Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Easy Science Experiments for Kids at Home

A collection of fun, safe, and easy science experiments for your students and parents can do at home. Science education does not have to stop while learning from home or with the end of the school year. Upparent has compiled a list of easy science experiments for kids that are perfect for hands-on learning over the summer! A little fun goes a long way to helping our kids keep learning while on break.

Browse the list to discover some really cool science experiments that educate and encourage STEM learning. This is a great way to plan simple and educational indoor activities for kids.

View the complete list at Upparent.com…Read More

DuPont Pioneer Excellence in Agricultural Science Education Award

A partnership with DuPont Pioneer and the National Science Teachers Association, this award is to recognize excellence and innovation in the field of agricultural science education. Two awards, one middle level and one high school level, will be awarded annually. The awardee will receive a $2,500 grant for their classroom/program, up to $1,000 paid travel expenses to attend the NSTA national conference on science education, mentoring with a DuPont Pioneer scientist, classroom resources from DuPont Pioneer, and access to a DuPont Pioneer product plant or research facility. The awardees will be presented the award at the Teacher Awards Banquet at the National Conference.

 

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Sylvia Shugrue Award for Elementary School Teachers

This award honors one elementary school teacher who has established (or is establishing) an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based lesson plan. The lesson plan will fully reference sources of information and any relevant National Science Education Standards and benchmarks found in the Atlas of Science Literacy. The award consists of $1,000 and up to $500 to attend the NSTA National Conference on Science Education; the recipient of the award will be honored during the Awards Banquet at the NSTA Conference.

 

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Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers

The Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers provides selected K–12 teachers (up to 25) in their first five years of teaching with funds to attend the annual National Conference on Science Education. Award recipients will be mentored, tracked, and provided with continuing opportunities for meaningful involvement with NSTA and its activities.

 

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Report: Gamifying computer science is an easy place to start

With efforts to expand computer science education growing across the nation, some schools still grapple with a big problem: they don’t have the staff or space to accommodate a computer science course.

In fact, though interest in computer science education, and access to it, is growing, a recent report found that not enough students are taking high-quality computer science classes at the high school and university levels.

The report found that just half of U.S. states actually count computer science as a math or science credit rather than an elective, and 29 states lack computer science teacher certification programs.…Read More

Oracle bolsters computer science education

Part of $3.3 billion annual investment to advance computer science education and increase diversity in technology fields globally

In conjunction with The White House Science Fair 2016, Oracle and The White House recently announced Oracle’s plan to invest $200 million in direct and in-kind support for computer science education in the United States over the next 18 months.

Oracle’s pledge supports the Administration’s Computer Science for All initiative and is part of the company’ greater annual worldwide investment of $3.3 billion to empower computer science educators and engage diverse student populations globally. Today’s commitment expects to reach more than 232,000 students in over 1,100 U.S. institutions through Oracle Academy, its philanthropic computer science-focused educational program that impacts more than 2.6 million students in 106 countries.

In 2015, only 2 percent of all participants in the College Board’s AP program took Computer Science and a mere 22 percent of those participants were female.[1] Yet, programming jobs are growing 50 percent faster than the market overall, according to new research by Oracle Academy and Burning Glass Technologies, a leading labor market company. The study (2016), which analyzed and interpreted real-time data from millions of online job postings from nearly 40,000 sources, revealed that demand for computer science, programming, and coding skills is large, growing, and far more widespread than just IT jobs.…Read More

TeachCS zeroes in on computer science

TeachCS addresses critical shortage of qualified computer science teachers by connecting high school educators with computer science curricula

computer-scienceAs the nation focuses on Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13th, computer science curricula developers and professional development providers joined forces to announce TeachCS, a platform for high school teachers looking to broaden their computer science training and curricula.

Funded by private sector philanthropy, the goal of TeachCS is to match in-service high school teachers with both computer science professional development and financial support to attend training from leading academic institutions, in order to better prepare their students for the lucrative computing jobs most in demand in the future.

In its pilot year, TeachCS will provide in-service high school teachers with funding for professional development in one of three areas – Exploring Computer Science (ECS), AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP), or Bootstrap.…Read More

10 computer science education resources and facts

Computer Science Education Week is full of resources to get you and your students computing and coding

computer-scienceTo celebrate Computer Science Education Week and to make sure you’re ready to educate students and peers about why computer science is such an essential part of U.S. education and the economy, we’ve compiled a list of 10 useful resources and facts about computer science education.

Are you participating in Computer Science Education Week? Follow the hashtag #CSEW to keep up with events, and let us know your plans.

1. Daisy the Dinosaur is a free app that uses a drag-and-drop format to teach children the basics of computer programming. Students animate Daisy and make her dance across the screen. They also have the option to download a kit to program their own computer game.…Read More

Computer Science Education Week: How will you participate?

Participate in computer science events, which run from Dec. 9-15

computer-science-education-weekComputer Science Education Week begins today, and the week is full of resources and events to help curriculum directors and educators integrate and implement computer science lessons.

As of Dec. 6, 167 countries had planned 33,247 events for 4.5 million students–and those numbers definitely increased over the weekend.

Educators and stakeholders can take a number of steps to support Computer Science Education Week and broader nationwide initiatives.…Read More

Milestones in science education

“Leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today — especially in science, technology, engineering and math,” President Obama has declared. While the words may be new, the sentiment goes back a long way, The New York Times reports. As Michael Wysession, an earth and planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote this year in the online edition of Scientific American. “Though we live in a thoroughly modern scientific world, our science education structure is now 120 years old.” The debate is nothing new, either; here and elsewhere in this issue are some historic highlights…

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