Young people can succeed in technical jobs even with mediocre grades in math and science or liberal arts majors, claims a new study, on the State of STEM by STEMconnector. “Some students believe if they get a C in algebra then they can never pursue STEM, that STEM is only for the smartest of the smart,” author Erin White tells EdSource’s Carolyn Jones. However, “the most important skills in the workplace will be flexibility, critical thinking, communication, the ability to ad

Middle-schoolers in Ohio are learning math, science and programming — and competing in contests such as MakerMinded to expose them to careers in advanced manufacturing reports Ed Week‘s Benjamin Herold. Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, or LIFT, and partners across the Midwest are developing learning activities and competitions. At Woodward Park Middle School in Columbus, eighth-graders build machines, seventh-graders code apps and sixth-graders take part in a “trash slid

Carlos Huerta, an engineering student at Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High, works on wheels for a “drop-and-dash” robot for the Silicon Valley Tech Challenge. Photo: Joanne Jacobs Silicon Valley imports technical talent from around the country and around the world, but the kids who grow up in the Valley’s working-class neighborhoods, “the children of groundskeepers, janitors, cooks and construction workers,” rarely get a shot at high-paying, high-tech jobs,” I write on Min

Math, chemistry and physics teachers are in short supply. A new MIT-based program is trying to turn scientists, engineers and programmers into teachers, reports Hechinger’s Jon Marcus. The Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning bills itself as an education “lab” looking for new ways to train teachers. “We’ve thrown out tradition,” President Arthur Levine, who once led Columbia University’s Teachers College, told Marcus. The academy will experiment with new training i

He takes aim at Purdue’s School of Engineering Education, which envisions a ““more socially connected” way of teaching. Donna Riley, Purdue’s new head of engineering education, strives to apply “liberative pedagogies in engineering education, leveraging best practices from women’s studies and ethnic studies to engage students in creating a democratic classroom that encourages all voices,” she writes. “I seek to revise engineering curricula to be relevant to a fuller range of

College graduates earn about $600,000 more over their lifetimes than workers with only a high school education, reports the Hamilton Project. But there’s a huge earnings difference between graduates with different majors: Engineering pays more than social work. A new Hamilton study looks at how career paths after college explain earnings variations for people in the same major. An interactive tool shows career choices and earnings for various majors. What are 25- to 34-year-o