<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Friends:<br><br></div>The Hechinger Report -- a journal on education innovation and inequality -- just published an article on giving all students a top-notch STEM education. The report is here:<br><a href="http://hechingerreport.org/teacher-voice-instead-voucher-battle-gave-nations-children-top-stem-education/">http://hechingerreport.org/teacher-voice-instead-voucher-battle-gave-nations-children-top-stem-education/</a><br><br></div>STEM is, of course, often a significant part of gifted ed, and the author suggests several ways to improve service to students. Some of the author's suggestions seem ill-conceived (according to some with whom I have talked), although others may agree with him (he's a former teacher of the year in his community). A couple of his points: <br><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(53,28,117)"><span style="font-family:Tiempos,Georgia,Times,serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none">3. Group kids at round tables and empower them to solve problems collaboratively.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> <br></span></span><span style="font-family:Tiempos,Georgia,Times,serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none">4. Grade students on what they know and can do, not on subjective elements like participation, pleasantness, homework completion or “extra credit.”<br></span></span><span style="color:rgb(42,39,43);font-family:Tiempos,Georgia,Times,serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none"><span style="color:rgb(53,28,117)">6. Reverse the order of traditional science instruction: teach physics in ninth grade, followed by chemistry and then biology.</span><br></span></font></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(42,39,43);font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none">Perhaps the author is correct on these and other points. Any thoughts on his approach?<br></span></font></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(42,39,43);font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none">Sincerely,<br></span></font></span></div><span style="color:rgb(42,39,43);font-family:Tiempos,Georgia,Times,serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="2">Nancy Jamison</font></span><br></span><div><div><div><span style="color:rgb(42,39,43);font-family:Tiempos,Georgia,Times,serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;float:none"><br></span></div></div></div></div>