Category Archives: K-12

About or related to primary (k-12) science and engineering education. Likely of interest to teachers and administrators. Teachers may also find many of the posts we feel are of interests to students interested in science and engineering useful.

Phun Physics

Coolest science toy ever

Phun is without question the greatest computer toy in the history of the universe, if this had been around when I was a kid I would be a frickin genius by now. You don’t need things any more. It’s extremely easy to use. As a starter tip, turn gravity off when you’re attaching stuff to the background (right click after selecting “affix” tool).

Very cool. Get your Phun (2D physics software) for free. Phun is a Master of Science Theises by Computing Science student Emil Ernerfeldt.

Some other very cool stuff: Cool Mechanical Simulation System – Scratch from MIT – What Kids can Learn – Lego Autopilot First Flight – Awesome Cat Cam

Thailand’s Contribution to the ISEF

Intel to send 5 to US

Intel Microelectronics (Thailand) Ltd is sponsoring five young Thai students to participate in the 59th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Atlanta, Georgia
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Two of the individual entries are a musical instrument sound analysis and recognition system, which won the first prize in the computer science category, and was developed by Boonyarit Somrealvongkul, and a method of measuring a curved path’s radius with a modified car, which took first prize in the engineering category and was developed by Ronnapee Chaichaowarat.

The third project is a team entry, “New Plywood Products”, the first prize winner in the environmental science category, developed by Pheemadej Prasitwarawej, Tanavorakit Bangkeaw and Manapas Hararak, from Montfort College, Chiang Mai.

Over 1,500 of the brightest young scientists from around the world attend the fair every year, where they share ideas, showcase cutting-edge science projects and compete for more than $3 million (94.5 million baht) in awards and scholarships.

High School Students in USA, China and India

2 million minutes is a documentary film looking at education in USA, China and India. The producers offer a blog, What Should America Do?, which is interesting.

this blog offers deeper insights into education in China, India and the United States, and the challenge America faces. Now you can join a dialog about what governments, communities and families should and are doing to best prepare US students for satisfying careers in the 21st century.

U.S. Students Can’t Compete in High-Tech World

The film follows two students from Carmel High School in Indianapolis, as well as two students from India and two from China. The premise is that they all have roughly 2 million minutes in high school to build their intellectual foundation and prepare for college and a career.

Twenty months in the making, “2 Million Minutes” highlights the pressures and priorities of these students and their families. Ultimately, it provides insight into the changing nature of competition in a technology-based global economy.
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“As a high-tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist for the past 25 years,” Compton said,” I can tell you the people who have reaped the greatest economic rewards in the past two decades have been those with the most rigorous and thorough understanding of technology — and thus a solid foundation in math and science — and who have an ability to solve problems and possess entrepreneurial skill.”

I strongly agree with the economic benefits from strong science and engineering education and the personal benefit of science and technology expertise (one small example: S&P 500 CEOs – Again Engineering Graduates Lead).

See some of our previous posts on similar matters: The Importance of Science Education – USA Teens 29th in Science – Scientific Illiteracy – Fun k-12 Science and Engineering Learning – Diplomacy and Science Excellence – Lego Learning

The Economic Consequences of Investing in Science Education

My comments on: National Association of High School Principals Takes Exception to Two Million Minutes

Thanks for saying what has to be said. I have talked on similar themes on my blog for awhile now. The USA is definitely losing its relative position as the clear leader for science and engineering excellence.

The debate now whether we are willing to invest more today to slow the decline or whether we are willing to risk the economic future where our centers of science and engineering excellence are eclipsed quickly.

There is a long lag time that has allowed us to coast for the last 30 or so years. The reality is that most Americans suffer under the illusion we are in the same position we were in 1970’s. We are not and it is obvious to me that the economic impacts are starting to have dramatic effects now and it will only increase.

It might be more pleasant to explain why the USA is fine the way it is but that is a mistake. For more on my thoughts see two categories of the Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog: Economics and primary science education and 2 posts: The Future is Engineering and the Political Impact of Global Technology Excellence.

Non-Vaccination Risks

I think one nice thing about blogs is that you get personal instead of corporate politically correct speak, at times. If you don’t like that you might not want to read – Vaccination Woo Nutz Are Getting Up My Nose Today:

And here lies the part where I start getting ticked off. First, these knuckleheads took one of their unvaccinated children to a region of the world that apparently fails to meet WHO targets for measles vaccination. Not to mention a country which seems to have had very recent measles “outbreaks”. Seems like you might want an abundance of caution, right? Maybe not jump right back to school with a host of unvaccinated kids. But they did. And all of a sudden it is a public health nightmare. Which has very real consequences for a very large segment of your community.

Freedom has responsibility for those that care about people and society. Choosing to risk others because of your actions is something I find uncivil, callous and disrespectful to those you put at risk. If you choose to take actions which risk others it is your responsibility to mitigate those risks to others.

Understanding the Evolution of Human Beings by Country

graphic showing countries understanding of evolution

I recently wrote about evolution and scientific literacy. The graph on the left shows the percentage of the population that understands evolution is a core scientific principle. The graph based on data from 2005 for 34 countries.

