Check out the articles!:
Want to Motivate Students in STEM? The Way You Explain Things Matters
National Science Foundation Cancels More Than 400 STEM Grants
“Every teacher has had one of those days or one of those topics,” where no matter how many different ways they’ve explained it, students still didn’t understand it, said Christine Royce, a professor at Shippensburg University’s teacher education department, and a past president of the National Science Teaching Association.
“You have to actually know [the subject and the content] to understand the application of it,” she said.
“We’ve had a longstanding history of having different types of money support teacher development [in STEM],” she said.
The Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite prompted investment in teacher training and science curriculum development, a response to fears that American students wouldn’t be prepared to compete in science fields on the world stage. In the 1990s, the federally funded Eisenhower programs provided classroom resources for math and science teachers until Congress cut them in the mid-2000s.
“We’ve seen drop-offs over time when money has been reduced but not eliminated, where … there’s evidence that shows fewer teachers can attend a conference, or not as many teachers can attend a summer program,” Royce said. “I think with this next step of what’s happening, it will have a significant impact.”
But even in subjects that are more commonly covered in science professional development, grants that fund the dissemination of the latest research to teachers and students play an important role in science education, said Royce, the former NSTA president.
“New science is happening every year, and it’s being released every week,” she said. “By the time it catches up with the medium, whether it’s a printed textbook or an online textbook, there’s going to be a delay.”
“Computer Science for All awards, for instance, support research and partnerships that help train K-12 teachers to teach computer science and computational thinking. Discovery Research Pre-K-12 grants fund research into STEM learning. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program helps recruit, prepare, and retain science and math teachers in high-need districts,” Joyce explained.
