This week in education news, Indiana has work to do on preparing students for college-level coursework; flipped learning is evolving; Iowa teachers are spending the summer learning at externships; Florida has a growing shortage of math and science teachers; lessons in spatial learning are not really incorporated into current curriculum; a growing number of organizations are promoting the use of music in the course of STEM education; Education Week wants to know what skills do schools need to teach students to prepare them for jobs of the future; and unions are trying to shut down a proposed LA state-run STEM school.

How Well Are Indiana High Schools Preparing Students For College?

Every year, Indiana high schools graduate thousands of students who aren’t prepared for college-level coursework. In 2015, about one out of every seven Indiana high school graduates who went on to attend one of Indiana’s public colleges or universities — the only students for whom such information is available — was not prepared for college-level coursework. Click here to read the article featured in the Indy Star.

8 Principles To Help You Advance To Flipped Learning 3.0

Flipped learning is evolving because of research, classroom innovation and new technologies. Whereas educators asked about teacher and student satisfaction and achievement in flipped learning 1.0, flipped learning 3.0 focuses its questions on the effect of drawing or questions in flipped videos, the optimal time between individual work and group work, and the impact gamification has on a flipped classroom. Click here to read the article featured in eSchool News.

Iowa Teachers Spend Summer Learning At ‘Externship’

Iowa teachers are learning new lessons as they spend the summer working at state parks, high-tech companies, research labs and other places as part of a program organized by the governor’s STEM Advisory Council. Meghan Reynolds, the externship project coordinator with the council, told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that more than 60 teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math are participating this year. Click here to read the article written by the Associated Press and featured in Education Week.

School Districts Tasked With Filling Math, Science Teacher Shortage

Florida has a growing shortage of the math and science teachers the state’s students need to prepare for the rigors of the 21st-century economy. The burden of solving this problem has fallen to Florida’s school districts, since neither the state government nor the teacher-preparation programs at our universities are making significant progress on this issue. Click here to read the article featured in the Orlando Sentinel.

Bay Area Teachers Learn New Style Of Sharing Science With Students

Greg Brown had been teaching science in the Bay Area for years when the idea came to him for a new style of teaching the subject. Why not take classic science activities and add a twist — starting with exploration? Well, the Next Generation Science Standards beat him to it, but his friend Kevin Brumbaugh from the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College was wondering how teachers were going to learn to implement the NGSS — the new method for teaching science hands-on. From that interaction, MADE Science was born. Click here to read the article featured in the East Bay Times.

Can Early Lessons In Spatial Skills Build Future Scientists And Mathematicians?

Strong spatial skills give kids an edge in science and math, and these skills can be taught. Scientists know this. Yet to a large degree, lessons in spatial learning haven’t been incorporated into the curriculum. A pilot program supported by a $1.4 million federal grant and led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Science of Learning Institute aims to change that. Click here to read the article featured in Education Week.

Educators Using Music To Make Connections To STEM

Through this summer, the Urban Arts Collective is utilizing hip-hop music and culture in a camp designed to immerse students in learning about architecture. The idea for the camp originates from Michael Ford, a co-founder of the collective who has been studying and promoting the use of hip-hop in architecture education since his graduate study. Click here to read the article featured in Education DIVE.

In Washington’s Most Diverse District, STEM Opportunities Provide New Paths To Success

Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) is the most diverse district in the state of Washington, serving 70 percent scholars of color. Current statistics show that scholars of color and females are underrepresented in STEM fields across the country, and so FWPS is actively taking steps to provide STEM and STEAM (STEM with an emphasis on the arts) opportunities for each scholar from kindergarten through high school graduation. Click here to read the article featured in Ed Surge.

What Skills Are You Teaching Students to Prepare Them for Jobs of the Future?

A recent report found that almost 40 percent of U.S. jobs are at a high risk for automation by the early 2030s—when many current students will be entering the workforce. So how can teachers prepare students for jobs of the future? Click here to read the article featured in Education Week.

Unions Trying To Shut Down STEM School Before It Even Opens

Unions are trying to shut down a proposed Los Angeles state-run science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school, local media reported Monday. If unions are not successful, the school would become the first state public school to focus on teaching STEM to low income kids from across the state, according to LA School Report. Click here to read the article featured in The Daily Caller.

Nebraska Draft Science Standards Call For Students To Judge ‘Reliability And Validity’ Of Climate Models

Climate change would be added to Nebraska’s science standards for the first time, but students would “evaluate the reliability and validity” of climate models, according to the latest draft standards proposed Wednesday by the Nebraska Department of Education. An earlier draft, made public in May, worded the climate change standards as settled science. That version called on students to “gather and analyze” data from models to “recognize patterns in climate change over time.” Click here to read the article featured in the Omaha World-Herald.

Could ESSA Plans Invigorate State STEM Intentions?

Could states use their ESSA plans to formulate innovative ways to advance STEM in their schools? That’s the hope of an organization that recently examined the Every Student Succeeds Act plans developed by states for submission to the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis looked at the 17 plans that have already been submitted as well as eight other draft plans. Click here to read the article featured in T.H.E. Journal.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

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