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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Expanding STEM Education With Teacher Training | NEA Today

Expanding STEM Education With Teacher Training | NEA Today:


Expanding STEM Education With Teacher Training

By Cindy Long
Students in Pat Yongpradit’s computer science class at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, work with robots and create mobile games and apps for real-world social causes – like How to Get A Date With an Environmentalist, or Just In Time, a game about maternal health.
“I spend my day inspiring students to dream and create technology to improve our world,” he says. At the same time, he’s broadening participation in computer science to underrepresented groups like girls and minority students. “We don’t learn about technology just for the sake of technology – we apply it to a cause, so it’s technology with a purpose, and that appeals to everyone.”
Yongpradit joined NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle on a “Conversations on Education” panel at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in D.C. last week. The panel’s focus was on widening the access to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to more students.
NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle discusses STEM education at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center.
Not only does it require real-world applications that spark the imaginations of students, the panel, which included


Experienced Teachers Reflect on Their First Year

What do experienced teachers wish they knew then what they know now? A few veterans offer some advice about goals, resources and cautions to newer teachers. Source: Edutopia