About 79 million Americans have human papillomavirus (HPV), the nation’s top sexually transmitted disease. “Nearly all sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC 2016a).

HPV usually goes away on its own. But sometimes, HPV can cause genital warts or cancer, even decades after an individual has sex with an infected person. HPV can cause cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, or anus, as well as oral cancers.

High school students are especially at risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (Bratsis 2014). Each year, about 14 million people, including teens, become infected with HPV, and more than 11,000 women get cervical cancer due to HPV, the CDC says (2016a).

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP 2015) recommend that all boys and girls ages 11–12 get HPV vaccinations, which are given in a series of two or three shots. According to the CDC (2015), the vaccine targets the most common of the more than 150 types of HPV.

“Teen boys and girls who did not start or finish the HPV vaccine series when they were younger should get it now,” the CDC recommends (CDC 2016b). “Young women can get the HPV vaccine through age 26, and young men can get vaccinated through age 21. The vaccine is also recommended for any man who has sex with men through age 26.”

As of 2015, 49.8% of boys ages 13–17 had gotten at least one of the recommended three doses, up 7.9 percentage points from 2014. More than 60% of girls had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, up 2.8 percentage points from 2014 (CDC 2016c).

Unfortunately, many parents may be wary of the HPV vaccine. Only 21% of parents said laws requiring the vaccine for students were a “good idea,” but that number rose to 57% if there were an “opt-out” provision, according to a national study (Calo et al. 2016). The lead researcher of the study, William Calo, told ABC news that an opt-out provision could weaken vaccination efforts (Chevisnky 2016).

In addition, “One of the most surprising findings of the study is that 60% of people don’t believe the vaccine is effective in preventing cervical cancer,” Calo said (Chavinsky 2016).

But studies do highlight the vaccine’s effectiveness. One study (Bernard et al. 2016) found that seven years after the HPV vaccine was introduced, the rate of moderate cervical precancerous lesions declined 54% among 15- to 19-year-old teens in New Mexico. The study also showed a 39% decline in moderate cervical precancers among 20- to 24-year-old women in New Mexico (Bernard et al. 2016).

Michael E. Bratsis is senior editor for Kids Health in the Classroom (kidshealth.org/classroom). Send comments, questions or suggestions to mbratsis@kidshealth.org.

On the web
HPV infographic: http://bit.ly/2eq8VuL
Article for students: www.teenshealth.org/en/teens/hpv-vaccine.html

References
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 2015. AAP updates HPV vaccine recommendations after licensure of HPV9. www.aappublications.org/content/36/6/16
Bernard, B., P.E. Castle, S.A. Jenison, et al. 2016. Population-Based incidence rates of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in the human papillomavirus vaccine era. Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology. http://bit.ly/2eq83X5
Bratsis, M.E. 2014. Health Wise: Teens and STDs. The Science Teacher 81 (3): 74–75. http://bit.ly/2g4e9ga
Calo, W.A., M.B. Gilkey, P.D. Shah, J.L. Moss, and N.T. Brewer. 2016. Parents’ support for school-entry requirements for human papillomavirus vaccination: A national study. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. http://bit.ly/2fFz5He
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2015. What is HPV? http://bit.ly/2bpgbpJ
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2016a. Genital HPV infection—Fact sheet. http://bit.ly/1qN5PC6
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2016b. HPV Vaccines: Vaccinating your preteen or teen. www.cdc.gov/hpv/parents/vaccine.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 2016c. National, regional, state, and selected local area vaccination coverage among adolescents aged 13–17 years–United States, 2015. http://bit.ly/2eq74WW
Chevinsky, J. ABC News. 2016. Parents Want ‘Opt-Out’ Option for HPV Vaccine, Study Finds. August 19. http://abcn.ws/2eXf4tM

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of The Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

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In what will likely be the first of many battles to come, teacher unions and civil rights groups have come out swinging against the nomination of Betsy DeVos to become U.S. Secretary of Education while Republican governors are applauding President-elect Trump for his “inspired choice” to reform federal education policy.

The Senate confirmation hearing for DeVos, originally scheduled for January 11, was postponed one week and is now scheduled for January 17 at 5 p.m. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), HELP’s ranking Democrat, said in a statement the hearing change was made to accommodate the Senate schedule.  Later media reports indicated the hearing date was pushed back because the ethics check on DeVos was not completed.

After meeting with DeVos last week, Sen. Murray said in a statement, “I continue to have serious concerns about her long record of working to privatize and defund public education, expand taxpayer-funded private school vouchers, and block accountability for charter schools.”

Sen. Alexander told The Chattanoogan, “Betsy DeVos and I had a great meeting today, and she is going to make an excellent Secretary of Education. I’m looking forward to her hearing because I know she will impress the Senate with her passionate support for improving education for all children.”

In a letter to Sen. Alexander, 18 Republican governors said that DeVos was an “inspired” choice. “Betsy DeVos will fight to streamline the federal education bureaucracy, return authority back to states and local school boards, and ensure that more dollars are reaching the classroom…Betsy DeVos also is a passionate supporter of increasing parental engagement in their children’s education and of harnessing the power of competition to drive improvement in all K-12 schools, whether they be public, private or virtual.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights—a coalition of more than 200 national organizations—said in a letter, “We reject the notion that children are well served by the dismantling of a public school system that serves 90 percent of all American students or by the elimination of civil rights protections that require the federal government to intervene when students are discriminated against.”

In a Huffington Post piece, AFT President Randi Weingarten called DeVos “a billionaire with an agenda” who could reignite “education wars” between Democrats and Republicans. 

