STEM+ [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] +PLUS+

Could time spent learning to code also help students improve at reading, math, and science?

Research conducted with 3rd — 5th-grade students in Broward County found that students who did extra Code.org CS Fundamentals activities, in classrooms of teachers who reported high levels of resourcefulness, had significantly higher scores on the Achieve3000 reading comprehension exam. But that’s not all. They scored significantly higher on Florida State Math, Science, and English Language Arts Exams too!

This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are teaching CS Fundamentals, and we hope more teachers join them. It’s also one of the first studies showing an association between studying computer science and higher student achievement on standardized tests, which is important for advocates of computer science everywhere.

A fourth-grade teacher shares a project-based learning unit that incorporates social studies, literacy, math, and 21st-century skills.

As a fourth-grade teacher, I can truly appreciate how a well-constructed project-based learning experience offers opportunities for stronger, more consistent reinforcement and support of important foundational learning skills and concepts across multiple disciplines and provides me more time for individualized and differentiated instruction for my learners.

Most importantly, PBL allows for additional opportunities to assess my learners for understanding and mastery—once a project is underway, I find myself constantly formatively assessing for a long list of literacy, math, social studies, and 21st-century skills benchmarks.

Generally girls lose interest in STEM careers as they get older. But, according to a new study, small changes at school and at home can have a profound impact on how girls perceive STEM careers, how confident they feel in class and how likely they are to pursue STEM academically and into their careers.

The study, "Closing the STEM Gap," published today by Microsoft, surveyed more than 6,000 girls and young women on their interests and perceptions of science, technology, engineering and math. It found that girls tended to lose interest in STEM as they headed toward adulthood. And, by the time they'd finished high school, their interest had dropped substantially. For example, the report found that interest in computer science among females dropped 27 percentage points between middle school and college. According to the report: "In middle school ... 31 percent of girls believe that jobs requiring coding and programming are 'not for them.' In high school, that percentage jumps up to 40. By the time they're in college, 58 percent of girls count themselves out of these jobs."

Programming is one process of the larger problem-solving methodology of creating digital solutions. Using a programming language can create a solution to a problem. The starting point for the problem-solving methodology is finding out about (investigating) and working out (defining) the problem. Once the problem has been defined the next step is to represent the solution as a series of steps (an algorithm).

If you're looking to get kids excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), show them the ways that popular media uses -- and misuses -- the concepts you teach daily. Used as part of a lesson, clips from movies can reinforce topics, spark discussion, and promote new perspectives.

There's still a great need to introduce kids, and especially girls, to STEM fields like neurobiology, nanotechnology, and civil engineering. Whether it's a short clip from a Hollywood film to reinforce the concept of gravity or a feature-length documentary that highlights the work of engineers, incorporating movies into your lessons can help kids connect what they're learning in the classroom to the world at large. And even after the credits roll, you can extend the learning: Create a model, start a debate, or begin a community project that the film -- and your teaching -- inspires.

Here are 10 film picks that showcase essential STEM skills for school, home, the workplace, and beyond.

GET WITH THE PROGRAMMING
Emerald Code Simone, Lana, Bevan & Jackson as they explore creativity and solve teenage problems through science, technology, and coding. The STEM-friendly series sees #GirlsWhoCode (and their friend Jackson) deal with high school life using 3-D printing, drones, sensors, gaming, and coding. They’ll learn failure’s just a detour on the road to success, and success comes from having the courage to continue.  

To commemorate 10 years of the Scratch programming language, communities around the world gathered to share ideas about creative learning

Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics have rewritten sections of mathematics history by studying Indigenous mathematic systems in the Pacific.

School of Teacher Education senior lecturer and researcher, Dr Kay Owens, led the study of Indigenous people in Papua New Guinea, to investigate the way they think mathematically.

In a new book, History of Number, Owens completed the late work of his late colleague Dr Glendon Angove Lean, and documented the longevity of number systems and the use of large numbers in Indigenous communities.

Owens worked with co-authors Dr Patricia Paraide and Dr Charly Muke from Papua New Guinea to publish the findings.

In STEM Pack 6: Art Conservation students learn that art conservators play an important role in preserving our history. In conserving art, they use scientific techniques to analyse and understand what the art work is made of, to understand past conservation, implement new techniques and make decisions about what they can and can’t conserve and how to conserve the work. Students will also become aware of the ethical considerations about why we conserve art, what types of art we conserve, and how far we should go in conserving different items. Students also gain an understanding of the careers in art conservation and the role science plays in these careers. In examining art conservation careers, students will engage with their own ideas and beliefs about science and art and consider ethical questions arising from their discussions. This pack can be used to show the relevancy of Chemical Sciences ‘Science Understanding’ & ‘Science Inquiry’ strands, and therefore delivered alongside such topical teaching. All tasks in this pack are mapped to Science as a Human Endeavour as well as the Core Capabilities from the National Curriculum (v8.3). 

Tune into Australia’s Science Channel for a livestream with environmentalist, scientist, author and broadcaster Tim Flannery, as he stops in during his appearances at the WOMADelaide festival to field questions from students around Australia.

