SITE Blog

When we think about securing the participation of all students in the use of high performance computing (HPC) and encouraging their informed use of the Teragrid,and other emerging technologies, we must think of the hurdles that students have to vault to achieve any kind of proficiency in the use of technology and to be involved in just science, math and engineering.

Some students must feel like the character in Ralph Ellison’s Book, ‘Invisible Man’ when they listen to Marc Prensky talk about ‘digital natives’ when in reality they are ‘digitally deficient’. They simply are not there, often lacking access and not being invlted to use technology in meaningful ways. They are not taught the skills they need, nor involved in learning STEM content. They may not have had much access to learning coding skills and be unaware of the levels of emerging technologies beyond a few Web 2.0 applications. They may or may not be socially savvy in cooperative collaboration projects such as FaceBook or My Space, or make any advanced use of media. Invitations to participate in high school are often way too late.

The National Govenors Association has some ideas about intervention. See their site on Innovation America. www.nga.org/center/innovation and a dedicated website for student learning. Gov. Napolitano also announced a new Web site at www.youinnovate21.net. The Web site, a partnership between NGA and Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, was developed to provide middle school students with the tools to become innovators and leaders of tomorrow.
The National Governors Association has a website and is pursuing academies for education. Will the minority students make the cut to be included? The website is a great example of outreach. So many web pages, so little broadband.

“We must prepare students of today to become the innovative leaders of tomorrow,” said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who developed NGA’s Innovation America program. “This web site will bring science, technology, engineering, and math to life for children, which–in turn–will give them the tools to become innovators.” The site, which is the result of a collaboration between NGA and global children’s publisher Scholastic Inc., features standards-based content, interactive games, a career simulator, and activities designed to encourage students to pursue STEM fields and careers. The site’s content is pulled from the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Science in Boston, and other institutions.

Other minority students have to figure in a language disconnect. Many hours of their school day are in pursuit of NCLB and the acquisition of language skills in very old fashioned ways , pedagogy that is outdated. They often lose two years in ELL classes. There are amazing new reading programs that are interactive that anchor learning of languages.

Perspective

Long ago, Martin Luther King addressed these problems: “There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today… that is, a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation . . . Now, whenever anything new comes into history it brings with it new challenges and new opportunities… [T]he geographical oneness of this age has come into being to a large extent through modern man’s scientific ingenuity. Modern man through his scientific genius has been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains… Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this.”

That was Rev. Martin Luther King, March 31, 1968.

We still have the problem of the lack of inclusion.

It seems there are too many variables to have to overcome to create the possibility for students to succeed as they make their way toward use of technology.

There are so many divides.

There is the digital divide. There is a funding divide. the knowledge divide, the technical divide and then the problem of access. Moreover, many of the students do not have access to well-trained or tech- savvy teachers or administrators with sufficient understanding to help them create a pathway to the uses of emerging technologies in their school, homes or community centers.

Most parents do not have a background in the fields from which the students are being excluded, to know how to create possibilities for the students in their learning communities. There may be accidental discoveries on the Web.

The Digital Divide

The digital divide Is traditionally defined in terms of access to computers and the Internet.

Digital exclusion is part of a broader divide contributing to social and economic exclusion of people and there are multiple aspects: economic, geographic, languages, gender, etc.

A report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), “Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003″ (NCES, 2006) reveals that the digital divide continues to exist, particularly along demographic and socioeconomic lines. Though an exact definition remains elusive, the term ‘digital divide’ generally refers to the disconnect that occurs between those with access to technology and those without, while recognizing that myriad factors can have a direct impact on that inequity.

Digital equity is defined as equal access and the opportunity to use digital tools, resources, and services to increase digital knowledge, awareness, and skills. When considering the role of technology in development of the twenty-first century learner, digital equity is more than a comparable delivery of goods and services, but fair distribution based on student needs.

A National Consideration of Digital Equity

Recently, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) shared research in the form of a white paper, which was an examination of issues related to digital equity in education — that is, equal access to technology, resources and services. This was part of an effort to broaden the awareness of digital equity issues and provide resources to educators and policy makers.

Technologies emerge, evolve and change and there will always be a digital divide at some level. Current education policy focused on “proficiency” misses the opportunity to raise achievement levels among the brightest, lower-income students. This is not news to many in minority education, or to parents in the supporting communities. An interesting report that points out the trouble with this concept can be found here, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, along with Civic Enterprises, LLC released a report on Sept. 10 on the Achievement Trap: How America is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students from Lower-income Families. Read the full report: Achievement Trap: How America Is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students From Lower-Income Families.
http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main

Are All Students Digital Natives?

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life project, more than one-half of all American teens — and 57 percent of teens who use the Internet — could be considered media creators. For the purpose of the study, a media creator is someone who created a blog or Web page, posted original artwork, photography, stories or videos online or remixed online content into their own new creations.

Most teens have done two or more of these activities. One-third of teens share what they create online with others, 22 percent have their own websites, 19 percent blog, and 19 percent remix online content.

Contrary to popular stereotypes, these activities are not restricted to white suburban males. In fact, urban youth (40 percent) are somewhat more likely than their suburban counterparts (28 percent) or rural counterparts (38 percent) to be media creators. Girls aged 15-17 (27 percent) are more likely than boys their age (17 percent) to be involved with blogging or other social activities online. The Pew researchers found no significant differences in participation by race-ethnicity.

If anything, the Pew study undercounts the number of American young people who are embracing the new participatory culture. The Pew study did not consider newer forms of expression, such as pod-casting, game modification or machinima. Nor did it count other forms of creative expression and appropriation such as music sampling in the hip hop community. These forms are highly technological but use other tools and tap other networks for their production and distribution.

The study does not include even more widespread practices, such as computer or video gaming that can require an extensive focus on constructing and performing as fictional personas. Their focus was not on individual accomplishment but rather looking at the emergence of a cultural context that supports widespread participation in the production and distribution of media.

The Knowledge Divide

Today in America, there are millions of students who are overcoming challenging socioeconomic circumstances to excel academically. They defy the stereotype that poverty precludes high academic performance and that lower income and low academic achievement are inextricably linked.

They demonstrate that economically disadvantaged children can learn at the highest levels and provide hope to other lower-income students seeking to follow the same path.

Sadly, from the time they enter grade school through their postsecondary education, these students lose more educational ground and excel less frequently than their higher-income peers. Despite this tremendous loss in achievement, these remarkable young people are hidden from public view and absent from public policy debates. Instead of being recognized for their excellence and encouraged to strengthen their achievement, high-achieving lower-income students enter what we call the ‘achievement trap’ — educators, policymakers and the public assume they can fend for themselves when the facts show otherwise.

