Science/Technology Archives - Page 9 of 15 - Publishing Solutions Group

Studies Link Level of Trust to Intellect

By Claire Paschal|2018-11-08T13:54:02-05:00September 4th, 2014|

According to political scientist Robert Putnam, successful democracies rely on strong social networks. In his 1993 book Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions In Modern Italy, Putnam analyzes the regional governments of Italy, positing that prosperous institutions have strong social networks, whereas less successful institutions have weak social networks. Strong social networks, he reasons, promote trust between citizens, thus strengthening the democracy. Now, a more recently published [...]

The New Wave of Electronic Learning in the Classroom

By Elizabeth Rule|2018-11-08T13:40:47-05:00August 21st, 2014|

The world is constantly moving toward an overwhelmingly technological future. Every day, there is a new high-tech innovation or breakthrough—it’s rather exciting to be living in the forefront of the Information Age. With the way technology seems to be incorporating itself into everyday life, it’s essential that schools and classrooms become more equipped with digital-based curricula and devices. To get the ball rolling, in [...]

Just Say “Ah”: Improvements in Voice Synthesis

By Caitlin Wilson|2018-11-08T13:33:55-05:00August 12th, 2014|

On stage, Dr. Rupal Patel is a commanding presence. She speaks clearly and passionately about her work. Patel is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology at Northeastern University and the creator of the VocaliD project. She leads a team of researchers that is developing a system to create personalized synthetic voices for people with speech impairments, called target talkers by the folks at [...]

Engineering is Elementary, Watson

By Lori Becker|2018-11-08T13:30:36-05:00August 5th, 2014|

Lincoln Logs, Legos, Tinkertoys, K’Nex, GoldieBlox. While we may associate these names with simple creative outlets for children, more adults are seeing the opportunity to teach kids about engineering beginning at an early age. With the recent increased focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), new programs are emerging to keep students engaged in these subjects throughout their academic careers, beginning as early as elementary school. [...]

Online Outlets for Teachers

By Dan Plonowski|2018-11-08T13:17:33-05:00July 29th, 2014|

When I was in high school, I had a forensics teacher who spent a majority of his time nagging the administration to implement a new system for learning. It involved giving each student a laptop. “Too costly,” they would say, “This plan isn’t good enough, detailed enough, etc.” I know this because he used to vent to our class about the situation, and [...]

One Small Step for Baumgartner, One Giant Leap for Science

By Elizabeth Rule|2018-11-08T13:16:17-05:00July 22nd, 2014|

Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper made history on October 14, 2012, by becoming the first man to free jump from an altitude of 127,852 feet over Roswell, New Mexico. His trip from the stratosphere back to Earth lasted nine minutes and nine seconds, with four minutes and twenty–two seconds of free falling without a parachute. This supersonic free fall was [...]

STEAMing Ahead: How STEM Has Evolved

By Lori Becker|2018-11-08T11:22:19-05:00June 26th, 2014|

With the push to expand focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in curricula, there have been worries that the arts will be left behind. The notion of adding the arts into STEM has been floated around, with many educators considering “STEAM” over STEM. In 2012, John Maeda, former president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), announced his initiative, which [...]

Guest Interview: A Local Science Teacher Shares Her Thoughts about NGSS

By Lori Becker|2018-11-08T10:56:31-05:00May 14th, 2014|

Rachael Barron is a science teacher at Wakefield Memorial High School in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Rachael teaches AP Biology, Honors Genetics and Microbiology, College Prep Anatomy & Physiology, and College Prep Introduction to the Physical and Life Sciences. Rachael holds a bachelor of science in biology with a minor in education from Brandeis University. She earned her master of arts in teaching biology from [...]

Next Generation Science Standards: One Year Later

By Lori Becker|2018-11-08T10:53:14-05:00May 13th, 2014|

It has now been over a year since the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were finalized in April 2013. While 26 states actively participated in the development of the standards (the NGSS official site calls them “lead state partners”), the adoption process has been slow and controversial. As of March 2014, the District of Columbia and just eleven states have accepted the standards: [...]

We Are Made of Starstuff: The Return of Cosmos

By Olivia Billbrough|2018-11-08T10:37:46-05:00April 29th, 2014|

“Come with me.” These are the words that Carl Sagan told us on his PBS miniseries Cosmos: A Personal Voyage as we set off on an adventure to discover what mysteries lie in the depths of space, the earth and humanity. Sadly, Sagan passed away in 1996, but he made his mark. Sagan took us on a journey to educate people on complex scientific matters [...]