On September 26, 2012, I addressed a group of 8th grade female students and their mothers at the conference luncheon held by the University of Texas-Pan American. The event was part of Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology (HESTEC) week.
During Latina Day, participants discussed the opportunities for women and girls to advance academically by entering science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. There were activities that included participation from hundreds of mother/daughter teams. One key theme and highlight of the event was to celebrate women in the STEM fields, hear their success stories, and to encourage children to continue their education.
Earlier in the week, the Obama Administration announced the Equal Futures Partnership, which is a new collaboration with private and non-profit stakeholders to reverse the historic underrepresentation women in STEM education and careers and promote public leadership. Read more »
It’s shaping up to be a good year for students in Indian Country.
For the first time in school history, students at Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Mount Pleasant, Michigan can register to take physics thanks to an upgraded laboratory. And at Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, Minnesota, students were able to take trigonometry for the first time last year. Funded and supported by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA ), both schools made improvements to bolster their students’ learning in the areas of science and mathematics.
NIFA’s Tribal Colleges Education Equity Grant is a noncompetitive program that enhances educational opportunities for American Indians in the food and agricultural sciences. These grants strengthen formal educational opportunities at the associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level at 1994 land-grant institutions, also known as tribal colleges. Read more »
More than 100 teachers attended the Statewide School Garden Teacher Conference in Ho 'Aina O Makaha, Oahu, last year as part of the Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network. Photo Credit: The Kohala Center
This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.
Many teachers use creative methods to keep their students engaged in the curriculum they are teaching. Some methods work far better than others. For one group in Hawaii, teachers are using gardening to boost their science, technology and math classes, while placing an emphasis on Hawaii’s need for more experiential science learning related to agriculture and sustainability. Read more »
How do you get tent caterpillars and termites to follow a circle on a piece of paper? Paint the circle with pheromones.
This was one of the many cool facts that kids and adults learned perusing the USDA exhibits at the USA Science & Engineering Festival this past weekend. I joined thousands of people during this three-day event designed to revive interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and promote careers in those fields. Read more »
Join us tomorrow for a Twitter chat to discuss womens’ increasing role in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). We’ll be sitting down with Jenna Jadin, Ph.D, Office of the Chief Scientist and Dionne Fortson Toombs, Ph.D., National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to answer your questions from our USDA Twitter handle, @USDA. We look forward to seeing you, and check out the Department of Energy’s blog for additional info!
Got Questions about Women in Science, Tech, Engineering, or Math (STEM)? Tweet us! Read more »
National CARES Mentoring Movement founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Essence magazine, Susan Taylor (red coat), met for a cross-departmental discussion with Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy personnel in the Whitten Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. This not-for-profit organization is dedicated to recruiting and connecting mentors with local youth and mentoring organizations to help guide under-resourced children to academic and social success across the country. This discussion provided a continuation of the White House Policy in Action conference that took place in November 2011. The focus of the discussion was about how existing federal programs and administration priorities can be leveraged with her organization, especially as it relates to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) literacy, education and rural youth. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture held a cross-departmental discussion focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) literacy with Susan Taylor of the National CARES Mentoring Network. Susan Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence magazine, founded the National CARES Mentoring Network while spending time in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. While in New Orleans, Susan said that she learned that over 50% of African American fourth graders are functionally illiterate. Susan came to USDA to explain the need for literacy training and other academic enrichment support for under-resourced children in low-income families in order to help students develop a broad range of 21st century literacy skills. Read more »
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