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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • Skilled Volunteers and Mentors Helping Improve Student Performance

    Posted by Tom Kalil on August 1, 2012 at 3:47 PM EDT

    President Obama is committed to raising America’s game in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. As the President said at the launch of his Educate to Innovate campaign to improve STEM education, "I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent—to be makers of things, not just consumers of things."

    I recently spoke with Eric Schwarz, co-founder and CEO of Citizen Schools, and Leo Flanagan, principal of the Clarence Edwards Middle School in Charlestown, MA, a neighborhood of Boston. Since 2006, Citizen Schools has partnered with the Edwards Middle School as an expanded learning time partner to lengthen the school day by three hours a day and bring in a hundreds of volunteers to teach apprenticeships. Citizen Schools partners with over thirty schools in eight states across the country.  As part of thinking about new ways to engage young people in STEM education, I’m particularly interested in the role that skilled volunteers and mentors can play in improving student performance.

    Can you tell me about the mission and model of Citizen Schools?

    Eric Schwarz: Our mission is to close the opportunity and achievement gaps and our strategy for doing that is to give kids more time to learn and practice academic skills, but also get the chance to be successful with successful adults. Our “special sauce” is a modern form of apprenticeships where middle school kids – we focus on the middle school grades as we know it’s a critical turning point for most kids – get the chance to work with talented adults from the community to make cool things. So, architects may be teaching kids to redesign their school, engineers from Google are working with kids to build robots and design apps, and volunteers from Cognizant are teaching kids about LEDs, Parallel Circuits, and Conductive Threads.

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  • President Obama Honors Early-Career Scientists and Engineers

    Posted by Phil Larson on July 31, 2012 at 5:22 PM EDT

    Watch the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers winners here.

    President Barack Obama addresses 2011 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers recipients (July 31, 2012)

    President Barack Obama addresses 2011 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipients in the East Room of the White House, July 31, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

    Today, the President met with a group of leading American scientists and engineers in the East Room of the White House to thank them for their research and encourage them to keep up the good work. Before meeting with the President, in an award ceremony today at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Science and Technology Advisor John Holdren conferred the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) to the 96 outstanding researchers.

    Last week, President Obama announced this year’s winners of PECASE, an honor bestowed upon independent researchers in the early stages of their careers. PECASE recognizes and supports scientists and engineers who show exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge and reflects the Obama Administration’s commitment to developing outstanding scientists and engineers that contribute to the growth and prosperity of our Nation.

    “Discoveries in science and technology not only strengthen our economy, they inspire us as a people.” President Obama said.  “The impressive accomplishments of today’s awardees so early in their careers promise even greater advances in the years ahead.”

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  • Panel Shows What’s Possible in Education Technology

    Posted by Rick Weiss on July 31, 2012 at 2:59 PM EDT

    Last Monday, at a Capitol Hill briefing co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Michael Bennet of Colorado, a panel of experts described some of the innovative learning technologies being brought to bear in public education and ways in which the Obama Administration’s proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Education (ARPA-ED) could speed the development and deployment of these valuable technologies. 

    ARPA-ED is modeled after DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which catalyzed the development of world-changing technologies such as the Internet and GPS. ARPA-ED would similarly focus on transformative research and development, pursuing projects such as personalized digital tutors that are as effective as the best human tutors to support teachers as they focus on their students; courses that improve the more students use them; and new ways to assess student progress that are as compelling and fun as video games.  

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  • Better Building Federal Award Underway

    Posted by Nick Sinai and Tim Unruh on July 31, 2012 at 2:48 PM EDT

    The nomination period for the 2013 Better Building Federal Award (BBFA) is now open. This contest builds on the Federal Government’s goal to reduce energy intensity – or energy consumed per square foot – by 30 percent by 2015 through encouraging, recognizing, and rewarding Federal agencies that achieve the greatest annual savings in energy intensity.

    On December 2, 2011, the President announced the investment of nearly $4 billion in combined Federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings. In this announcement, the President challenged the private and public sectors to make rapid investments in creating a more sustainable, energy-efficient workplace. As part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Energy challenged Federal agencies to nominate Federal facilities for the BBFA in a letter to Federal Building Managers.

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  • Fueling Education Innovation with Open Data

    Posted by Nick Sinai and Richard Culatta on July 30, 2012 at 11:06 AM EDT

    Earlier this month, as part of the Education Data Initiative, a diverse set of educational technology experts and entrepreneurs joined staff from the White House and Department of Education to participate in an “Education Data Jam” at the George Washington School of Business. One of the goals of the half-day workshop was to brainstorm how freely available datasets—i.e. open data—might be used by entrepreneurs and innovators for new products, services, or apps that improve student outcomes or help families with college selection and affordability.

    Launched by the Obama Administration earlier this year, the Education Data Initiative is an Administration-wide effort to “liberate” government data and voluntarily-contributed non-government data as fuel to spur entrepreneurship, create value, and create jobs while improving educational outcomes for students.

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  • Detroit Maker Faire: Celebrating Tinkerers, Inventors, and the Next Generation

    Posted by Phil Larson on July 27, 2012 at 1:04 PM EDT

    President Obama is committed to ensuring that America stays competitive in the 21st century global economy by having the most skilled and productive workforce in the world and by leading the world in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. As the President said at the launch of his Educate to Innovate campaign to improve STEM education, "I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent—to be makers of things, not just consumers of things."

    That message is catching on. Earlier this year, at his second White House Science Fair, President Obama met Joey Hudy, a 14-year-old who developed the “extreme marshmallow cannon” capable of projecting a marshmallow 175 feet. Joey handed the president one of his business cards, which stated simply, “Don’t Be Bored, Make Something.”

    In Dearborn, Michigan, part of metro Detroit, The Henry Ford, which presents the stories of American innovation, ingenuity, and resourcefulness—past, present, and future—will be hosting an event this weekend that epitomizes what not being bored and making something means—Maker Faire Detroit. This unique form of a science fair--a two-day celebration of curiosity, wonderment, inventiveness, and hands-on making--will include 450 makers from Michigan and around the United States immersed in projects in electronics, robotics, transportation, alternative energy, sustainable agriculture and other topics.  Maker Faires include activities like soldering a circuit board, pedaling a multi-person carrying cycle, or creating a musical instrument and invention from piles of parts that come with no assembly instructions.  Check out this video!

    Maker Faire Detroit represents the innovative American spirit. As President Obama said while at The Henry Ford this past April, "Look around this museum and you're reminded about what made this country great—making things.”

    If you can’t join in person, check it out on Facebook and stay up-to-date with the latest activities during the weekend at https://www.facebook.com/MakerFaireDetroit and https://www.facebook.com/thehenryford.  You can follow on Twitter as well, using hashtag #makerfairedetroit.

    Don't be bored. To find a Maker Faire near you, or for info on how to get one started in your area, click here.

     

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