We can look at the difficulties in entering STEM subjects in this way. Nationally, there is a huge gap in science, particularly for low income students.

Poverty: The Gap in Science

In 31 states, a gap of more than 20 scale-score points existed in the average scores of low-income 8th graders and their non-poor peers on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress in Science. States’ average poverty gap was 28.1 points.

Henry Jenkins analyzes the problem with connectivity in several ways as:

“The Participation Gap — the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.

“The Transparency Problem — The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shapes the perceptions of the world.”

“The Ethics Challenge — The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers and community participants. ”

Marc Prensky has written about “Education and Learning in the 21st Century: What We Need to Do Differently”.

Do we keep, change, or delete the metaphor of ‘Digital Natives and Immigrants’?

Unfortunately, there are many students who are just digital receivers. Most of their interaction with the use of technology is on the receiving end of the media. They use the media, but they are not meaningfully or interactively involved, particularly in school.

We know that students are on the Internet and what they do. What most do not know is how to engage and involve them, and how to encourage teachers and students to examine and explore a new world of learning resources that are available to them on the Teragrid and other HPC initiatives.

Many states provide the fewest funds to districts with the most poor and minority students, according to a new Education Trust report. On average, U.S. school districts in 2005 spent $938 less per pupil at schools where incomes were low versus more affluent districts, while districts with a large proportion of minority students received $877 less per pupil compared with predominately white districts.

There are some ways we can remedy the problems.

Web Sources

There are models that share the concepts of learning that students can access in the computational sciences. See for example http://www.shodor.org, particularly Project Interactivate.

To share the ideas of grid computing at basic levels, the site ‘Try Science, the Grid’ gives basic lessons on understanding some parts of HPC as part of the emerging wave of new technology.

Try Science, the Grid can be found at http://www.tryscience.org/grid/home.html

More extensive is the project ‘Kinetic City’, which calls itself “a Web site that finds fun in science”.

Kinetic City is an online supplementary education program that seeks to spark an interest in science among minority and female students through interactive games, experiments and other activities. It can be found at http://www.kineticcity.com.

The site seeks to build interest in myriad ways. Public access to the site is free, but the project works best with a science kit that furnishes resources. The lessons are based on key concepts from the AAAS ‘Benchmarks for science literacy’.

And what do the experts say?

The National Science Board unanimously adopted a motion to release for public comment an action plan to address critical 21st century needs in the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education system.

Two overarching actions stressed in the plan are increasing coordination of STEM education — both horizontally among states and vertically through grade levels — and increasing the supply of qualified K-12 STEM teachers.

In support of its “Innovation America” initiative, the National Governors Association (NGA) has launched a web site aimed at getting middle school students excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, with the goal of inspiring and preparing them to become 21st-century innovators.

“Adolescents need to learn how to integrate knowledge from multiple sources, including music, video , online databases ,and other media. They need to think critically about information that can be found nearly instantaneously through out the world. They need to participate in the kinds of collaboration that new communication and information technologies enable, but increasingly demand. Considerations of globalization lead us toward the importance of understanding the perspective of others, developing a historical grounding, and seeing the interconnectedness of economic and ecological systems.”
Bertram C. Bruce (2002).

Meeting the Needs of Students

All children need the intellectual development, motivation and skills that equip them for successful work and lifelong learning. These result from having quality learning environments, challenging expectations and consistent guidance and mentoring.
The number-one predictor of whether you will be successful in life is whether you graduate from high school. In today’s competitive global economy, effective education is more important than ever before.
Yet more than 25% of our students do not finish high school. The figure is nearly twice as high for African American and Latino students.

According to Every Child, Every Promise:
Only 39% of our teens are receiving this Promise
More than 40% of parents of younger children and two-thirds of adolescents say their children’s schools do not emphasize academic achievement
60% of 10- to 21-year-olds say their schools should give them more preparation for the real world

One way of meeting the need is by mentoring and guided practice as provided by organizations such as Joint Educational Facilities, Inc. (JEF). Community involvement and after school organizations can provide resources that often schools do not.

JEF is an all volunteer, non-profit, community-based K-12 organization that works primarily with junior and senior high school students and teaches them advanced computing sciences and contemporary mathematics topics with an emphasis on Intelligent Technologies.

For more information about Joint Education Facilities please see http://www.jef.org

JEF reports that “on the one hand, over the last few years all the seniors in the JEF program have entered college and are doing well. On the other hand, JEF feels that a vast majority of minority students at the junior and senior high school level are not getting the appropriate level of education/training to be fully successful at the collegiate level.

“Large numbers of our students upon entering undergraduate school are burdened with the inability to do creative thinking in the sciences and mathematics, and to communicate orally and in writing with people other than their peers.

“JEF’s programs are designed to acquaint students with research techniques, advanced mathematics, emerging technologies in computer science and computer communications, and computational science and public speaking.”

JEF and BDPA provide resources and shine a light on the possibilities. An ancient Chinese Proverb says: “ the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is today.”

Basically JEF’s approach is one of confidence building through skill development. To evaluate the success of its programs, JEF over the last ten years has established informal relationships with a number of colleges and universities. These relationships are in the form of scholarships, Internet accounts, students for paper presentations at national and international conferences, etc. What JEF is able to offer and create depends on successful fundraising and partnerships.

Empowering Students

JEF integrates activities relating to cyberstructure into its knowledge discovery paradigm. Students are taught to interact with HPC platforms such as the Computational Cluster at TRECC, TeraGrid, Open Science Grid and clusters at the University of Northern Iowa and Earlham College and the JEF Little-Fe. As a result students have competed in Student Competitions at TeraGrid 2006 and 2007 and SC07. Students have the opportunity to meet professionals, faculty and other students at the various HPC events.

JEF feels that a vast majority of minority students at the junior and senior high school level are not getting the appropriate level of education/training to be fully successful at the collegiate level. Large numbers of our students upon entering undergraduate school are burdened with the inability to do creative thinking in the sciences and mathematics, and to communicate orally and in writing with people other than their peers. Our programs are designed to acquaint students with research techniques, advanced mathematics, emerging technologies in computer science and computer communications, and computational science and public speaking.

Some of the grassroots techniques which have proved successful are: pairing African American youth with African American computer professionals (mentoring and role models), pairing African American high school students with African American college students (peer mentoring), development of computer projects which relate to their “real life” (e.g., the computer models of a Black teenager and a teenage girl’s shopping habits), and the development of oral and written language skills (confidence building).

