Final Report: Accomplishments and Findings

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) was funded on August 15, 2004 under the auspices of the Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) program in the Division of Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education. The Program Solicitation (NSF 04-501) provided the following synopsis of the program: The Centers for Learning and Teaching program focuses on the advanced preparation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)educators as well as the establishment of meaningful partnerships with education stakeholders, especially PhD-granting institutions, school systems, and informal education performances. Its goal is to renew and diversify the care of leaders in STEM education; to increase the number of K-16 educators capable of delivering high-quality STEM instruction and assessment; and to conduct research into STEM education issues of national import

Perspectives on the Finnish Early Years STEAM Education : Reflecting on the Avant-Garde

Skills needed to live in our current societies are rapidly changing. How will we provide children with the skills they will need in the future? While early years education has been traditionally strong in supporting 21st century skills like creativity, collaboration and problem-solving within play, new demands such as fostering digital skills and computational thinking challenge current practices and methods and call us as researchers and educators to urgently rethink and re-design how such skills could be advanced in early childhood education. Over the recent years, the Finnish educational system has enjoyed intense national and international attention, and the Early Childhood Education and Care sector along with it. This has resulted in multiple descriptions and attempts to characterize its main differences from other national systems. The Finnish early years education has been heralded, for example, for its holistic orientation to children’s care, and education as well as its focus on playful learning approaches and participatory culture. However, despite these positive characterizations and the arguably great potential of the Finnish pre-primary education for offering children with rich opportunities to engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning, early childhood educators are still cautious to implement STEAM and phenomenon-based learning. In this chapter, we will present three distinctive approaches to early STEAM education developed in Finland, namely 1) phenomenon-based learning, 2) children’s maker-spaces and 3) children’s projects. In addition, we will also discuss and draw out suggestions on how these approaches could potentially address the above concerns regarding Finnish early years STEAM education.The skills needed to live in our current societies are rapidly changing. How will we provide children with the skills they will need in the future? While early years education has been traditionally strong in supporting 21st century skills like creativity, collaboration and problem-solving within play, global crises around the ecological, social and economic sustainability of our societies challenge current practices and call on us as researchers and educators to rethink how these and other skills, like computational thinking, could be advanced in early childhood education via science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education. Over recent years, the Finnish educational system has enjoyed intense national and international attention, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector along with it. This has resulted in multiple descriptions and attempts to characterize Finnish education’s main differences from other national systems. Finnish early years education has been heralded for its holistic orientation to children’s care and education, as well as its focus on playful learning approaches and participatory culture. However, despite these positive characterizations and the arguably great potential of the Finnish pre-primary education for offering children with rich opportunities to engage in STEAM learning, early childhood educators are still cautious in implementing STEAM and phenomenon-based learning. In this chapter, we will present three distinctive approaches to early STEAM education developed in Finland, namely 1) phenomenon-based learning, 2) children’s maker-spaces and 3) children’s projects. In addition, we will also discuss how these approaches build on the current form of Finnish ECEC and draw out suggestions on how these approaches could potentially address the above concerns regarding Finnish early years STEAM education.Peer reviewe

Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions

This survey paper examines the issue of female under-representation in computing education and industry, which has been shown from empirical studies to be a problem for over two decades. While various measures and intervention strategies have been implemented to increase the interest of girls in computing education and industry, the level of success has been discouraging. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide an analysis of the extensive research work in this area. It outlines the progressive decline in female representation in computing education. It also presents the key arguments that attempt to explain the decline and intervention strategies. We conclude that there is a need to further explore strategies that will encourage young female learners to interact more with computer educational games

Growing Opportunity: A Two-Year Update on The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy

Highlights progress on a 2009 report's call to mobilize for innovative, accountable math and science education for all; establish clear standards and effective assessments; improve teacher supply and leadership; and enhance school and system design

Research and Education in Computational Science and Engineering

Over the past two decades the field of computational science and engineering (CSE) has penetrated both basic and applied research in academia, industry, and laboratories to advance discovery, optimize systems, support decision-makers, and educate the scientific and engineering workforce. Informed by centuries of theory and experiment, CSE performs computational experiments to answer questions that neither theory nor experiment alone is equipped to answer. CSE provides scientists and engineers of all persuasions with algorithmic inventions and software systems that transcend disciplines and scales. Carried on a wave of digital technology, CSE brings the power of parallelism to bear on troves of data. Mathematics-based advanced computing has become a prevalent means of discovery and innovation in essentially all areas of science, engineering, technology, and society; and the CSE community is at the core of this transformation. However, a combination of disruptive developments---including the architectural complexity of extreme-scale computing, the data revolution that engulfs the planet, and the specialization required to follow the applications to new frontiers---is redefining the scope and reach of the CSE endeavor. This report describes the rapid expansion of CSE and the challenges to sustaining its bold advances. The report also presents strategies and directions for CSE research and education for the next decade.Comment: Major revision, to appear in SIAM Revie

The STEM Workforce Challenge: The Role of the Public Workforce System in a National Solution for a Competitive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Workforce

[Excerpt] Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields have become increasingly central to U.S. economic competitiveness and growth. Long-term strategies to maintain and increase living standards and promote opportunity will require coordinated efforts among public, private, and not-for-profit entities to promote innovation and to prepare an adequate supply of qualified workers for employment in STEM fields. American pre-eminence in STEM will not be secured or extended without concerted effort and investment. Trends in K-12 and higher education science and math preparation, coupled with demographic and labor supply trends, point to a serious challenge: our nation needs to increase the supply and quality of “knowledge workers” whose specialized skills enable them to work productively within the STEM industries and occupations. It will not be sufficient to target baccalaureate and advanced degree holders in STEM fields. Our nation’s economic future depends upon improving the pipeline into the STEM fields for sub-baccalaureate students as well as BA and advanced degree holders, for youth moving toward employment and adults already in the workforce, for those already employed in STEM fields and those who would like to change careers to secure better employment and earnings. The seriousness of this challenge has penetrated public and opinion-makers’ consciousness—and government, industry, and education and training providers have begun to respond. NIH, NSF, and the Department of Education have been leading the federal effort. Industry associations, individual firms, foundations, and other organizations have identified and tried to fill gaps. State governments, too, are working to strengthen the STEM workforce pipeline. Much remains to be done, though, within government and across diverse sectors, to ensure that U.S. education, workforce, and economic systems rise to the STEM challenge. The U.S. Department of Labor is already an important partner in federal efforts to strengthen the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) pipeline. The U.S. Department of Labor invests about $14 billion a year in the nation’s workforce system and in increasing the skills and education of our current workforce. In addition, the Department of Labor has begun investing regionally in ways that overcome typical fragmentation in planning and action among industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and education and training institutions. The Department of Labor has the potential to play an even more important role in addressing gaps in the nation’s approach to strengthening the STEM pipeline in three areas: 1) building the gateway to STEM careers; 2) enhancing the capacity of talent development institutions to produce more and better skilled STEM workers; and 3) catalyzing and supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. The leadership of the Employment and Training Administration is committed to—and stands ready to— contribute and collaborate to develop an overall national strategy around the STEM workforce pipeline and to improve coordination across federal agencies