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Now that the year-old Governor’s STEM Advisory Council — the public/private council established to drive STEM education interest in Massachusetts — has outlined its five key goals for getting Massachusetts public school students to pursue programs and careers involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics, here’s a roundup of STEM resources and STEM-related articles.
The STEM Advisory Council goals:
* Increase student interest in STEM by 10 percentage points to match or exceed the national average.
* Increase the percentage of students scoring “proficient” or “advanced” on STEM-related portions of the MCAS exams.
*Increase the percentage of Massachusetts students who demonstrate readiness for college-level study in STEM fields by having all high school students take four years of math and at least three years of science by 2016.
*Double the number of bachelor degrees in STEM majors earned by students from Massachusetts high schools by 2016.
*Increase the number and the percentage of STEM classes in public schools that are led by “effective and passionate STEM educators”.
The Massachusetts Life Science Center announced grants — to be matched by corporate partners — to help fund purchases of lab equipment for vocational technical schools, community colleges and workforce training organizations.The announcement of the Equipment and Supplies Program for Skills Training and Education was made at the STEM Summit in Sturbridge. The program is aimed at expanding the supply of workers for technical life sciences jobs that may not require a four-year degree.
California-based Broadcom Corp., with 200 employees in Andover, stepped up to the plate, sponsoring a national science fair competition for junior high students. The work by the Broadcom Foundation, established as a charitable organization last year, is funded in part by an $891 million settlement that Broadcom received in a patent suit against Qualcomm.
IRobot Corp. is celebrating its 20-year anniversary with an initiative to introduce Massachusetts K-12 students to robotics and engage them more broadly in STEM. Called “20 in 20”, the initiative calls for a team of iRobot employees to visit 20 schools over 20 weeks.
As with the Life Sciences Center initiative, Loh-Sze Leung, director of SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive Workforce, recently called for Massachusetts to create more pathways to middle-skill credentials, technical jobs that may require less than a bachelor’s degree .
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and inventor Dean Kamen have proposed legislation to create a competitive grant program for what they are calling non-traditional science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educational programs.
Boston-based startup ConnectEdu has launched an initiative to match high school students with colleges, and college students with potential tech company employers.
MassBioEd, the education arm of life sciences industry organization MassBio, is forging ahead this year with a program designed to excite teenagers about biotechnology even as state funding for the program dries up.
Learn more about the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.
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