The Internet to the Hogan

Another example of empowering students is the Internet to the Hogan project.
The “Internet to the Hogan” is an overall initiative to drive connectivity to families in remote areas, including to Chapter Houses and the hogan, which is a traditional Navajo dwelling. Before the introduction of the IP network, Nation residents had to spend up to 12 hours traveling great distances just for access to social, health, educational and informational services. Now with the roll-out of this network, expected to be fully complete in the next 12 months, Navajo Nation residents will have quick and easier access to numerous services using voice, video and data on a single line, all at a greatly reduced cost:

* Distance learning teleconferencing will feature classes from the major universities near the Nation, including Arizona State University, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico and the University of Utah.

* Telemedicine will allow medical patients to receive superior health care via access to doctors in numerous large medical facilities in larger urban areas.

* School children who travel as much as four hours daily on a bus to attend school will have after-hours access to the Internet for homework, ensuring that they keep pace with students in more populous areas.

* Elderly populations, many of whom speak only the Navajo dialect, will have access to information on agriculture in their native language.

* Central government services such as housing, children’s health insurance, e-government, job listings and voting will be as close as the nearest chapter House, versus hours away or even unavailable for those with no access to vehicles.

“Just as the Navajo Nation only recently upgraded itself by moving from the horse and wagons to the automobiles, it’s the same with the Internet,” said Harold Skow, director of information technology for the Navajo Nation. “The benefits of adoption are enormous for our people in terms of education, economic development, access to vital services, preservation and furtherance of our culture. And the savings will allow us to not only use the funds for other resources but also perhaps generate much-needed revenue streams.” The Navajo Nation expects to save as much as 75 per cent over present network costs for this greatly enhanced network and its related capabilities when the network implementation is completed.

Research

Finally, there are reports that covers in detail the problems, and offers solutions.

There is an action plan from the National Science Board. electronically it is at http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2007/stem_action.pdf.

‘Before It’s Too Late’ is a report from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. Many long range solutions that benefit students are here.
www.ed.gov/americacounts/glenn.

In a report issued today by America’s Promise Alliance entitled, “Cities In Crisis” written by Researcher Christopher Swanson, suburban school systemsgraduation rate’s are higher than urban school systems. Some solutions are offered.

Could it be that suburban school systems spend more money on the system; parents are better educated and are more focused on educational achievement; per pupil expenditure is higher; teachers salary and support different? What a conversation we could have.

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I would like to thank everyone who attended the SIG meeting on Thursday afternoon. For those of you who were not able to join us – I’m breaking the rule and letting what happened in Vegas out of Vegas. We had a wonderful conversation about the things we are doing with technology in our various educational lives. As a way to keep the conversation and sharing we started in Vegas going, those of us at the meeting planned to use the SITEBlog (www.siteblog.org) to post stories about our work. These posting can take form however you would like – as long or as short as you like - focused on any area of interest to you. We talked about individuals “signing” up for a post each month (thanks Sara McNeil for this idea!). I am going to get things started this month and I hoped that you all might respond to this post with a comment on a time that you will post to the blog. Of course, we can rearrange things, but it would be nice if we can at least get things started with some folks committing to the blog.

I want to say a couple of other things about blogging that I got from Troy Hicks who is a colleague in English Education. Troy is a quite prolific and insightful blogger (http://hickstro.org/) and I asked him, basically, how do you do it? (look at what Troy posted from SITE in Vegas!) He said that part of the process was simply unpacking his thoughts after meaningful experiences, without as much concern for form and shape. Troy said there seem to be several profiles for bloggers from the “white paper” posters to the folks like himself who just let it flow. It seems to me that one impediment to posting on blogs might be this expectation that what we write has to be a perfectly formed piece of prose – all academic. I am hoping that we can use this blog to just talk to each other. I know that is easier said that done, but for one I am going to “just let it flow” on this blog and see where it takes us.

One last thing – for those of you not familiar with blogging technology, you do not have to visit the website every day to find out what has been posted. SITEBlog allows you to set your preferences so that you can receive an email whenever something new has been posted. Another approach is to “feed” the blog to a reader or your favorite web-based portal space (My Yahoo, iGoogle, MSN Live, ect).

So, thanks again – look for a post on something from me to follow

And!! Tell your friends and colleagues in social studies about SITEBlog. You do have to be a member of SITE to post, but anyone can comment. I think we would all appreciate broadening the conversation, so the more the merry!

John

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If you are taking photos this year and posting them to Flickr or other photo sharing services, please be sure to tag your photos with “site2008″.

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There was a conducted bus tour on STEM at the SITE conference, it was fully subscribed and we visited schools of STEM interest in Clark County, Las Vegas. The school system helped us share STEM practices in the US.

STEM?

STEM has become a common acronym, particularly among policy advocates and government officials, for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, an on STEM education and competitiveness is Rising Above the Gathering Storm from the National Academies Press.

It was supported by the conference, the school system. SITE and conducted by me with help and resources from the George Lucas Educational Foundation, the National Academy of Science and resources from SuperComputing.. I had help from SITE friends. What a wonderful job they did with the logistics. All that was missing was the popcorn.

One film used on the bus was Two Miiiion Minutes, … and many of the participants were from those countries.

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the eighth grade — they have just Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately a career.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS_QENuOYL8 - 104k

We were touring STEM schools and viewing the George Lucas Educational Foundation, project based learning initiatives and videos, as well as seeing some of the schools of Clark County on case study videos, from the Edutopia.org web site.

Here are the school photos taken by Iphoto. Other digital photos of the
Tour will be forthcoming.

These are the Iphone pictures..
I thought you would like to see something of the rich experience we had.

Elementary
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43472&l=c4e22&id=593996326
Career Academy High School
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43458&l=cc854&id=593996326

There was lively discussion on the bus, and at the schools. The tour participants wished that we had arranged a dinner or forum somewhere within the conference to continue the discussions and thoughts, to talk about the things they saw and to contrast and talk about practices in their own countries.

The concept of who pays for schools, and how various practices shape the student pathways in countries was vigorously discussed , as well as
The MDG goals of the UN.

It was fun to hear the participants discuss their thoughts about their own country and the preparations they went through to get an education.

They suggested more information from GLEF.org in the way of case studies for their teacher education information and they were especially interested in the professional development modules.
http://www.edutopia.org/instructional-modules

International visitors were very interested in the ideas of the Innovation Proclamation and Compete.org. and asked for these resources.