The NEA maintains that “by nominating Betsy DeVos, the incoming Trump administration is demonstrating it does not share our vision of public education and what works best for students, parents, and communities.”

More about Betsy DeVos in this New York Times article.

The First 100 Days and Beyond—What’s in Store for Education?

There is lots of talk about what the first 100 days of the Trump administration will look like. Many expect the new Administration will reverse many Obama-era regulations, repeal Obamacare and replace it with a Republican plan, and introduce tax reform.  

In education, two education-related regulations likely to be overturned deal with teacher preparation and the ESSA state and education accountability. More here on that. 

Although not likely in the first 100 days, look for efforts to scale back the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.

Many also anticipate some kinds of initiative to expand private school choice, although it is possible this could be done through the ESSA State plans now being developed.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress will be paying keen attention to the Implementation of ESSA.  Two education bills that will likely come up include the the Higher Education Act, which was last comprehensively reauthorized in 2008, and the rewrite of the Perkins Act, which oversees federal funding of career and technical education.

Update on ESSA Implementation

On January 6, the Education Department posted new guidelines for states to help them develop consolidated state plans, state and local report cards, and determine graduation rates under the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. Links to the guidance are below.

Consolidated State Plan guidance

State and Local Report Cards Guidance

High School Graduation Rate Guidance

States are allowed to submit their consolidated State plan or individual program plans on April 3, 2017, or on September 18, 2017. Do you know what your state is doing to implement ESSA? Learn more here about how to make STEM a priority in ESSA.

A reminder that the U.S. Department of Education is hosting a series of webinars on the ESSA, Title IV, Part A Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant.  More information on the webinars is below. These grants will allow STEM activities.

Thursday, January 26, 2017 at 2 p.m. eastern
Role of State Educational Agencies; Local Application Requirements; and Implementing Effective SSAE Program Activities 
Registration: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/node/8739/0/register

Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 2 p.m. eastern: 
Allowable Activities to Support Well-Rounded Educational Opportunities; Safe and Healthy Students; and the Effective Use of Technology
Registration: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/node/8740/0/register

And finally, the Department of Education is seeking highly qualified individuals to serve as peer reviewers of State plans required under ESSA. For more information, including a link to the application, visit https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplan17/index.html.

American Innovation and Competitiveness Act <Finally> Becomes Law

Before the Senate adjourned prior to the Christmas break, on Friday, December 16, 2016 they passed S. 3084, the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA). President Obama signed the bill into law on January 6, 2017.

This legislation is the successor to the America COMPETES Act, which sets policy for a number of federal STEM education programs and for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Department of Energy Office of Science.

The House version of this bill was largely controversial, and it was assumed that the Congressional clock had run out and that this legislation would not pass prior to adjournment of the 114^th Congress. However, on December 10, 2016 the Senate passed a modified version of the bill before leaving town that had both bicameral and bipartisan support. The House had already adjourned but still passed the AICA on December 16, 2016 by unanimous consent (both chambers of Congress can bypass their procedural rules and pass legislation with no objections.)

In regard to STEM education, the key new law authorizes a restructure of NSF’s Robert Noyce STEM teacher program, including a new program to partner recently retired STEM professionals with STEM teachers; creates a STEM education advisory panel of non-Federal employees to advise the President and the Committee on STEM education (CoSTEM) on federal STEM programs and STEM policy; asserts that NSF continue grants to broaden participation in STEM; provides continuing K-12 computer science grants; and encourages on-going partnerships between NSF and institutions involved in informal STEM learning, institutions of higher education, and education research centers.

Stay tuned, and watch for more updates in future issues of NSTA Express.

Jodi Peterson is Assistant Executive Director of Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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In “P-47 and the Double Wasp Engine,” fighter pilot Benjamin Cassiday emphatically states, “It was an aircraft that could get you home.” While adrenaline filled the veins of these courageous WWII pilots, likely there was no greater rush than when they touched down on their home runway.

Driven by the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp air-cooled radial engine, the huge P-47 was able to successfully compete against much smaller adversaries. Find out how in P-47 and the Double Wasp Engine—one of 10 posted videos in the Chronicles of Courage series. The 20-video series from the partnership of NBC Learn and Flying Heritage Collection uses the collection’s WWII airplanes and aviation technology as their focal point.

Like several of the NSTA-developed lesson plans in this series, this plan gives you ideas for prompting students to use paper airplanes as their experimental tool. You’ll see an example of a possible design that could explore the relationship between power and weight whereby students add weight to the wings or fuselage, change the power generated by the rubber-band propeller, or use different sized propellers. Internet references are included to support students as well.

With such an investigation, are you concerned you won’t have the right answer for students? That’s one of the beauties of engineering design investigations—you don’t have to because there is no “right answer.” The best design is the one that performs optimally given the criteria and constraints. Chances are more than one group will end up with optimal design solutions. If so, give students a chance to critique all of the solutions and make claims based on evidence about which one they think is “best.” Witness the effects of your students’ adrenaline as they enthusiastically design and fly their paper airplane solutions.

Video
Chronicles of Courage: Stories of Wartime and Innovation “P-47 and the Double Wasp Engine” explores how the much larger and heavier P-47 Thunderbolt and its extremely powerful engine allows the hulking fighter to be competitive at all altitudes.

STEM Lesson Plan—Adaptable for Grades 7–12
Chronicles of Courage: Stories of Wartime and Innovation “P-47 and the Double Wasp Engine” provides strategies for extracting information from video content and challenging students to explore further plus support for building science literacy through reading and writing.