The ultimate goal of this work is to increase support for policies and programs that promote investment of resources (e.g., time, funding, staff, infrastructure) in the science and practice of implementation. To this end, FrameWorks’ research provides strategic communications recommendations designed to help people understand that supporting successful implementation is critical to improving outcomes for children, families and communities.
Governments, schools and systems as well as the philanthropic community have invested heavily in technology to keep up with the demands of 21st century learners. Even after years of huge public and private investments and the sheer number of technology-in-education initiatives (1:1 computing, e-Rate, P-TECH, STEM), one would think that students’ use of digital tools and technology for learning in K-12 settings would be ubiquitous. It is in fact the contrary.
The Internet of Things (IoT) -- a term used to describe the set of physical objects embedded with sensors or actuators and connected to a network -- offers numerous opportunities for the federal government to cut costs and improve citizen services. Moreover, because the Internet of Things generates positive network externalities, widespread adoption by the government will spur commercial adoption.
The United States, Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Israel were among the top countries when it comes to adopting and adapting to new technologies, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2016 from the World Economic Forum. The Global Information Technology Report measures countries' success in “creating the conditions necessary for a transition to a digitalized economy and society,” according to WEF.
Every child, regardless of their zip code, ethnicity, race or gender should have access to high-quality STEM programs, education and career exploration. To meet the rapidly-growing demand for qualified STEM professionals and develop the next generation of leaders, we must help students and families build the necessary competencies and skills to pursue STEM degrees and career opportunities. This White Paper will explain why National PTA is working with its founding sponsors, Bayer and Mathnasium, to launch a new initiative -- STEM Plus Families.
So why have we not seen the strong productivity growth we need? As explained in the recent ITIF e-book Think Like an Enterprise: Why Nations Need Comprehensive Productivity Strategies, there is solid research suggesting that the slowdown is not a cyclical phenomenon, nor is it because we are measuring output incorrectly.
Scholars, policy experts, and advocates agree the nation faces challenges fueling the STEM pipeline. They do not share a common definition of STEM careers. We chose among alternatives based on our goal of closing the gap between workforce supply and demand. Thus, social sciences, health careers, and accounting are excluded from the definition of STEM fields in this report.
The report, titled "Students on STEM: More Hands-on, Real-World Experiences" shows that students want additional opportunities that will inspire them to explore careers in scientific fields, and teachers are uniquely positioned to stimulate students' interest in STEM. The survey found that large majorities of teenagers like science and understand its value, but common teaching methods, such as teaching straight from the textbook, do not bring the subject matter to life in the same way hands-on, real-life experiences do.
To maintain the field’s current momentum, the perception of computer science needs to shift from its being considered a fringe, elective offering or a skills-based course designed to teach basic computer literacy or coding alone. Instead, it is time for computer science to be seen as a core science on par with more traditional high school offerings such as biology, chemistry and physics, which have been the focus since the 1890s.
As of November 2015, China’s Tianhe-2 , shown in Figure 2, rates as the world’s fastest high- performance computer, with a peak theoretical perf ormance speed of 54.9 petaflops, double the speed of the world’s second -fastest computer, America’s Titan , which operates at a maximum speed of 27.1 petaflops at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