Project-Based Learning

Edutopia’s Project-Based Learning teaching module is designed for either a two- to three-hour class or session or a one- to two-day workshop, and is divided into two parts.

Part one, Guided Process, designed to give participants a brief introduction to PBL, answers the questions “What is PBL about?” “Why is PBL important?” and “How does PBL work?” The Guided Process also includes the Teaching About PBL section as well as a PowerPoint presentation (including presenter notes), which can be shown directly from the Web site or can be downloaded for use as a stand-alone slide show.

The Edutopia video Newsome Park demonstrates PBL in action at Newsome Park Elementary School, in Newport News, Virginia, and the Teaching About PBL section contains two additional video accounts of this teaching approach: Journey North and Mountlake Terrace High School.

Part two, Group Participation, assigns readings and activities for experiential PBL. Ideally, the tasks will be accomplished using group collaboration and with the use of technology.

Much of the information has been taken directly from Edutopia’s book Edutopia: Success Stories for Learning in the Digital Age and from Edutopia.org. Elements I-IV of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, established by the International Society for Technology in Education, have been addressed in this module.
http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-pbl

Technology Integration

The technology integration module is meant for use either after completion of the project-based learning module or with participants who are familiar with project-based learning. The module is designed for a two- to three-hour class or session. It can be used in conjunction with trainings of software applications that are used in classroom settings.

Part One, Guided Process, is designed to give participants a brief introduction to technology integration. It answers the questions “Why is technology integration important?”; “What is technology integration?”; and “How do you integrate technology into the classroom?”

Part Two, Group Participation, guides participants in envisioning technology integration. It asks participants to visit various educational Web sites. The participants are then asked to brainstorm ideas for technology integration garnered from visiting and discussing these sites. The tasks will be accomplished using group collaboration and hands-on use of technology the Internet.

The PowerPoint presentation found in the Resources section can be used to introduce the module, or be used as a stand-alone presentation.

The following ISTE NETS Standards have been addressed in this module:
1. Technology Operations and Concepts

* Demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology (as described in the ISTE National Education Technology Standards for Students).
* Demonstrate continual growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current and emerging technologies.

2. Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences

* Design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
* Apply current research on teaching and learning with technology when planning learning environments and experiences.
* Plan for the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities.

3. Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum

* Facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.
* Apply technology to develop students’ higher order skills and creativity.

4. Assessment and Evaluation

* Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of assessment techniques.
* Apply multiple methods of evaluation to determine students’ appropriate use of technology resources for learning, communication, and productivity.

http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-technology-integration

UN ICT Task Force Series 9:
Harnessing the Potential of ICT for Education – A Multistakeholder Approach

Education is the cornerstone of sustainable development. It contributes to building a modern and thriving society and empowers communities and citizens to fully participate in development and prosperity. While the right to education is recognized as fundamental for each citizen, access to it is not guaranteed.

In the developing world, the essential building blocks for education systems are suffering from deficiencies, ICT can help respond to these challenges and create the environment that is conducive for effective and quality education systems. “Harnessing the Potential of ICT for Education – A Multistakeholder Approach – Proceedings of the Dublin Global Forum of the United Nations ICT Task Force” contains key presentations and contributions from the event held on 13-15 April 2005.

It captures innovative ideas and initiatives on the use of ICT in strengthening education and communities and highlights the enabling role of all relevant stakeholders. It also introduces case studies of ICT-based projects at the grassroots level and efforts to create a national infrastructure that makes use of new technologies to improve teaching and learning habits. This book is a valuable reference for anyone seeking solutions or thinking about the use of technology in education.

E Book

* ict4education_ebook.pdf (2619.75 Ko)
http://www.unicttaskforce.org/perl/documents.pl?id=1570

Summary

There is a world wide need for more STEM career pathways to knowledge.

So much of what we do is International. So many of our countries benefit from those who are involved in STEM careers. Many countries are just starting to be involved in technology in meaningful ways.

Computational Science? Shodor.org. This is a treasure chest of resources !!

This was an out of the box touch to the reality of some specialized schools. There were so many questions and many answers were generated. We had a great time.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton

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Dear SITE Friends,

We look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas in the next few days.   Just a reminder that the Equity and Justice SIG is scheduled to meet on Wednesday (see your schedules for specific time and location!).

Members of this SIG engage in networking and activities for promoting equity and social justice broadly in multicultural, democratic teaching and learning and teacher education, working to address educational, opportunity and digital divides.    Issues of Digital Equity - such as empowering opportunities to create, produce, use and disseminate digital tools, strategies and resources for equity and justice purposes, and particularly to seek, identify and/or develop leadership within as well as to otherwise engage traditionally underserved or oppressed communities - are at the forefront of this SIG.   Traditionally underserved groups in the U.S. include those identified in federal ESEA-NCLB legislation, such as children, youth and families who are low-income, disproportionately of color, language minority, living with special needs, immigrant, migrant, disproportionately female and/or otherwise neglected.  Internationally these include those who are living in poverty, political turmoil, refugees and/or those otherwise struggling with inequitable access to opportunities for full personal, social, political and economic development.   Members of this SIG tend to examine and take action within their own work around real and perceived opportunities and/or threats of digital age transformations and current and emerging information and telecommunications technologies within an equity and justice context.

We welcome you to join us.   In the past SIG meetings have been opportunities to:

(1) Network and collaborate with like-minded colleagues.

(2) Raise our voices on these issues within the wider SITE Community and beyond.

(3) Participate in identifying a Digital Equity award-winner at each SITE Conference.

(4) Promoting and eliciting Equity and Justice papers and proceedings at each SITE Conference.

(5) Planning special events such as half-day or full-day Equity and Justice Symposia.

(6) Promoting and eliciting publication around Equity and Justice issues in SITE and relevant journals.

(7) Identifying and/or helping to develop so-called “minority” leadership - leaders from groups mentioned above and/or who work in solidarity with such groups (so-called, as we often work in majority “minority” communities).

(8) Identifying, attending and/or promoting Equity and Justice Issues in other relevant conferences and venues, as a way of developing strategic networks and alliances.

Current keen interests include an interest in promoting Supercomputing opportunities for traditionally underserved schools, teacher education programs and learners and tracking upcoming legislation such as the “Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners” Bill, for the potential of addressing Equity and Justice issues.

We look forward to posting and learning about additional opportunities, organizations, ideas and resources in the coming week.  Please look for our posts of relevant resources and feel free to add your own!

Thanks!

