Building Effective Green Energy Programs in Community Colleges

Workforce Strategy Center
This report discusses the challenges and the benefits of the millions of dollars of stimulus money being spent on creating "green job" training. The report highlights the role community colleges will need to play training low-income/low-skilled individuals to become part of this emerging workforce. At the core of the problem, however, is that green jobs don't yet exist in significant numbers; educational standards are not yet uniform and continually changing; and most green jobs will be beyond most low-skilled/low-income workers. Learn More.

Surgical Tech Careers in High Demand

The latest issue of ACTE's Techniques magazine highlights a surgical techology program that allows students to "immediately enter the workforce making $12 to $16 per hour, [and] can also serve as a starting point for any number of medical careers" including nursing.  Surgical technology is a field that is non-traditional for males, as is nursing. Read more about this "high demand" program.  Learn more about non-traditional for gender careers, or view a list of careers non-traditional for males.

Program Schools Minority Students in Science, Technology

For Minority Boys, a Chance to Get Hands-on STEM Exposure
(WJLA-TV, Washington, DC)
Minority boys at a Maryland elementary school are getting more exposure to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math through a program sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Boys at William Beanes Elementary School practice hands-on learning by spending their Saturdays building balloon rockets and flying helicopters through the program, which has improved student test scores and will expand next year.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/719087.html

All-female team pours heart and soul into car-building contest

By Eric Stevick, Herald Writer
GRANITE FALLS — The ShopGirls, as they call themselves, wanted a name that had some heft.

Neither Gertrude, Betsy nor Edna was substantial enough.

For the nine Granite Falls High School students, the forest green and hot pink car they designed, engineered and built from scratch needed a bold name. They wanted something with an attitude that would reflect the hours they spent molding metal and the pride they have in being an all-girl team.

Their car would be called the Iron Maiden.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100321/NEWS01/703219917/-1/NEWS#All-f

Why So Few? AAUW Report

A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math by the American Association of University Women, to be released Monday, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success.
http://www.aauw.org/research/whysofew.cfm

Study Finds that Female Teachers May Pass on Math Anxiety to Girls

After a year in the classroom with female teachers who say they are anxious about math, girls are more likely to share that attitude -- and score lower on tests, researchers say. Girls have long embraced the stereotype that they're not supposed to be good at math. It seems they may be getting the idea from a surprising source -- their female elementary school teachers.

http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/35118.html

ADHD and Inclusity Workshop

ILAVESNP presents "Inclusion: Teaching to Embrace Every Student" and "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Understanding and Working with Those with ADHD in the Classroom" on March 26 at Illinois Central College. The presenter will be Julia Ann Oglesby, Special Populations Coordinator at Wilco Area Career Center. Visit the ILAVESNP website for more information and to register.

Florida Schools Continue To Add Green Education Programs.

Schools across Northeast Florida are becoming increasingly "green," both in terms of the learning and the schools themselves. Jacksonville University, for example, "will offer a major and minor in sustainability in three different tracks - business, science and sociology," while the University of North Florida has introduced "a course in green building that analyzes how cities can reduce environmental impact by analyzing water consumption and alternate-energy sources." The University of Florida, meanwhile, "has an interdisciplinary minor in sustainability studies and a campus office devoted to environmental concerns." According to Paul Rowland, executive director of the nonprofit Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, "the field of 'green education' has been expanding exponentially for the past five years," and its expansion has been "driven largely by demand."

For more information, click here.

Pennsylvania College Expanding Sustainable Energy Technology Certificate Program

Luzerne County Community College is planning to expand its Sustainable Energy Technology certificate program in the fall. "The one-year, 32-credit program provides a foundation of college math and science, but expands to specific technical areas about technologies used in the industry. The program is better than going to a trade school because it trains for more than just a single job, said Mark Rutkowski, an engineering technology professor."

For more information, click here.

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."

For more information, click here.

$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.

For more information, click here.

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.

For more information, click here.

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."



For more information, click here.