Blue indicates those that know that “human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals.”
Yellow are those that are unsure
Red are those that don’t know that it is true

Evolution Less Accepted in U.S. Than Other Western Countries, Study Finds, from National Geographic News:

A study of several such surveys taken since 1985 has found that the United States ranks next to last in acceptance of evolution theory among nations polled. Researchers point out that the number of Americans who are uncertain about the theory’s validity has increased over the past 20 years.

The United States is is second to last place in this question of scientific literacy with only 40% of the population knowing the truth. The USA was between Cyprus and Turkey in this measure of understanding of scientific knowledge. The most knowledgeable countries have about twice the rate of knowledgeable respondents (with nearly 80% knowing).

Related: Scientific Illiteracy by Country (the USA managed to stay in the top 10 for overall scientific literacy rate of 8th graders in 2003) – Understanding Evolution (University of California at Berkeley) – Scientifically Illiteracy – Retroviruses – DNA Repair Army – Massive Project Will Reveal How Humans Continue to Evolve – Gene Study Finds Cannibal Pattern – Nigersaurus – Rare Chinese Mountain Cat

Kids in the Lab: Getting High-Schoolers Hooked on Science

Kids in the lab: Getting high-schoolers hooked on science

Ballard is a senior at Madison West High School who is still shy of his 18th birthday. His work with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics is part of the Youth Apprenticeship Program, an innovative project that gives exceptional high-school students an opportunity to get exposure and experience in their desired careers.

Created in 1991, the program is run by Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development, with collaboration from universities, schools and businesses. Statewide, more than 10,000 students have participated in 22 different program areas.
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Lan says nearly all of her apprentices have gone on to study science as college students, a reward that compensates the time mentors invest working with the young students.

“the [students] don’t really know how science works,” she says. “I think I’m trying to show them, ‘Yes, you can have a career; yes, you can have a family; and yes, you can have fun,'” she says. “Yes, you can do it!”

I attended West High School and enjoyed some science classes. We did unfortunately have one class, biology, where (due to budget cuts, I believe) they let some teachers go, and due to seniority rules for determining what teachers to layoff, we ended up with a teacher that had taught 2nd grade for like 15 years and really didn’t know much about biology. Otherwise the classes were pretty good.

And for Biology we luckily had a smart kid that could answer the other students questions. Though I remember my senior year design of experiments project didn’t go so well: I couldn’t get much to grow at all. So I was not able to actually determine which factors had what influence 🙁

$500,000 for Innovation in Engineering Education

The 2008 Bernard M. Gordon Prize, recognizing innovation in engineering and technology education goes to Lawrence Carlson and Jacquelyn Sullivan, University of Colorado at Boulder. CU-Boulder Faculty To Receive $500,000 Prize For Innovation In Engineering Education

The $500,000 award honors them as founders of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program at CU-Boulder, which infuses hands-on learning throughout K-16 engineering education to motivate and prepare tomorrow’s engineering leaders.
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The laboratory is essential to the ITL Program’s undergraduate curriculum in which engineering students from all departments, beginning in their first year, can take design courses in which small teams develop products to solve real problems. Leadership qualities emerge as teams call upon each member’s strengths to create and manage an engineering project from start to finish, and all teams showcase their creations in the semi-annual Design Expo. The first-year design course has contributed to significantly higher retention for all students across the engineering college.

A second element of the program’s curriculum is the extensive development and implementation of K-12 engineering education. About 1,700 students in grades three through 12 experience the excitement of hands-on engineering in weekly classes taught by engineering graduate students — helping them realize that engineering is about making a difference in the world. The classes are a partnership between the ITL Program and six neighborhood public schools in Lafayette as well as the Denver School of Science and Technology.

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids do

5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talks about our new wave of overprotected kids — and spells out 5 (and really, he’s got 6) dangerous things you should let your kids do. Allowing kids the freedom to explore, he says, will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.

It is not necessarily the safest thing to try and eliminate all risks. Kids can learn to be safer when they work on not entirely safe things with parents or others that can teach them how to do so safely. And they learn to interact with the world around them and think like a scientist.

Science and Engineering Education Collaboration in Virginia

Two new schools to focus on technology

Two new schools focused on career, technology and engineering for high school and college students will open in Newport News and Suffolk. But while the Suffolk school will have a home in the Pruden Center for Industry, the other will look more like a network, reaching out from a base at the New Horizons Regional Education Center into six school districts, two colleges, at least one government agency and several area businesses.
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The Newport News academy is aimed at high school students and will focus on electrical and mechanical engineering, Johnson said. Students will follow the curriculum requirements for an associate of arts degree available at academy partner Thomas Nelson Community College, which can lead to a bachelor’s degree at another partner, Old Dominion University. Russo said emphasis will include robotics, modeling and simulation technology and engineering.

Instead of housing the school at New Horizons or Thomas Nelson, the academy’s classes will be taught in public high schools in Gloucester County, Newport News, Hampton, York County, Poquoson and Williamsburg-James City County, at New Horizons and at Thomas Nelson. Additional courses will be available online.