 
Tim Flannery is one of the world’s most prominent environmentalists. In 2007 he was named ‘Australian of the Year’, arguably Australia’s highest honour. He delivered the 2002 Australia Day Address to the nation. In 2013 he founded, and is now chief councillor, of the Australian Climate Council, Australia’s largest and most successful crowdfunded organisation. His latest book is ‘Sunlight and Seaweed.’ which also featured on ABC’s Catalyst program in 2017.

This event offers an unique opportunity for school students to ask legendary environmental scientist Tim Flannery their science and environment questions.

Every day, we’re amazed and delighted by the incredible diversity of games, stories, and animations that children create and share with Scratch. This August, we’ll be launching a new generation of Scratch, called Scratch 3.0, that aims to expand how kids can create and share, and how educators can support student learning with Scratch. This new version will include new images, new support materials, and new programming capabilities — and it runs on a wider variety of devices (including tablets).

Coding opportunities are now out of this world, and high school students from every state will soon code robots in space for free.

Young space enthusiasts across the country will have the opportunity to control NASA robots inside the International Space Station, as part of a newly-expanded robotics competition.

The Zero Robotics competition is run by NASA and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with support from the University of Sydney.

No matter what some aureate rhetoricians would have us believe, advanced manufacturing and other high-tech occupations are much more likely to provide future employment opportunities than bringing back coal and big steel.

Welcome to my collection of Arduino Projects. Even if you are just getting started with Arduino, you don’t have to worry about that. Each of the following DIY Arduino projects is covered with detailed step by step tutorial on how to do it yourself and includes circuit schematics, source codes and videos.

This collection of Arduino Projects features:

Wireless control
Automation
Motors control
Robotics
LEDs
and more.

With the launch of our first new free online course of 2018 — Scratch to Python: Moving from Block- to Text-based Programming — two weeks away, I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce you to the ins and outs of the course content so you know what to expect.

MOVING FROM SCRATCH TO PYTHON – FREE ONLINE LEARNING
Learn how to apply the thinking and programming skills you’ve learnt in Scratch to text-based programming languages like Python.

Take the plunge into text-based programming
The idea for this course arose from our conversations with educators who had set up a Code Club in their schools. Most people start a club by teaching Scratch, a block-based programming language, because it allows learners to drag and drop blocks of pre-written code into a window to create a program. The blocks automatically snap together, making it easy to build fun and educational projects that don’t require much troubleshooting. You can do almost anything a beginner could wish for with Scratch, even physical computing to control LEDs, buzzers, buttons, motors, and more!

According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), women hold about half of all professional occupations, but only a quarter of all computing jobs. And the numbers are shockingly lower when considering African-American and Latina women, who hold only 3% and 1%, respectively, of those jobs and even less leadership positions in technology. Innovation, without diversity, isn’t very innovative.

Fortunately, there is much reason to believe that the future is changing dramatically for the better. In honor of Black History Month, Smart Girls is collaborating with NCWIT’s Aspirations in Computing program to spotlight 12 young women who, through their brilliance, persistence, passion and vision, represent the face of our brighter future in computer science. They are pushing the boundaries of innovation while at the same time breaking down barriers to make a space for themselves — and for the girls of color coming up behind them.

Read about these six inspiring young women below in Part 2 of our series, and if you missed our first installment, check it out here.

Australia’s gene technology regulations have not been revised since 2001 - despite many game-changing advances in genetic technologies over the past 17 years. A review of the regulations by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (a Federal government body) involved a public call for submissions and has also triggered some fears about what changes are to come. Will it mean genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – plants, animals or even humans – will not be regulated? We argue that the proposed changes to the regulations will actually involve more oversight of genetic techniques, including the poster-child of new approaches: CRISPR.

When using Day of STEM in the classroom, teachers can provide hands-on extension activities for students to continue their STEM skills development. This handy list is suitable for Grades 7-12 and can be used to complement each Day of STEM program.

Jim Pratley was driving down the Hume Highway towards Wagga Wagga when he had a flash of insight. The professor of agriculture had been at a workshop in Canberra that was looking at the decline in jobs in the rural sector. It was 2008 and Australia's farm sector had a persistent problem: it couldn't find enough qualified people to do all the work.

Since 2001, the number of university graduates with agriculture qualifications had been in decline. Ag enrolments had slipped from more than 4500 in 2001 to less than 3000 in 2006. The old agriculture colleges – specialists in vocational training – had been closing down around the country; their residential-student business model had been driven to the wall by excessive costs.

Students explore the latest STEM careers – the science and scientists – through videos, research and discussion.

The aim of each STEM Careers Pack is twofold: first, to make students aware of the wide variety of STEM careers there are and; secondly, to help students understand the nature of scientific knowledge, how science influences society and how society influences science (i.e. Science as a Human Endeavour).

During their explorations students will also appreciate how the different areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics interact and are interdependent. They will develop their own STEM literacies and competencies.