In Peace,
Kevin Rocap, SIG Chair - and on behalf of Co-Chairs Bonnie Bracey and Versonya DuPont

 

 

 

 

 

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Greetings! My name is Carl Young, and I am Chair of the English Education Special Interest Group (SIG) here at SITE. I am an assistant professor of English and Middle Grades Education at North Carolina State University, and I also serve as coeditor for the English section of Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, otherwise known as the CITE Journal.

While I have been involved with the SITE Conference and the CITE Journal for about eight years now, I began serving as Chair for the English Education SIG at the 2006 Conference.

If you are an English Educator with an interest in technology applications, I encourage you to join our SIG!

At the 2006 Conference, one of our goals as a SIG group was to compose and publish a position paper in which we, as leaders in technology and English Education, would consider how literacy should be (re)defined for current times in light of new and emerging technologies and their impact on language, literacy, and culture. While we have taken some initial steps with this initiative, there is still work to be completed, and I invite you to join us in Las Vegas and contribute to our efforts. I look forward to meeting you and collaborating soon!

Our meeting is Thursday, March 6th, 12:15 - 1:15 pm. The location is still yet to be determined, but I’ll post again with that information when it becomes available.

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In my teaching life, I have always started to share during the months, the special initiatives for Native Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. It is time to be more inclusive during the whole school year.It is not like I don’t know that the technology initiatives for the months are not available to all. I guess I think by pushing them I help those who might not be aware of the best sites. With the use of simple search initiatives every teacher should be able to find more than they can use.

Google can help anyone find these things.

Often in conferences I am amazed that teachers and educators don’t know rudimentary tricks of new technologies. How then do we create the understanding for all students? Then I remember how long I have been doing this and the uneven ways in which teaching technology happens and the everchanging technology tools of 2.O and beyond. Of course we have the bad news..

Bush Budget Cuts EETT

EETT is once again on the chopping block. In a proposed budget from the Bush administration released Feb. 4, the Enhancing Education Through Technology program (EETT) was listed among the programs recommended for zero funding. EETT is part of Title II D of the No Child Left Behind Act, designed to support the deployment and integration of educational technology into classroom instruction.

http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=858186:712490

This year, I am going for better types of understanding.

I have been working in digital equity for some times with ISTE, and SITE, and on the web. I have joyfully pushed broadening participation in science, technology , engineering and math and computational science, with the help of groups and of friends and special initiatives. Knowledge networks work for me. It occurs to me that there are lots of resources available. What is not available is time for teachers to learn, to incorporate practice, to synthesize the knowledge that they gain. There is little reward for being technology savvy in many learning spaces.

Broadening Participation

There are lots of ways to think about how we broaden participation in education.
The reasons we need to broaden participation are many which may be unknown to regular teachers. The statistics for minorities , and women in STEM are appalling.

One is the video on 2 Million Minutes which I wrote about in a prior post. You can find the video on You Tube. 2 Million minutes talks about the time that students get in high school. I think that talking about high school is too late. Elementary school sets the tone for thinking about life’s choices.

Two Million Minutes

This film takes an analytical look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century-China, India and the United States-are preparing their students for the future. As we follow two students from each of these countries, we compose a global snapshot of education, especially math and science, from the viewpoint of one common denominator, time-time spent in class, time spent with teachers and tutors, and even how much time parents contribute to their child’s education. Our goal is to tell the broader story of the universal importance of education today, and address what many are calling a crisis in the U.S. school system regarding chronically low test scores in international math and science indicators.

In each of these three countries, we convene a series of roundtable discussions with a select group of articulate, outgoing and high-achieving high school students. Then from each group we follow two students, a male and female, through a typical week to observe their life from all vantage points-home, school, extra-curricular activities, and just hanging out with friends. An onscreen timer keeps track of just how much time each student devotes to his or her education through the week.

We also document parental involvement, as well as communication with teachers, coaches, and others - gathering an overall sense of how each culture goes about educating its young people. A running tally of the amount of time devoted to education during that sample week gives a sense of how these competitive superpowers are preparing their students. Studies-including quantitative and cultural data-already give us plenty of information about each of these countries, but most of this data fails to reach broader audiences.

Both India and China have made dramatic leaps in educating their middle classes. Their societies have a strong respect for education and achievement through hard work and perseverance. For example, Chinese students typically spend twice as many hours studying than American students, and the result of China’s effort multiplied throughout a huge population has created a highly skilled and motivated workforce. Compared to the U.S., China now produces eight times more scientists and engineers, while India puts out three times as many as the U.S. Additionally, given the affordability of their workers, China and India are now preferred destinations for increasing numbers of multinational high-tech corporations.

In this documentary film, we believe the visual impact of the speed at which global change is taking place today along with the emphasis China and India place on educating their children will give American viewers pause, and hopefully inspire change. Just as the launch of Sputnik ignited a space race with the Soviet Union and impelled Congress to pass the Defense Education of Act of 1958, many experts feel the United States has reached it’s next “Sputnik moment”-that in order to compete in the 21st century, we need to refocus our efforts in educating our children. According to a 2004 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, close to 40 percent of American high school students had not taken any science course more rigorous than general biology, and a mere 18 percent had taken advanced science classes in physics, chemistry or biology. They also reported that 55 percent of students had not taken coursework beyond two years of algebra and one year of geometry.

How well prepared will our students be to compete for the best-paying high-tech jobs-not just at a regional or national level, but internationally? Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce. Recent reports issued from groups such as the National Science Foundation, The President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Board, and The National Academy of Engineering have challenged the nation’s leaders, educators and parents to make math and science education a national initiative. The goal of this film is to illustrate this point and to help answer the question: Are we doing enough with the time we have to ensure the best future for all? Because our competitors, it appears, are leaving us in the dust.

NCLB

I am sure we don’t think that math and reading are the only subjects of choice for students. If we restrict the students in elementary school to the preparations and learning that are only assessible by data management for AYP. We make a mistake. There is little room for the ingredients that prepare students for the future.

Which Technologies Will Shape Education in 2008?

Mobile broadband, collaborative Web technologies, and mashups will all significantly impact education over the next five years, along with “grassroots” video, collective intelligence, and “social operating systems.” This according to a new report released last week by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative, the 2008 Horizon Report.

Click to continue:
http://www.1105newsletters.com/t.do?id=858184:712490

In an era of new technologies , money is very scarce in soon schools for technologies.
It is so hard if school is not a place for connectivity if students are not connected. How do we create a place, a space, and understanding that helps

As we note the political landscape being inclusive of women and minorities we have still another battle to win. Even in elementary schools the patternings of racial exclusivity start and create difficulty.Other patterns are to give the students who need excellent teachers the most, the least trained teachers and those with little experience. Who wants to teach those students?

