Synthetic biology is the application of engineering and mathematical principles to develop novel biological devices and circuits. What separates synthetic biology from traditional molecular biology is the development of standardized interchangeable DNA "parts," just as advances in engineering in the nineteenth century brought about standardized…

Significant limitations have emerged in America's science training pipeline, including inaccessibility, inflexibility, financial limitations, and lack of diversity. We present three effective programs that collectively address these challenges. The programs are grounded in rigorous science and integrate through diverse disciplines across…

Worldwide, science education reform movements are stressing the need to promote "scientific literacy" among young people. Increasingly, this is taken to include empowering students to engage critically with science-related news reporting. Despite this requirement now featuring in statutory curricula throughout the UK, there has, to date,…

Educational robotics activities are gaining in popularity. Though some research data suggest that educational robotics can be an effective approach in teaching mathematics, science, and engineering, research is needed to generate the best practices and strategies for designing these learning environments. Existing robotics activities typically do…

Students in science and engineering (S&E) are preparing for careers in fields where international partnerships are increasingly important to advancing knowledge and discoveries. It has been over a decade since the National Science Board (NSB) highlighted the importance of international collaboration and called for increased government…

In recent years, compelling research has found that mastery of early math concepts at a preschool level is a better predictor of later academic outcomes than literacy. Partly driven by these findings, increasing attention is being focused on improving math pedagogy at the preschool level. The issue has assumed added urgency as a result of…

The aim of this study was to test a training program intended to fine-tune the mental representations of double-digit numbers, thus increasing the discriminability of such numbers. The authors' assumption was that increased fluency in math could be achieved by improving the analogic representations of numbers. The study was completed in the…

World Diabetes Day (November 14) offers a wonderful opportunity to educate elementary children about the power they have to control their health. First lady Michelle Obama has urged Americans to educate themselves about childhood obesity, which is often associated with the onset of type II diabetes (Rabin 2010). The authors developed activities to…

The past several decades have been times of widespread change in world economies. The 21st century has witnessed scientific technological innovations that have had an impact on almost every sector of our social institutions and the way we do things. To succeed in these changing economies and secure meaningful employment, STEM literacy and…

This article reports on work undertaken by schools as part of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's (QCA's) "Engaging mathematics for all learners" project. The goal was to use in the classroom, materials and approaches from a Royal Institution (Ri) Year 10 master-class, "Number Sense", which was inspired by examples from…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined Californians' views on science education. The findings are based on telephone interviews with 1,004 adults conducted April 7-22, 2010. Cell phone and Spanish language interviews were included to provide more complete coverage of California's population. In order to enhance understanding of the…

The aim of this investigation was to get an insight into how teachers and students responded to the use of virtual learning environments (VLE) in engineering education and what their expectations were from online courses. Teachers designed their online courses with the assistance of a support e-learning team and questionnaires were used for…

Open science is a term that is being used in the literature to designate a form of science based on open source models or that utilizes principles of open access, open archiving and open publishing to promote scientific communication. Open science increasingly also refers to open governance and more democratized engagement and control of science…

In response to the call of "BIO2010" for integrating quantitative skills into undergraduate biology education, 30 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Program Directors at the 2006 HHMI Program Directors Meeting established a consortium to investigate, implement, develop, and disseminate best practices resulting from the integration of math and…

The manuscript outlines the impact that our National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences program, BioMaPS, has had on the students and faculty at Murray State University. This interdisciplinary program teams mathematics and biology undergraduate students with mathematics and…