The age of STEM : educational policy and practice across the world in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

 Across the world STEM (learning and work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has taken central importance in education and the economy in a way that few other disciplines have. STEM competence has become seen as key to higher productivity, technological adaptation and research-based innovation. No area of educational provision has a greater current importance than the STEM disciplines yet there is a surprising dearth of comprehensive and world-wide information about STEM policy, participation, programs and practice.

Engineering control of occupational safety and health hazards : recommendations for improving engineering practice, education and research : summary report of the Engineering Control Technology Workshop Technical Panel.

Mode of access: Internet.

Engineering manpower concerns [microform] : hearings before the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, first session, October 6, 7, 1981.

"No. 49."

National engineering and science policy [microform] : hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, first session, December 14, 1981.

"No. 80."

H.R. 5254--Engineering and Science Manpower Act of 1982 [microform] : hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, second session, April 27 and 29, 1982.

"No. 107."

Science and technology : 47 video, film, and sound/slide programs for earth sciences, computer sciences, civil engineering, and general science classes.

Shipping list no.: 88-100-P.

Human genetic engineering [microform] : hearings before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, second session, November 16, 17, 18, 1982.

"No. 170."

Science and engineering, education and manpower [microform] : hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, second session, February 11, 1982.

"No. 93."

Bulletin / Iowa. State University of Science and Technology, Ames Engineering Research Institute.

Mode of access: Internet.

Utilizing Traditional Cognitive Measures of Academic Preparation to Predict First-Year Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Majors' Success in Math and Science Courses

For the past several years, U.S. colleges and universities have faced increased pressure to improve retention and graduation rates. At the same time, educational institutions have placed a greater emphasis on the importance of enrolling more students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs and producing more STEM graduates. The resulting problem faced by educators involves finding new ways to support the success of STEM majors, regardless of their pre-college academic preparation. The purpose of my research study involved utilizing first-year STEM majors’ math SAT scores, unweighted high school GPA, math placement test scores, and the highest level of math taken in high school to develop models for predicting those who were likely to pass their first math and science courses. In doing so, the study aimed to provide a strategy to address the challenge of improving the passing rates of those first-year students attempting STEM-related courses. The study sample included 1018 first-year STEM majors who had entered the same large, public, urban, Hispanic-serving, research university in the Southeastern U.S. between 2010 and 2012. The research design involved the use of hierarchical logistic regression to determine the significance of utilizing the four independent variables to develop models for predicting success in math and science. The resulting data indicated that the overall model of predictors (which included all four predictor variables) was statistically significant for predicting those students who passed their first math course and for predicting those students who passed their first science course. Individually, all four predictor variables were found to be statistically significant for predicting those who had passed math, with the unweighted high school GPA and the highest math taken in high school accounting for the largest amount of unique variance. Those two variables also improved the regression model’s percentage of correctly predicting that dependent variable. The only variable that was found to be statistically significant for predicting those who had passed science was the students’ unweighted high school GPA. Overall, the results of my study have been offered as my contribution to the literature on predicting first-year student success, especially within the STEM disciplines.

Videogame technology re-purposed: towards interdisciplinary design environments for engineering and architecture

The author and associated researchers have in previous projects adapted videogame technology for design in the context of architectural design education. This paper reflects on this body of research: the original motivations and aspirations; what threads may be productively revisited; how contemporary shifts to parametric design and building information modelling may be incorporated; and considers how some aspects of game play, in particular competition, may seed Interdisciplinary Design environments for Engineering and Architecture (IDeEA).