Sometimes it is the patterns of racial exclusion that are geographical, because of the cost of housing. Sometimes it is the fact that culturally, we have different patterns of thought and we have not been exposed to various elements … museums,
mentors, the magic of environmental involvement, the ways in which the school system and parents collaborate to make things happen. I have worked in schools where talking to parents was a no no, and in schools where parents were a part of every day and one hardly noticed when they walked in.

This article from Education Week, is one way of looking at the ways in which we allow students to exclude themselves when we ourselves don’t decide that they cannot do what
STEM and computational science will allow.

By Debra Viadero

Everyone at Columbus High, the pseudonymously named school where researcher Mica Pollock taught in the 1990s, worried about the “hall wanderers”—students who roved the building, seemingly unimpeded, while their peers sat in class.

Yet, although a disproportionate number of the wanderers were African-American, educators at the highly diverse high school shied away from raising the race flag when the hallway problem came up in faculty meetings. The issue was left to fester.
That pattern of response—or nonresponse—is what Ms. Pollock came to describe in an award-winning 2004 book as “colormuteness.” In other words, teachers saw a problematic racial pattern but, in an effort to appear colorblind, refused to talk about it in public.

Mica Pollock, an associate professor of education at Harvard University, is the editor of a forthcoming volume of essays on race in schools.

—Courtesy of Rose Lincoln/Harvard University News Office

Now, Ms. Pollock circles back to that tough issue in a book due to be published in June by the New Press, of New York City. Called Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School, the volume contains 65 essays from scholars who offer advice for educators on recognizing when everyday classroom practices exacerbate racial inequalities and on becoming more constructively conscious and open about race.
“When should educators be race-conscious, and when should they be colorblind?” Ms. Pollock said in an interview this month. “I realized this was a can of worms nobody could address individually.”

Chapters offer advice—drawn from both research and personal experience—on grouping students in mixed-race, mixed-ability classrooms, providing minority students with supportive feedback, forging relationships with black parents, choosing posters for the classroom wall, and a range of other potential minefields.

“In educators’ everyday life is where the massive dilemmas of dealing with a racially unequal nation touch down,” said Ms. Pollock, an associate professor of education at Harvard University’s graduate school of education.

“Generic advice to be colorblind or to celebrate diversity worries me because it’s not that usable by the teacher, … and I didn’t want researchers giving vague advice, either.”

Counterproductive?
In an era when the U.S. Supreme Court is putting sharp limits on race-conscious student-assignment policies, though, the guidance that Ms. Pollock and her colleagues offer is bound to draw detractors.

Facing Race
In Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School, scholars on race and education offer pointed questions designed to raise educators’ consciousness of how common educational practices affect children who are members of minority groups. For instance, they ask teachers:
• Can you think of a time when you or someone you know felt “spotlighted” or “ignored” in class because of race?
• What successes and problems have you had in attempting to “balance” students in small groups by race, gender, or ability?
• When does placing students in racially and ethnically homogeneous environments assist them, and when does it harm them?
• Can you think of an example in your teaching when a student asked you a question or made a comment about race? How did you respond?
• How can educators talk more precisely about who needs to provide which opportunities inside schools to help dismantle racial disparities, without raising the defenses of colleagues who feel blamed by the analysis?
• When does sharing another racial or ethnic group’s language or dress respect differences? When does it mock them?
• How can an educator talk simultaneously about successful scientists of color and about the underrepresentation of minority groups in the sciences?
SOURCE: Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School
“I’m skeptical that race has to be at the forefront of educators’ minds in every aspect of school business,” said one such critic, Roger Clegg, the president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Falls Church, Va.-based group that supports what it calls “colorblind public policies.”
“Doing so can reinforce stereotypes and be counterproductive,” he added.
The researchers who contributed to the new volume maintain as well that certain ways of dealing with race upfront can promote rather than dismantle stereotypes. Clear advice on tackling race-related issues in schools is needed precisely because racism in education, or the perception of it, is still hard for many educators to recognize, address, or discuss honestly, they say.
“We talk about racial achievement gaps, but that’s not the same thing,” said Wendy Luttrell, an associate professor of human development and education at Harvard. Her essay, based on case studies of six Massachusetts secondary schools, focuses on how teachers of different races, and different generations, respond to hearing students say the “n-word.”
“The most important thing, I think, is for teachers to be talking with each other about how they work with students and confront any kind of inflammatory language among students,” she said.

Unintended Effects
As several of the essays show, even teachers operating with the best of intentions sometimes don’t recognize when their actions affect students who are members of minority groups.
For example, in her chapter, Beth C. Rubin, an assistant education professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., describes how a school system’s efforts to end tracking—the practice of grouping students in separate classes by academic ability—inadvertently stigmatized minority students in one high school classroom. In that class, a teacher’s careful efforts to balance student work groups by race, gender, and ability enraged an African-American student.

“You trying to get all the black kids away from each other, before we cause a nuclear holocaust!” the student exclaimed. Meanwhile, the white students in the class, most of whom were high-achieving, relegated the minority students in their groups to roles that gave them little opportunity to hone their academic skills, according to Ms. Rubin’s account.
“I guess I’m asking teachers to think about race a little differently, and not so much about having to have kids equally distributed among groups,” Ms. Rubin said in an interview. “And also,” she added, “to think of group work as skill-building over the course of the year. You might start kids in pairs and then maybe create enough scaffolding so all kids can fully engage.”
Indeed, several of the authors say, minority students can benefit from occasionally and temporarily working together, a practice that one author refers to at the high school level as “cocooning.”
“Sometimes the most effective antiracist strategy for helping students of color to navigate high school and move on to college is to give them opportunities to be ‘cocooned’ for some period of time in contexts that allow them to analyze in a safe environment what it means to be a racial-ethnic group member in and out of school and to draw inspiration and support from those who have traveled the same road before them,” writes Patricia Gándara, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a co-director of the Civil Rights Project there.
The trick may be to balance those opportunities for students with experience “crossing boundaries” in mainstream classrooms, Ms. Gándara says.

How do we help with this problem in SITE?

Where is this taught? How is this taught? Who manages, and mentors teachers to help with
the right choices while in school.

Who provides mentors for students without strong family resources?

Setting a Tone
Balance is also key to the kind of instructional climate teachers should provide in racially diverse classrooms, according to Ronald F. Ferguson, the director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative. He calls in his essay for tempering high academic expectations—or, in Mr. Ferguson’s term, “high perfectionism”—with an openness to helping students and answering their questions.

