Why Do I Have to Learn This..?

As we know, Americans are falling behind many of the other industrialized nations when it comes to our mathematical knowledge. Shorter schooldays and school years and more diverse populations of students are a couple of facts that may lead to our low scores in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects. There are many teachers and organizations that are dedicated to finding better ways to teach our students math, so that we can remain to be a competitive nation. Here are a couple of stories I have read about that I would like to share to you.

Audrey Cucci, a high school math teacher in Frankfort, New York, uses group work and various means of technology to create an interactive and collaborative classroom that gives students opportunities to work together and manipulate abstract math problems to find solutions and explain their work. You can click here to read about Cucci’s classroom here, or you can click here to view her lessons on SchoolTube. Cucci uses an interactive whiteboard and microphone to record each of her lessons.

“Why do I have to learn this?” If your students have this question for you during one of your math lessons, you may want to show them the careers that require a solid background in math. Texas Instruments and the Sloan Career Cornerstone Center have dedicated a portion of their Student Zone website to describing various STEM careers and the background it takes to succeed.

As we know, there is still a significant pay gap among men and women and more women than men are graduating with bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees, But…men still outnumber women in STEM careers which often offer generous salaries. Expanding Your Horizons Network is dedicated to motivating young women in science and math; AAUW Tech Trek is a math/science camp “designed to develop interest, excitement and self-confidence in young women who will enter eighth grade in the fall”; Singer and founder of Advancement of Women Now , Mary J. Blige, has partnered with NASA to encourage young women to pursue STEM career choices.

Kiran Bir Sethi Speaks About an Infection We Want

Kiran Bir Sethi, the founder of Riverside School in India, shows examples of how the empowerment of Riverside’s students shifted the mindset of the students from “teacher told me” to “I can do it.” She uses data to show that when children are empowered, they care more about their world, and they do better in school. I know this is not groundbreaking news, but this video gives us an opportunity to watch these students change the world around them.

Just watch it…the video is less than 10 minutes long.

Tech Companies Sponsoring High Schools

On Tuesday, June 29th, I wrote about Philadelphia’s School of the Future, a high school that Microsoft started in 2006. Today, I learned that IBM participating in the trend of corporate-sponsored education. With the help of the Gates Foundation, the City University of New York and IBM will open a new high school that is expected to teach 500 to 600 students. The school will extend to 14th grade, and upon graduation, students will receive an associates degree in addition to a high school diploma. IBM will have the opportunity to teach the students computer science in a way that will most benefit their company, but students are not forced into any sort of commitment with the company.

So, where is the money coming from to create this computer science-focused school..?

IBM is giving $250,000 to NYC to create the school.

New York City is among the four beneficiaries of the Gates Foundation's Communities Learning in Partnership grant. Each recipient received $3 million to fund innovative proposals to boost college completion rates. (San Francisco, Mesa [AZ], and Riverside [CA] were the other cities given the grant money.)

Finally, NYC was awarded $36 million Teacher Incentive Fund to encourage highly-skilled teachers to work in low-performing schools and to mentor their colleagues.