Culinary Courses Help Schools Meet School Meal Recommendations

The National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI) is developing a series of six free online courses designed to help child nutrition teams prepare healthier school meals that appeal to students' tastes. The Culinary Techniques for Healthy School Meals courses help school food service staff initiate food production and culinary techniques that incorporate principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into the planning and preparation of school meals.

Illinois school food service staff members that complete all six courses are eligible to receive a stipend reimbursement of $75 and a set of dietary guidelines posters for their cafeteria while funding lasts. The stipends were made available by a USDA Team Nutrition Training grant.

For more information, click here.

Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond

This publication is designed to help policymakers and practitioners learn about effective programs supporting college- and career-readiness. These programs help diverse youth to improve their academic performance, identify career aspirations, build employer-desired skills, plan for postsecondary education, and develop the personal resources necessary to achieve their goals. Twenty-three program
evaluations are briefly summarized to give policymakers and practitioners an understanding of the research findings on effective programs along with a description of why the programs work. The 23 initiatives summarized in this publication clearly do not represent the universe of programs that are successful in helping youth progress along the pathway to postsecondary success; rather, they are the ones that had recent, high-quality evaluations. This review was limited to programs that serve older youth, primarily in middle school, high school, and postsecondary education.

For more information, click here.

White House Pushes Science and Math Education

To improve science and mathematics education for American children, the White House is recruiting Elmo and Big Bird, video game programmers and thousands of scientists. President Obama announced a campaign to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to spend money, time and volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle and high school, to pursue STEM.

For more information click follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/education/23educ.html?_r=2&ref=education

New AAUW Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything

Career planning and careers with equal pay for both genders becomes even more important as we learn from a new report titled A Woman's Nation Changes Everything that women are half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families. Read this ground-breaking report or the Executive Summary; both are available at http://awomansnation.com/

Women Executives Excell in Math and Science

Women executives with science degrees are now leading some of the world's largest companies.This year three women were awarded Nobel Prizes in science and one in the economic sciences, bringing the number of women who have been awarded the honor in the sciences to 16. the women who sit at the apex of corporate America armed with math and science degrees, to the four 2009 laureates--Elinor Ostrom (the first woman to win the prize for economic science), Ada E. Yonath in chemistry, and Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider in physiology/medicine (the first time two women shared a single Nobel science prize)--the message is clear: Women excel at science and math.A new article on forbes.com provides role models in pictures and brief summaries of female executives who came from science and math backgrounds.

Getting Girls Interested in Engineering Webinar

Project Lead The Way® (PLTW®) is joining forces with Engineer Your Life (EYL), to increase the participation of girls in Gateway To Technology® (GTT®) and HS engineering courses by offering a free webinar.

WEBINAR DETAILS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
WHEN: Thursday, October 22, 4:00 pm EST, 1:00 pm PST
WHERE: To register, go to:
https://wgbh.webex.com/wgbh/onstage/g.php?d=666235096&t=a
EVENT PASSWORD (case sensitive): Engineer2009
HOSTED BY: PLTW and WGBH

EYL is a national campaign to showcase engineering as an exciting and rewarding career choice for high school girls. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of girls who are familiar with the EYL web site report engineering as their number 1 job choice. Join us for this one-hour webinar and you will receive the tools you need to increase your participation of girls in your program. If you can’t attend this webinar live, register and you will receive the links for the achieved webinar and free resources.

Nontraditional and STEM Careers by Career Cluster

Wondering how nontraditional and STEM Careers fit into Career Clusters and Pathways? Three handy and attractive Guides crosswalk nontraditional and STEM Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes across Cluster and Pathway. One Guide is for female nontraditional careers, one for male nontraditional careers, and one for STEM careers. These guides are based on the December 2008 Version of Table 3: CIP-Nontrad-Cluster-Pathway and developed by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity. That table is one source for these crosswalks. The STEM-Related Career Cluster document created by the STEM Equity Pipeline Project, a National Science Foundation initiative, was the source for the STEM Nontraditional Careers by Career Cluster Guide. All three Guides were created by Lisa Matejka of Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support.