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.

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

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.

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

Obama launches new STEM initiatives

President Barack Obama on Nov. 23 announced the launch of several nationwide programs to help motivate and inspire students to excel in science and math, including a grassroots effort called "National Lab Day" and a White House science fair.


http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=61958

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.

AAUW Reacts to New Census Data that Shows the Wage Gap is Stubbornly in Place

Lisa Maatz, AAUW's top policy adviser, issued the following statement in light of the income data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

"The government's new report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage shows that the wage gap between men and women working full time remains stubbornly in place. In 2007, the average woman made almost 78 cents for each dollar earned by her male counterpart. According to newly released 2008 figures, that number now stands at just over 77 cents for each dollar earned by a man. To learn more about AAUW's position on pay equity, visit: http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/payequity.cfm

NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing

The National Center for Women in Information Technology announces the opening of awards for young women with outstanding achievements and aspirations in computing and technology. Each qualified National winner receives:

• $500 in cash
  
• a laptop computer, provided by Bank of America
  
• a trip to attend the Bank of America Technology Showcase and Awards Ceremony, held in Charlotte, North Carolina in March of 2010


• an engraved award for both the student and the student’s school

A generous grant from Motorola provides the support for Affiliate Awards in Illinois, Texas and Florida. High school girls should apply at www.ncwit.org/award.

New OECD Report on Global Gender Gap in Academic Achievement

Despite educators' best efforts to create an even playing field for girls and boys, gender gaps appear to be growing around the world, says a report out this week titled Equally Prepared For Life? How 15-year-old Boys and Girls Perform In School. For the full text click here.

TeraGrid09 Student Participation

TG09 is open for submissions for both Student Participants and Student Volunteers (high school, undergrad, and grad.) This year there is funding to pay all expenses to TG09 for about 75 students!

For more information and to apply, go to: http://www.teragrid.org/tg09/index.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=54

Supporting STEM: Nanotechnology

Register now for Supporting STEM: Nanotechnology


Presented by: Joe Muskin, Educational Coordinator for Nanotechnology Programs at the University of Illinois

When: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Where: Crowne Plaza, Springfield - Plaza I a pre-session to the Connections Conference

What: A hands-on workshop to supply teachers with exciting projects to introduce students to the latest advances in the emerging field of nanotechnology, and spark their interest in CTE careers