to Innovate" campaign "to train math and science teachers and help meet his goal of pushing America's students...to the top of the pack in those subjects in the next decade." According to the President, "teacher quality is the most important single factor" influencing students' success or failure in STEM subjects. Educate to Innovate, he added, "will help train more than 100,000 teachers and prepare more than 10,000 new educators in the next five years." The AP listed "Intel Corp., the National Math and Science Initiative, PBS and the National Science Teachers Association" as investors in the initiative. Obama also "called on the 200,000" scientists employed by "the federal government to help by speaking at schools and participating in hands-on projects to help stoke a youngster's curiosity in science."

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$250 Million Initiative For STEM Instruction Announced.

President Obama "will announce a $250 million public-private effort Wednesday to improve [STEM] instruction, aiming to help the nation compete in key fields with global economic rivals." The effort "seeks to prepare more than 10,000 new math and science schoolteachers over five years and provide on-the-job training for an additional 100,000 in science, technology, engineering and math." The Post points out that "it's unclear how much federal spending can grow in a time of rising budget deficits." For this initiative, however, there has been "mobilization on several fronts," with "high-tech businesses, universities and foundations" contributing. The Intel Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, UTeach, NASA and PBS are all contributing in some respect.

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Geeks Drive Girls Out of Computer Science

The stereotype of computer scientists as geeks who memorize Star Trek lines and never leave the lab may be driving women away from the field, a new study suggests. And women can be turned off by just the physical environment, say, of a computer-science classroom or office that's strewn with objects considered "masculine geeky," such as video games and science-fiction stuff.

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Women in Green: Opportunities in Environmentally Responsible Occupations

On March 9, 2010 and again on June 2, 2010 the Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support, in partnership with the Illinois Community College Board, the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor, and the Illinois State Board of Education will examine the programs and initiatives which are in place to support the development and advancement of green occupations in Illinois. Please join us for as we explore the unique role of women in “greening” many existing careers and examine examples of effective practices in “going green.”

To learn more and to register visit http://www.icsps.ilstu.edu/services/pd/green/index.html

10 Tips for Success for Engineering Students

According to a recent survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, one third of college freshmen plan to major in science and engineering, while about 8 percent of all first-year students intend to concentrate in engineering proper. Some of these engineering students are destined to land major leadership roles in the United States and worldwide, while others are . . . well, every field has its "lesser lights."



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