“It’s, ‘I’d love to help you, but we’re never really done until we do it the right way,’ ” said Mr. Ferguson. “It’s not, ‘That’s good enough, we’re going to move on,’ or ‘I can’t take your questions now.’ ”

Mr. Ferguson’s advice grows out of results from longitudinal surveys of elementary school students in 500 classrooms in small cities and inner-ring suburbs in Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and a handful of other states In classrooms with the heaviest concentrations of black and Hispanic students—those where a quarter or fewer of students are white or Asian-American—students were more likely to report at year’s end that they had put forth their best effort when their teachers were perceived to be practicing both “high perfectionism” and “high help.”

In the same vein, Geoffrey L. Cohen, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, recommends that, in offering students critical feedback, teachers convey the idea that the criticism reflects a high standard, and that they believe in the student’s ability to reach that standard. In laboratory experiments with college students, Mr. Cohen has found that such messages can be more motivating for minority students, who are often wary of the feedback they get from teachers, than when educators overpraise them or give the same feedback to all students.

“Being a member of a stereotyped group puts one in a sort of bubble in which one can’t be certain whether the critical feedback comes from bias against their group or a teacher’s motivation to help one improve,” Mr. Cohen said in an interview. “In general, though, whites can enter a school situation thinking, ‘Teachers here believe in me.’ ”
While thoughtfully tackling race-related issues in the classroom can be painful, experts on the subject say, schools pay a greater price by failing to do so.

For instance, when teachers avoided publicly confronting the racial implications of Columbus High’s problem with “hall wanderers,” private faculty conversations took a turn for the worse.
Teachers began to cast blame on students, their values, and their families, according to Ms. Pollock’s account. They never recognized that they had also contributed to the situation by ejecting African-American students from their classrooms in disproportionate numbers, and by failing to question why security guards had allowed black students to wander in the first place.
“You can’t fix a machine without discussing where it’s broken,” Ms. Pollock said.
Coverage of education research is supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.
Vol. 27, Issue 21, Pages 1,14
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/30/21race.h27.html?print=1

Changes in STEM Participation
As NSF continued during the 1980s and early 1990s to initiate new programs and program changes to increase participation of underrepresented groups in STEM, the number of women and minorities entering the education pipeline and attaining undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and engineering increased.10 However, little or no change in the demographics of the STEM workforce occurred for these groups, as reflected in statistics reported in NSF’s annual report: Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering

A Historical Review of CEOSE Findings and Recommendations to the National Science Foundation
According to this report, many of the workplace conditions that existed in 1982 existed into the 1990s. For women, the same issues of lack of access to training and parity in employment that were underscored in the CEOSE findings of 1981 persisted and were underscored in the Committee’s 1992 findings. CEOSE’s recommendations to NSF also essentially remained the same throughout the 1980s and early
1990s.
For minorities, the lack of access to education and employment opportunities, as well as lack of dis-aggregated data for finer programming to meet the needs of minorities continued to top the list of CEOSE’s findings in 1981 and 1992. Therefore, recommendations to improve the situation for minorities remained essentially unchanged throughout this period.
For persons with disabilities, the scenario was the same. The major findings in 1982 and 1992 were limited access to education and employment opportunities, lack of accessibility to facilities and technologies, and lack of data on the needs and achievements of disabled persons. Once again, the recommendations for corrective actions for this underrepresented group remained unchanged throughout the first 13 years of CEOSE.

It became increasingly clear to the members of CEOSE that although NSF had initiated a number of program interventions, significant changes in workforce participation levels for underutilized groups would require time. The very process of educating and training scientists and engineers is in itself time consuming. Given the re-occurrence of the same or similar findings and recommendations, CEOSE needed to adopt a long-term view and strategy for change. CEOSE’s journey toward greater diversity in STEM, therefore, assumed a new plan of navigation. In 1992, CEOSE began to formulate
its recommendations in terms of long range goals with measurable guideposts.

For those who must read the reports .. they are here.

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sustaining the Nation’s
Innovation Ecosystem: Maintaining the Strength of Our Science and Engineering
Capabilities. (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, March 2004).
http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/FINALPCASTSECAPABILITIESPACKAGE.pdf

Princiotta, D. and Bielick, S. Homeschooling in the United States: 2003. (Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2005).
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006042.pdf

Project Kaleidoscope. Report on Reports II. Transforming America’s Scientific and
Technological Infrastructure: Recommendations for Urgent Action. (Washington DC:
Project Kaleidoscope, 2006). http://www.pkal.org/documents/ReportOnReportsII.cfm

Ruppert, Sandra S. Improving Pension Portability for K-12 Teachers. (Denver, CO:
Educational Systems Research, February, 2001).
http://www.sheeo.org/quality/mobility/pension.PDF

Skandera, Hanna and Richard Sousa. Mobility and the Achievement Gap. (Stanford, CA:
Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University, 2007).
http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/4488356.html

The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation. The Knowledge Economy: Is the
United States Losing its Competitive Edge? (Washington DC: Task Force on the Future
of America’s Innovation, 2005).
http://futureofinnovation.org/PDF/Benchmarks.pdf

The Teaching Commission. Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action. (Washington DC: The
Teaching Commission, 2004).
http://www.ecs.org/html/offsite.asp?document=http%3A%2F%2Fftp%2Eets%2Eorg%2F
pub%2Fcorp%2Fttcreport%2Epdf

The Technology CEO Council. Choose to Compete: How Innovation, Investment, and
Productivity Can Grow U.S. Jobs and Ensure American Competitiveness in the 21st
Century. (Washington DC: Technology CEO Council, 2004).
http://www.cspp.org/documents/choosetocompete.pdf

U.S. Chamber of Congress. Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on
Educational Effectiveness. (Washington, DC: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2007).
http://www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default#top

The U.S. Commission for National Security/21st Century. Road Map for National
Security: Imperative for Change” (Phase III). (Washington DC: Government Printing
Office, February 2001). http://cryptome.sabotage.org/nssg3-01.htm

U.S. Department of Education. Report of the Academic Competitiveness Council.
(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2007).
http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/competitiveness/acc-mathscience/report.pdf

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Education Statistics. Mapping 2005 State Proficiency Standards Onto the NAEP Scales
Research and Development Report. (Washington, DC: Department of Education ED
Pubs, June, 2007).
http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.751b186f65e10b568a278110501010a0/?vg
nextoid=e34e2bad2b6dd010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=92ebc7df
618a2010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD

U.S. Department of Education National Commission on Excellence in Education. A
Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. (Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, 1983). http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

U.S. Department of Education National Commission on Mathematics and Science
Teaching. Before It’s Too Late: A Report to the Nation. (Washington DC: Government
Printing Office, March 2000). http://www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn/report.pdf

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Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career.Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult?

