District Administration - July 2010 - (Page 23)

Curriculum STEM Education Can Help Prevent the Next Disaster The gulf drilling explosion on the deepwater horizon caused an unprecedented disaster that left experts scrambling to discover the elusive solution that will halt the unceasing flow of pollutants. The question remains: how do we prevent this kind of disaster from happening again? The most sustainable and forward-thinking answer may lie in education. it is within the academic realm of science, technology, engineering and math (sTeM), often touted as the Achilles’ heel of the u.s. educational system, that the foundations for future disaster-aversion could be built. “The main thing that needs to be done is to connect the dots for students between learning math and science now, and using it later on to solve real-world problems,” says Amy Jaffe, the Wallace s. Wilson fellow in energy studies at the James A. Baker iii institute for public policy and associate director of the rice university energy program. “sTeM education needs to start young,” says daylene long, a member of the national science education leadership Association and an affiliate member of the Council of state science supervisors. “We should be introducing kids to scientific processes, probeware, computer data collection, and robotics in elementary school.” for long, a successfully implemented sTeM program is one that trains students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers by teaching them not just the scientific facts, but more importantly, “the practices scientists and engineers use to understand the world and to draw conclusions based on evidence.” By encouraging this kind of thinking, sTeM not only develops future scientists and engineers, but also responsible citizens. Yet bridging the gap cannot be the ultimate goal; getting students to walk across that bridge must be the aim of sTeM programs. unfortunately, this is Br iefings The Deepwater Horizon drilling explosion is a real-world disaster that can show students the importance of pursuing STEM studies. often where sTeM programs fail, where high school graduates get sidetracked and take an alternate route, one that perhaps engages their mathematical minds in finance and accounting rather than engineering and technology. “At 7 years old, not too many children are sitting around thinking they’d like to make a killing on Wall street,” Jaffe says, “but they do have an honest and sincere interest in earth science, environmentalism, animals. The trick is to show the connection between learning math and science and being a person that can save the world.”—eric A. Clayton Redefining Online Learning Standards for Athletes On August 1st, the nAtiOnAl COllegiAte Athletic Association put into effect new standards for online courses high school athletes may take. high school athletes seeking admission to a Division i school will be required to have taken 16 nCAA approved core classes in english, physical or natural science, social science, math, foreign language, or comparative religion and/or philosophy. Because student athletes have such full schedules, the flexibility of online courses has made it a popular choice; however this flexibility has often meant more relaxed standards. in the past, some students have been able to receive credit for courses such as an english i class completed in as little as a day, while their peers in traditional courses spend five months reading novels, writing papers and developing skills. “We’ve worked with the review committee and other committees of education experts from inACOl (the international Association for K-12 Online learning) and the secondary school community,” says Mark hicks, associate director of high school review for nCAA. this summer, the eligibility Center will complete course reviews to look for classes that are below the rigor of college preparatory or have condensed time frames or content that does not meet the new standards. the revised definition will also require courses to be taught by qualified instructors and provide a forum for teacher-student interaction. student work must be available to verify the rigor of the course load as well as to show interaction with teachers. Finally, the course must have a defined time period for completion. schools can contact the nCAA eligibility Center to evaluate if their courses fit the new criteria. —Kerilee horan www.DistrictAdministration.com July/August 2010 23 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2010

District Administration - July 2010
Contents
Advertiser Index
Letters
From the Editor
News Update
Sustainability Update
Technology Update
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
The Golden State Loses Its Luster
Seeking Justice in San Francisco
The Push for Public Preschool
Gearing up for the New Assessment
Books
Products
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Insights
Crisis Response
Supervisor’s Opinion
Tech Disruptions
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion

District Administration - July 2010