| A New Vision for Teaching Science (preview) We face a real crisis in science education in America. Representative Bart Gordon of Tennessee, chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology, has warned that countries such as China and India will trample the U.S. economy in the near future without major improvements in teaching. Indeed, our schools are falling behind. In the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)--a respected measure of achievement around the globe--the average science score of U.S. 15-year-olds dropped below that of teens in 28 out of 57 participating countries. (In math, U.S. students fared even worse, lagging behind their peers in 34 nations.)Despite decades of reform, America has made only modest gains in the science classroom, particularly in high schools. Two recent reports from the National Research Council (NRC), however, offer novel strategies. Entitled Taking Science to School and Ready, Set, Science! , they call for changes in the way science is taught beginning in elementary school. Unlike previous recommendations, the new suggestions reflect recent findings from neuroscience and psychology about how young children think and how they acquire knowledge. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Wanted: Bright Ideas to Change the World One of 100 billion nerve cells in the human brain, the neuron waits, ready. Suddenly, a neigh­bor releases signaling molecules with an attention-getting message, like the irresistible chatter of a next-door gossip who has a hot tidbit. The receiving cell, excited, experiences fluctuations in ion concentration, creating a small electric current flow. Then it, too, releases communication signals down the line. The cascade continues until a large region of the brain is buzzing with heightened processing. Imaging scans would reveal the additional blood flow and electrical activity as thousands of neurons flare in response.A good idea can be like that--it stirs everything up--whether it is being shared throughout a network of cells in one person’s brain or in the world at large, through a community of people. Good ideas motivate us to action. They lead us to reflect on how to make things better. They spur us not to settle only for what is possible today. [More] rss.sciam.com |
New Life, but Still a Small-Town Feel An infusion of newcomers hasnât changed the northwest Bronx neighborhoodâs friendly character. And with a beloved diner back in business, Fridays are special again. travel.nytimes.com |
Coast Guard Captures Deepwater Response to Oil Spill Disaster in Pictures [Slide Show] The U.S. Coast Guard is chronicling BP's efforts to contain a massive oil leak 1,524 meters down in the Gulf of Mexico and corral the extensive oil slick heading toward the coast. The oil, as much as 757,000 liters per day, has been spewing into the gulf since April 20, when an explosion aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon destroyed and later sunk the rig. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Smelly kiwi needs deodorant to protect it from predators? Does the natural mushroom-like smell of the kiwi bird help to make it a tempting target for the predators that are eating it out of existence? One scientist thinks so, and he is proposing a deodorant of some kind to protect the birds from extinction.With all five kiwi species endangered, this is research that you shouldn't turn your nose up at. For the first several thousands of years of their existence, New Zealand kiwis (genus Apteryx ) did not have to worry about what they smelled like--there were no mammals there to sniff them out, let alone eat them. That changed when humans came to the island, bringing stoats , rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs and a variety of other hungry critters. [More] New Zealand - Bird - Kiwi - Endangered species - Mammal rss.sciam.com |