In June I had the opportunity to attend EdCamp Code at the Friday Institute in Wake County. As the magnet coordinator for a gifted and talented magnet elementary school, I am constantly trying to find new ways to help teachers update our elective offerings. We have offered computer coding and robotics
Every day in my class, students have about 10 minutes of story time. What grade level do I teach? At the mention of story time, many of you may picture a classroom full of individual carpet spaces with twenty small chairs and desks and even smaller students. But I'm not an elementary school teacher;
My previous blog post focused on a graph, showing the % of women earning STEM degrees in various fields. While that graph was was designed to answer a very specific question, let's now look at the data from a broader perspective. Let's look at the total number of STEM degrees
For the past several years, efforts have been under way to recruit more women into the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. I recently saw an interesting graph showing the percentage of bachelor's degrees conferred to women in the US, and I wondered if I could tweak that graph
For the third year in a row, we are happy to serve as a host site for Wake Ed Partnership's SummerSTEM program. We think we've planned the best year yet (although, we had a lot of fun hosting SummerSTEM 2015 and 2016--check out WNCN's story). As in years past, this summer
Winter has past, and it’s time to soak in the sunshine vitamin. Many activities usually done in the classroom can be modified and conducted outdoors. The benefits of outdoor learning are well documented. Research shows exposure to the natural world is important to children’s social, psychological, intellectual, and physical health. Equally
What do you get when you combine analytics, aviation and the Internet of Things? A learning experience that leaves everyone flying high! At Data on the Fly, 25 area high school students had the opportunity to learn how technology has changed – and continues to change – the aviation industry.
We recently had the pleasure of conducting a workshop at the North Carolina Reading Association Conference in Raleigh, NC. Following the release of our latest app, CodeSnaps, we demonstrated how to incorporate coding and robotics into K-5 ELA instruction. Reading teachers from across North Carolina attended the workshop and brought
The NC Scholastic Chess Championship is coming up this weekend, and my buddy Michael Thomas asked if I might could create a few graphs to help analyze the event data. How could I pass up an opportunity like that?!?! Read along, and find out what graphs I created, and the
Students must learn to read, evaluate, discuss, and write about real-world science issues. Some educators feel that practice is the best way to become a proficient reader, thinker, and communicator. While building knowledge from textbooks is important, teachers today are less likely to use class time in this manner. Instead,
There are no limitations for what you can accomplish. That’s the message Keith Poston from the Friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences imparted to 300 middle and high school students, teachers and parents assembled this week at the museum for the fourth STEM Career Showcase for Students
Meetings, emails, budgets, phone calls, more emails, a meeting that could be an email, an email that should be a meeting – sound familiar? This is a typical work week for most of us. It is easy to get caught up in the next thing on the calendar and lose
The job market for individuals with analytical skills is hot, and it’s only getting hotter. A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute puts the situation in perspective, citing a shortfall of nearly 200,000 professionals with strong analytical skills by the year 2018. Businesses are looking to colleges and universities
Data--that small four-letter word packs a mighty punch! Data is everywhere. Stores use it to determine how to advertise products, politicians use it to support their campaigns, and Google uses it to improve the search engine that may have brought you to this blog! Data is displayed in newspapers, brochures, billboards, as
While men still outnumber women in the analytics field, there are plenty of opportunities available for women. At a recent Chief Data and Analytics forum, I was encouraged to see a well-balanced number of senior executives presenting about the business of analytics. Speakers included 12 women and 14 men, which indicates a
My computer geek colleagues are boasting about their humble beginnings by sharing lists of their first seven programming languages. You can find these under the hashtag #FirstSevenLanguages. COBOLPL/1SASIFPSAPL370 AssemblerCSQLLisp#FirstSevenLanguages — Paul Kent (@hornpolish) August 16, 2016 From what I've seen of these lists, the programming languages that appear are very
Growing up, my parents were obdurately hands-off when it came to influencing my and my siblings’ career interests. This may explain why, at age 6, my sister announced she would be pursuing full-time work as a butterfly. (To her credit, she currently manages a garden shop, which for a
Are you teaching a lesson on parallel lines? What about a lesson on the interior and exterior angles of polygons? If so, our Geometry lessons are the perfect resources for you! We released our first one, Parallel Lines and Angles, this past fall. Since then, we've released four more. The lessons
North Carolina has over 300 miles of wide, flat Atlantic beaches as well as the highest mountain in the eastern United States, Mount Mitchell. The variety is impressive for a state that isn't even in the top half of the 50 states by size. One key reason is geometric: North Carolina
What would it take for you to keep 60 students interested and on task in a classroom for an entire hour? Some kind of magic or trickery? Maybe a bribe? Nope, all you need is an Hour of Code lesson plan, and you’ll be teaching computer programming to a classroom
STEM, you’ve heard the acronym before, right? Well, in case you've been hibernating, STEM refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; schools have promoted it for years. And every year SAS partners with a local middle school, sending out volunteers who inspire students to consider STEM careers. This year many of
In my local paper this morning, I read about how a North Carolina state commission plans to recommend changes to our teaching standards for mathematics. One of the topics that they want to bring back: Roman numerals. Why? According to my exhaustive 30 seconds of Internet research, the only practical
Summer break is in full swing for most students, but many parents and those who volunteer in the classroom continue to be interested in ways to keep the momentum going. That desire brought together a panel of SAS Curriculum Pathways staff at an education-based event last month at SAS world
The Facts about Pluto You've heard the news: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has released the first images of dwarf planet Pluto. Dwarf planet? What does that mean? It’s smaller than any other planet. It’s even smaller than many of the moons orbiting other planets, including Earth. Pluto has more similarities to
Why is the history of women singled out and celebrated with Women's History Month? Dr. Myra Pollack Sadker, a pioneer researcher who documented gender bias in American schools, summed it up well when she noted that “each time a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns
Virtual labs can be a boon to science instruction, capturing the excitement of discovery and encouraging students to think earnestly about STEM careers. While no one would advocate working exclusively with virtual labs, they can play an important role in expanding the classroom repertory: experiments that had been too dangerous,
As a sponsor of the NC Science Festival this year, we at SAS decided to bring the festival's mascot, Kelvin, to campus for a little fun. He has quite the itinerary, including touring the new technologies we work with, visiting an office full of Legos, sneaking M&M'S® for statistics lessons,
STEM skills are essential for many of the fastest-growing and most lucrative occupations. And SAS programmers are in high demand in all fields. A number of reports have documented a critical talent shortage, especially for graduates with advanced degrees in math, computer science or computer engineering. (See Running on Empty, Report to
It is always important to continue to sell the value of analytics within your organization, especially to your leaders. Usually, these type of results are delivered via reports, dashboards, or emails. However did you know that analytics: Detects when expensive machinery like electrical submersible pumps (ESP) or oil platforms need maintenance before
When I was 3, my mom was trying to get dinner started (oh mom, how I feel you now!) and she popped a floppy disk in our Apple II with the game Facemaker. I was mesmerized. I added beards and noses to my little guy like it was my job. From that point
