German Model for Skills Training

Tuesday, June 17, 2014,  8:30 AM – 2:15 PM
The Aspen Institute, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC

LIVE STREAM: View beginning at 9:00 am June 17, 2014.

Skills Training for a Modern Manufacturing Workforce: Does the German Model Have Lessons for the United States? Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Washington, DC

A skilled workforce is indispensable to sustain the manufacturing resurgence in the United States. In recent decades, the United States has faced the challenge of training the types of workers—whether in skilled production and higher professions or in science and engineering research fields—needed to remain competitive in global markets. 

NDIA Supply Chain Summit

Supply Chain Summit

The Boeing Company; Arlington, VA

June 26, 2014 -  Event #4040

www.ndia.org/meetings/4040

The meeting agenda for the Supply Chain Summit to be held  Thursday June 26, 2014 in Arlington, VA has been posted! Visit www.ndia.org/meetings/4040 and click on the "Agenda" tab.

This summit will be the first of a three-part series, and will set the corporate leadership context for the two technical events to follow. 

A better way to demonstrate how the heart functions?

This might be a much better way to demonstrate how the heart functions than to simply dissect one.

Ask your butcher, supermarket manager, or farmer to order a pig or sheep heart, or order one yourself from Carolina Biological. It might work on a whole sheep pluck so you can see how the lungs are integrated.   

Skip to 02:09 if you want to skip the intro.

APS Summer STEM Academy Still Accepting Registrations

College credit for APS High School students: 

Summer 2014 STEM Academy: College Credit for Arlington Public High School Students!-PDF

 

Summer 2014 STEM Academy: College Credit for Arlington Public High School Students!-PDF

Arlington Educator Recognized by Washington Academy of Sciences

On Thursday, May 8, Jeri Anne (Anne) Cupero was recognized by the Washington Academy of Sciences with the Bernice Lamberton Award for innovative approaches to teaching science and motivating students in STEM. She has been a teacher of science for more than 25 years, is certified to teach many other subjects including English and Social Studies, and is a National Board certified teacher.

Cupero created a course in Forensic Science and Forensic Technologies for Arlington Public Schools and the Virginia Department of Education, which she has also taught at the undergraduate level at Marymount University.  Cupero also taught Biotechnology, a course she also helped to create for Arlington Public Schools.  In addition to her career in Arlington schools, Cupero is an adjunct professor of Biology and Human Biology at Northern Virginia Community College.  

Cupero was recognized among six other awardees in their fields of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Lifetime Achievement in Science.  All awardees become recognized as Fellows of the Academy.  Cupero is the eighth Arlington educator recognized by the Academy since it began more than a century ago in 1898, and is the fourth to become a Lamberton Fellow of the Acadcemy.

The Washington Academy of Sciences serves as an affiliation of more than 60 science, engineering and technical societies in the Washington D.C. region.  For more information, visit www.WashAcadSci.org.

APS’s Pat Murphy Named Virginia Superintendent of the Year

From http://www.apsva.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=25531

May 7, 2014

Dr. Patrick K. Murphy, Superintendent of Arlington Public Schools, was named Virginia’s Superintendent of the Year at the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) Annual Awards Banquet on Tuesday evening in Roanoke. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the leaders of seven Virginia education organizations selected him from among eight regional finalists.

Under the pressures of rapid student growth and a fledgling economy, Dr. Murphy has significantly reduced the drop-out rate and increased advanced academic program completions among the 23,316 students in his burgeoning suburban Washington DC school district. He has reduced the drop-out rate by over 50% since he began as Arlington’s superintendent in 2009. He accomplished this by employing several targeted intervention strategies such as consistently monitoring student achievement, responding rapidly with assistance to students who were absent more than three days, scheduling several instructional options for students to improve in school, and increasing the involvement of their families.

NASA Pre-Service Teacher Institute

NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace are sponsoring an exciting two-week institute for university students enrolled in an education program who plan to teach in elementary or middle schools.  We are trying to reach underrepresented students for this program and would like your assistance to disseminate information about this opportunity.

The NASA Pre-Service Teacher Institute is a residential program from July 21- August 1, 2014 held in Hampton, Virginia.  Students who participate will be paid a stipend for attending.  Experienced, award-winning teachers will share best practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Our participants will have opportunities to interact with NASA scientists and engineers, making real world connections to classroom content, and will walk away with a multitude of free resources that can be used to engage students in their own classrooms. 

Selected students must have transportation to and from the National Institute of Aerospace each day, however, travel stipends to help offset travel costs are available for students who do not live in the area. 

A flyer is attached that explains the program.  Please help us get the word out about this unique opportunity . 

Applications are available online at: http://www.nianet.org/pstsp. 

Student phone apps as an entrance to STEM

seattletimes.com

Code-writing clicks as kids get creative

• by John Higgins 
•  5 min read 
•  original
Originally published May 18, 2014 at 8:00 PM | Page modified May 19, 2014 at 1:40 PM

Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times

Rainier Beach High School teacher Michael Braun works with freshman Samuel Ndungi in a computer-science class where students write apps for computers and smartphones.

Children click, swipe and tap away on smartphones, tablets and laptops with an ease that mystifies many of their elders.

Now, thanks to beginner-friendly programming languages, kids can do more than just click on someone else’s creation — they can make their own games, animations and art.

This semester, freshman Samuel Ndungi spends first period at Rainier Beach High School learning how to write applications for a smartphone.

“I was surprised that you can do this on your own,” Ndungi said. “ I thought that it was only people from Microsoft and big companies who can do this.”

His teacher, Michael Braun, expects 700 students from the Seattle area to make that same discovery this Friday, at the second annual Puget Sound App Day at Rainier Beach High. Registration for the event ends Monday.

Kids who have never written a line of computer code will get a chance to program their own mobile apps, guided by professional techies during a party-like event that includes a disc jockey, raffle prizes and dance contests — one of many new opportunities for children in the Seattle area to get familiar with coding, both inside and outside of school.

Some who learn to code may get hooked and pursue technology careers — a compelling argument in the backyards of Microsoft and Amazon — but coding is more than just a job skill.

Children who learn it also may discover a powerful new way to think, create and express themselves in the defining medium of the 21st century, regardless of what career they pursue.