October 16, 2014

Welcome!

Here's this week's edition of the STEM Ed Update.

Top Article:

How Well Do You Know the Two Most Likely Senate Education Chairs?

Education Week

No matter which party comes out ahead on Election Day, the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will have a new leader. Should Republicans

usurp the chamber, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who is currently the ranking member on the education panel, will take the reins. Should Democrats maintain their majority, political observers, education policy experts, and Senate aides expect Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to succeed retiring Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa--though Murray, who currently chairs the Budget Committee, has been adamant about not projecting her future moves.

Read more here.

Stay in the Know:

Latest STEM Education Policy News Across the U.S.

Common Core State Standards in 2014: Districts' Perceptions, Progress, and Challenges

Center on Education Policy

Even as support for the Common Core has diminished among some policymakers and the public, as suggested by the policy changes and poll results cited above, CEP's survey shows that increasing

proportions of district leaders concur that the CCSS are providing students with a more rigorous curriculum and will improve students' skills in math and ELA. We speculate that these changes in districts leaders' views between 2011 and 2014 are likely the result of three additional years of first-hand experience with implementing the CCSS in classrooms and with gaining a deeper understanding of the content of the CCSS.

Read more here.

The Coming Revolution in Engineering Education

ENR

In the same way that revolutions in entrepreneurism, quality and information technology in the 1960s, 1970s

and 1990s brought wrenching changes in the modern engineering and construction workplace, there's a revolution underway in engineering education-and it's about time.

Read more here.

15 Economic Facts about Millennials

Economic Advisory Council

The past few decades have witnessed astounding advances in technology and computing. Since personal computers were introduced to schools in the late 1970s, technology companies have innovated at startling speed, often rolling out a groundbreaking new platform or computer model every year. Because much of this period of innovation coincided with Millennials' childhoods, it has shaped the ways that Millennials

interact with technology and seems to have affected their expectations for creativity and innovation in their own work lives.

Read more here.

Best Paying College Majors for 2014

Melmark

There are many types of Engineers and these various types occupy all Top 10 spots on the list of Best Paying College Majors!! They also include 14 of the top 30 majors on the list.

Read more here.

Grace Lieblein: The Importance of STEM Students

Fast Lane

Over the weekend, I was reminded of why I chose to major with a STEM degree. As honored as I was to receive the HENAAC Engineer of the Year Award, the highlight for me was meeting and interacting with so many great students who are majoring in either science, technology, engineering or mathematics. As I answered their questions, I reflected over my career choices and how I'd applied what I've learned from my STEM education.

Read more here.

From Around the Community

Vote Now and Help Determine the Real-Life Big Hero 6.

The BIG ideas are in and the Top 20 videos have been selected in Disney's Big Hero 6 - XPRIZE Challenge. Young innovators between the ages of 8 and 17 around the country came up with some amazing ideas to tackle the biggest challenges facing their community or the world using science, technology, engineering, art, and/or mathematics. The top 6 winners will travel to Los Angeles to walk the red carpet at the premiere of Disney's Big Hero 6 in Hollywood; go behind the scenes at both Disney Animation Studios and Disney Imagineering; innovate at the XPRIZE headquarters; and receive other great prizes provided by FIRST and littleBits.

Vote now.

UT Education System Releases seekUT Tool

Washington Facts: STEM Edition

The rapid evolution of digital education curriculum, the growth of 1-1 learning initiatives, and the wealth of educational tools available online, all create wonderful teaching opportunities for students and educators.

Read more here.

Project Dragonfly at the Miami University (Ohio) Announces Global Field Program Master's Degrees

Earth Expeditions graduate courses and the Global Field Program (GFP) master's degree bring together graduate students, scientists, educators and community leaders at critical conservation sites worldwide. Sites for 2015 include the Amazon, Australia, Baja, Belize, Borneo, Costa Rica, Guyana, Hawai'i, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Namibia and Thailand.

Find out more here.

Note from the Editor

We at the STEM Education Coalition hope you have enjoyed this week's edition of the STEM Ed Newsletter.

Remember, any organization may join our team, and there is no cost to become an Affiliate Member of our Coalition. Affiliate members are listed on our website, receive periodic communications from the Coalition on policy matters, and will be signed up for the weekly newsletter.

Members can also join our Leadership Council, where they play an active role in setting the public policy agenda for the Coalition and are invited to participate in the Coalition's frequent interactions with policymakers.

If you would like to join the Coalition at any of the membership levels, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

We appreciate your continued support and involvement.

Sincerely,
Taylor Luczak

STEM Education Coalition

Our Coalition's Co-Chairs

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