Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
ellievsbear
No title available
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
taylor price
Sade Olutola
cherry valley forever
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
RMH
KIROKAZE
Show & Tell
YOU ARE THE REASON
Game of Thrones Daily
oozey mess
No title available
Product Placement
No title available
titsay
untitled
Jar Jar Binks Fan Club
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Thailand
seen from China
seen from Italy
seen from Algeria
seen from Netherlands
seen from T1
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Algeria
seen from United States
seen from United States
@justabunchofmolecules
"World Science U uses the power of digital innovation to create a new kind of learning experience. One in which an abundance of animations, interactive demonstrations, problem solving sessions and guided question explorations make abstract ideas spring to life."
The Open Science Federation is a nonprofit alliance working to improve the conduct and communication of science. We make Open Data, Open Access, Open Source...
"How Open Access Empowered a 16-Year-Old to Make Cancer Breakthrough"
Jack Andraka and Francis Collins, Director of NIH, make the case for Open Access to science publications.
American STEM Education infographic
A cool, if a bit "old", infographic on American STEM education.
Brought to you by Teach.com | Become a Teacher and USC Rossier Online
The American Museum of Natural History is offering a master's degree in teaching, part of a broad national campaign to add 100,000 science, technology and math teachers by 2021.
So much buzz surrounding the results of the PISA assessment! I'm happy to see articles on potential solutions countering the many that have merely been expressing outrage or utter dismay over America's failure to measure up on global standards. I like the shift in focus away from how the rest of the world could have possible outranked America, so as to focus on the why. A large component is the lack of support and autonomy afforded to STEM-field educators. The video above highlights the American Museum of Natural History's teacher training program, empowering (science) teachers who have never been trained in science-related topics themselves.
My fear is that the PISA report will have many focusing on the ranking itself, searching for answers to the question of why the rest of the world is performing better (For "fun", check out this FoxNews article).
NYTimes Room for Debate: Math and Science for More Than Just Geeks
Today's Room For Debate is centered on the missing link between STEM education reform and better resources: "...how else can STEM be made more interesting and attractive to young people?" This is the question that still plagues me as I work on my project, "Expansion of Open Science movement – Providing Leveled Versions of Scientific Publications" How would this resource help and what is it leaving out?
My favorites Op Ed pieces on better engaging students in STEM:
Mayim Bialik on using the power of Hollywood: "Movies and television are the foundations of modern storytelling and the vernacular of today’s students, but they can be so much more."
Emily Graslie, chief curiousity correspondent for The Field Museum and host of The Brain Scoop, on linking digital platforms for STEM-related content to brick and mortar institutions with more clout: "We can either seize this platform as STEM content creators or let this opportunity fly by. I believe YouTube has great potential, but it’ll take real-world institutions and communities to give it the credence it deserves."
Jack Andraka, science wunderkind (he's a junior in highschool and has already invented a groundbreaking pancreatic cancer test) and huge proponent of the Open Science movement states "science is something that you do, not something that you learn from a textbook."
An editorial piece from the NYTimes in response to the recent PISA findings. In addition to highlighting the US's obvious gender and racial bias when it comes to STEM education, the piece highlights the need for more qualified STEM educators as well as providing these teachers with the resources to able to "make science and math education much more practical and hands-on."
I wonder, however, if the focus on rankings--America's infatuation with enumeration--will serve to further constrain creative educators rather than inspiring innovation. Teaching to the test, teaching for the sake of moving up the international STEM achievement hierarchy...aren't we missing the point?
What to make of the the 2012 PISA rankings?
NPR is calling the test results "Sobering."
The findings from OECD's 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the international assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy, have been released. Compared to the 33 other OECD nations around the world, American teens ranked 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math.
So we're not number one and we haven't been in quite some time: On average, American test scores haven't improved in about a decade. This trend, this educational stagnation, must serve as a wake up call against educational complacency and low expectations, according to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
What do these scores actually tell us? I tend to be a little wary of standardized tests and the degree to which they become burdensome on both students and teachers. What's particularly telling, however, is that the PISA is designed to measure literacy. It's a standardized measure, sure, but the overall structure is aimed at assessing critical thinking skills and not simple test-taking or memorization abilities.
It tell us that average U.S. scores are lower for students coming from more marginalized groups partly because "a disproportionately greater share of U.S. students comes from disadvantaged social class groups, whose performance is relatively low in every country." Some would argue that this might not place the U.S. as far down on the educational hierarchy as PISA would suggest--after all, there are disadvantaged social classes in every country. I would argue that the hierarchy, then, is not the most important thing here. If there is an achievement gap in the U.S. (which there is) then that matters more than global competition. And if global competitiveness is the main focus, it cannot possibly be attainable when our own achievement levels are so fragmented.
"The goal of re3data.org is to create a global registry of research data repositories. The registry will cover research data repositories from different academic disciplines. re3data.org will present repositories for the permanent storage and access of data sets to researchers, funding bodies, publishers and scholarly institutions. In the course of this mission re3data.org aims to promote a culture of sharing, increased access and better visibility of research data."
Here's Heinz Papel from the re3data Open Science project on finding an appropriate research data repository.
When asked to think about a public interest problem at the start of our Gov 3.0 course, I knew immediately I wanted to try to figure out some way to improve the precarious status of science in the United States. Given the Open Data-context of the course, I tried to narrow my...
Quick project update for The GovLab Academy.
The power of synthesizing ideas and the building blocks of combinatorial creativity: innovation relies on diverse minds sharing ideas in order to assemble new ones. A reminder from Maria Popova of the inherent potential that open innovation/crowd sourcing holds for spurring collaborative and creative problem solving.
“Ideas rose in crowds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination.” - Henri Poincaré
I left last class consumed with thoughts of our discussion on efficiency and open data. When I came across this passage on the potential of deliberative governance while reading for my “Institutions, Governance and International Development” course, I had to share with the class. I feel it...
What's in a name?
Written in 2011-12(ish): A few years ago I was sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office. As I flipped through a slightly outdated copy of Vanity Fair, I stopped on the following article: Cary in the Sky with Diamonds. Raised on classics like Bringing Up Baby and North By Northwest, I have a special place in my heart for Cary Grant.
It was this quote, however, and not the article, itself that gave me pause: "I know that, all my life, I’ve been going around in a fog. You’re just a bunch of molecules until you know who you are."
Yeah, yeah, Cary was talking about the spiritually enlightening powers of LSD therapy. But I believe this quote to be just as significant for anybody who struggles to find meaning within themselves (whether or not you turn on, tune in and drop out).
Though time has passed, Cary's words have stayed with me. As I attempt to explore how to meld my two most significant passions--science and the arts--in a professional setting, I find Cary's assessment of the self to be just as applicable. I view science and the arts as linked, in spite of the cultural schism that would keep them on opposite sides of the creative spectrum. In re-imagining the boundaries that limit these fields, scientists and artists are free to dream larger, further promoting an understanding of complex information through exciting and new ways of viewing the world.
-----
Having originally written (and promptly forgetting about) this initial post years ago, I am excited to revisit and reframe the issues that once drove me to start a blog in the first place. Yes, I hope this site can serve as a platform for investigating the union of arts and science, however, my interests have become more focused on issues of engagement and access in science education and policy.
Ultimately, I am looking to explore technology that could lend itself to a participatory and collaborative educational process, one that would highlight the real-life applicability of science and cultivate an appreciation for science that could potentially ignite student interest in pursuing scientific careers--or at the very least allow them to see that science is pretty cool. Let this site serve as an exploration of this "problem" as I strive to find some implementable solutions.