education

'Rah' squared: Cheerleaders urge girls toward science

One of the more unspoken thoughts about why girls don't want to become scientists is that science is less interesting than scientists would have you believe.

But here are some girl scientists who clearly believe the opposite and may leave you unable to speak.

For these are the Science Cheerleaders. They are crusaders for the cause of getting more little girls to love science.

Yes, they wear short skirts and carry pom-poms. But these are engineers and dentists who want to find any way possible to get you to pay attention.

I am grateful to Jezebel for locating evidence … Read more

NYC Generation Tech aims to turn high schoolers into techies

Despite the lagging economy and slow job growth, the tech sector is booming. And according to some estimates, it's only going to get better. This may be one of the reasons why some politicians and educators are pointing kids in the tech direction.

New York City's Economic Development Corp. and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship announced the launch of NYC Generation Tech today. It's an initiative aimed at teaching the city's high school students hands-on tech training while also pairing them with mentors in the biz.

Designed specifically for "students interested in transforming the world … Read more

San Diego schools spend $10M on iPads for students

The purchase, reported by several local media outlets, is said to be one of the largest educational iPad rollouts in the U.S. K-12 market. The 26,000 iPads will be spread out in 340 classrooms starting this fall.

Apple's push to get iPads and digital textbooks in the classroom appears to be paying off. The SDUSD was able to draw on funding though Proposition S, a fund approved in 2008 by a 69 percent vote, dedicated to getting classrooms up-to-date technology.

The iPad is nothing if not up-to-date. And, despite some local head-scratching (read: "Why would we … Read more

Codecademy raises $10 million in second financing round

Codecademy, a site that helps users learn how to code for free, has raised $10 million in a second round of financing.

The company announced today that the round was led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Those investment firms now join Unique Square Ventures and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson among the company's investors. Codecademy raised $2.5 million in its first financing round.

"With this new funding, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing," Codecademy wrote on its blog today. "We've reached millions of students in more than 100 … Read more

Convert length measurements with Quick Conversion

We'll be frank: Quick Conversion is one of the ugliest programs we've seen. It's also fairly light on features. But if you're looking specifically for a program that can convert between both English and metric units of length, it can get the job done.

Quick Conversion's interface consists of a list of units of measurement: inches, feet, yards, fathoms, rods, furlongs, miles, and leagues, as well as millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, decameters, hectometers, and kilometers. A drop-down menu lets you select the unit of measurement that you want to convert from and enter the number … Read more

Bill Gates' magical bracelets to monitor kids' attentiveness

Science, rationality's clever henchman, sometimes has strange ideas.

One that has entered the firmament is a "Galvanic" bracelet that uses physiological signs to measure just how engaged a child is in school.

I am grateful to the Washington Post for revealing that such bracelets are now subject to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

I hadn't been aware that one's skin could be such a giveaway of my mental state. Sometimes, it's just dry because I forget to lather myself in lovely Philosophy body lotion. (Try it. It smells wonderful.)

And … Read more

Parent set up fake porn profile in revenge against school official

Ask not why people do things. Ask how it felt when they've done them.

I wonder, indeed, how Robert Dale Esparza Jr. must have felt last year when he set up a fake profile on a porn site. It was in the name of Frank Hendricsen.

Not necessarily a sexy name, that. But it so happened to be one belonging to the assistant principal at the school attended by Esparza's then 13-year-old son.

I find myself moved by the reporting of the Arizona Republic on the conviction of Esparza Jr. for taking the identity of another and computer … Read more

Texas school district to track kids through RFID tags

It seems that certain schools in Texas are having trouble with their math.

No, it isn't the kids. It's the school administrators. They keep losing kids. And, well, state funding depends, at least to some extent, on attendance.

So Northside Independent School District in San Antonio has decided to insert a little technology into the problem. For it intends to insert RFID chips into the kids' IDs, so that it will know precisely where little Chet is at all times.

I am grateful to the San Antonio Express-News for expressing this development, one that might cause some to … Read more

Aussie principal threatens to expel underage Facebookers

Announcing the full commencement of the battle between school principals and recalcitrant children who think they should be more open and connected.

It seems, you see, that school principals have had enough of the under-13s having Facebook accounts.

The first salvo was emitted by a British school principal a couple of weeks ago. Paul Woodward threatened to report parents of underage Facebookers to child protection services.

Now, principal of Australia's Harlaxton State School, Leonie Hultgren, has reportedly made an even more draconian threat: she will simply expel the kids.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that her threat was unequivocal.… Read more