The youtube version

www.youtube.com/watch?v=niU1E3SSTAM -

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off — will effect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=niU1E3SSTAM -

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off — will effect their economi”>Two Million Minutes is a fascinating international look at how the minutes students spend in high school will determine the future of their country’s economy. http://www.2mminutes.com/ This is a short trailer. I have the whole film on DVD.

The TWO MILLION MINUTES documentary film, offers insights into education in China, India and the United States, and the challenge America faces. At the conference, you can join a dialog about what International governments, communities and families should and are doing to best prepare students for satisfying careers in the 21st century. You can also understand, and get international points of view from people outside of the US.

When I write about international Education , I can’t do what the film does, bring the learning landscape to be viewed. I do understand that everyone in every culture does not have universal education and that many children all over the world don’t get schooling at all. But the film still has points to share, and lessons to teach.

From the director

Harvard Graduate Students Screen Two Million Minutes Documentary

“We had the opportunity to screen the 4th cut of Two Million Minutes for a room full of Harvard graduate students from the Law School, the Kennedy School of Government and the School of Education.

“

“We certainly felt welcomed and we were delighted to get such a large, engaged and animated crowd on a Friday night. They not only enjoyed the film – they stayed for over two hours to discuss and debate the implications of the explosion of educated talent emanating from India and China – for the US and for US education. It was a lively, sometimes even feisty, debate.”

Surveying the students before the film, we learned that only a couple had visited Indian or Chinese schools, and none were aware of the magnitude of the school systems in these countries - both 4.5 times larger than the US school system.

So it was gratifying to be able to share some new information through both our film and our first hand experiences in India and China with these future leaders of US government and the US educational system.

Even though our film was their first introduction to high school in India and China, the graduate students proved to be quick studies. They were able to articulate strong opinions on the flaws in the other education systems and were very adept at defending the strengths of the US education system, such as equal opportunity for all and the quality of outcomes.

The Graduate Education School students, in particular, had strong views on the film. Most argued that the US education system is superior to India and China because it puts less stress on the students and less emphasis on rote learning of math and science. A few in the group, however, seemed open to the notion that we might have something to learn from India and China. One thought bandied about was what if we treated education with as much intensity, investment and passion as we do high school athletics, students might benefit intellectually.

Given my observations and experiences in all three countries over the past 30 years, I have to agree with the latter group. Our current “group think” about education must change – more of the same is not going to prepare American students for global competition.

I suspected this thinking would be the minority at Harvard, but I was surprised by the passion with which many defended the status quo…and therein is the crux of the problem, in my view.

Fortunately, there are people in education who want and demand change, and yes, they’re a minority voice. We have one of the most respected voices in our film — Shirley Ann Jackson, who authored the report “The Quiet Crisis” which led to “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” I’m sticking with her.

When we sat down to create this film, we set out to make a film that would shake people up — not put people to sleep. Looks like we’ve been successful.

Bob Compton ,Director

THE FILMMAKERS
Executive Producer

The Two Million Minutes storyline was conceived by Robert A. Compton and he also has served as Executive Producer of the documentary. Compton has had a distinguished business career as a venture capitalist, as former President of a NYSE company, as the entrepreneur founder of four companies and as an angel investor in more than a dozen businesses. Compton has traveled the world extensively. His trips to India in 2005 and 2006 inspired him to author a blog , publish a book - Blogging Through India - and to create the documentary Two Million Minutes.

Take Rohit in Bangalore. He is under intense pressure from his folks to get into a top engineering university but blows off steam singing with his “boy band” and dreams of sending demos out to record companies. In Shanghai we meet math whiz Xiaoyuan, who, while awaiting word from Yale to see if she gained early acceptance, tries out as a violinist for the top music conservatory in Shanghai.

In Indianapolis we go to school with Neil. The senior class president and former star quarterback who gave up football to focus more on his studies. He has cruised through school, but now, with a full academic scholarship to Purdue University, wonders if he is up to the college challenge. The other students profiled in the documentary ?Ruizhang, Brittany and Apoorva ?face many of these universal adolescent pressures as well.

To put these narratives in context we have assembled an array of interviews with specialists like former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, Congressman Bart Gordon, chair of the House Committee on Science, Harvard economist Richard Freeman as well as top Indian CEOs, and leading scientists in America.

Statistics for American high school students give rise to concern for our student’s education in math and science. Less than 40 percent of U.S. students take a science course more rigorous than general biology, and a mere 18 percent take advanced classes in physics, chemistry or biology. Only 45 percent of U.S. students take math coursework beyond two years of algebra and one year of geometry. And 50 percent of all college freshmen require remedial coursework.

Meanwhile, both India and China have made dramatic leaps in educating their middle classes - each comparable in size to the entire U.S. population. Compared to the U.S., China now produces eight times more scientists and engineers, while India puts out up to three times as many as the U.S. Additionally, given the affordability of their wages, China and India are now preferred destinations for increasing numbers of multinational high-tech corporations.

Just as the Soviets’ launch of a tiny satellite ignited a space race and impelled America to improve its science education, many experts feel the United States has reached its next “Sputnik moment.” The goal of this film is to help answer the question: Are we doing enough with the time we have to ensure the best future for all?

Director and Editor

Chad Heeter joined Compton on this film project in the spring of 2006, as he was completing his Master’s degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Heeter has been the Senior Producer throughout the film making process.

Producer

Adam Raney joined Heeter as a Producer in January 2007. He also holds a Master’s degree in Journalism and Latin American Studies from U.C. Berkeley. The two have worked as reporters and filmmakers in Latin America, Asia, Europe and the United States. Their last project together was a documentary on Brazil’s landless movement for Frontline/World on PBS.org - http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2005/12/brazil_cutting.html

Both Heeter and Raney have been interested in education since spending two years teaching as members of Teach for America. Heeter was a high school science teacher in Georgia, and Raney taught junior high science, English and social studies in New York City. Heeter also went on to teach in Japan.

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Congratulations to Nancy Trautmann and James MaKinster for winning the NTLI Fellowship at the ASTE conference in St. Louis.  Nancy and Jim presented a paper entitled “Flexibly Adaptive Professional Development in Support of Teacher-Designed Geospatial Technology Curriculum Projects.” (Read the article)

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