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(PhysOrg.com) — NASA today unveiled an interactive computer simulation that allows virtual explorers of all ages to dock the space shuttle at the International Space Station, experience a virtual trip to Mars or a lunar impact, and explore images of star formations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

In an effort to excite young people about [...]

Excellence in science education must begin in kindergarten

Matt Collins
Good science education at the earliest grades is supremely important, but in most classrooms it gets short shrift. Studies have found that children in kindergarten are already forming negative views about science that could cast a shadow across their entire educational careers. When researchers interviewed kindergartners from [...]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2010) — Perception of second language speech is easier when it is spoken in the accent of the listener and not in the 'original' accent of that language, shows a new study from the University of Haifa. The study was published in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.

Many adult schools teaching second languages [...]

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — Parents take heed: children and young adults are more likely to pursue sports, music or other pastimes when given an opportunity to nurture their own passion. According to a three-part study led by Geneviève Mageau, a psychology professor at the Université de Montréal, parental control can predict whether a child [...]

The 2010 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index asked teens who contributes the most to our society's well-being. (Credit: Lemelson-MIT Program)

ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2010) — The nation is hoping for a bright future. Many believe the key to strengthening the U.S. economy and competing globally lies in fostering an innovative culture and educating America's youth in science, technology, [...]

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2010) — A dozen years into the "1 to 1" computing movement's push to pair every schoolchild and teacher with a laptop, studies show the students in these programs outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms, according to researchers.

Students who have participated in 1:1 computing report higher achievement and increased engagement, according to [...]

Research

ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2010) — Those who value excellence and hard work generally do better than others on specific tasks when they are reminded of those values. But when a task is presented as fun, researchers report, the same individuals often will do worse than those who say they are less motivated to achieve.

The study [...]

(PhysOrg.com) — NASA has launched a new Web site created specifically for teenagers that provides teens access to current NASA spacecraft data for use in school science projects, allows them to conduct real experiments with NASA scientists, and helps them locate space-related summer internships.

Called "Mission:Science," the site is designed to showcase NASA's educational science resources [...]

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2009) — Search engine use is not just part of our daily routines; it is also becoming part of our learning process, according to Penn State researchers.

The researchers sought to discover the cognitive processes underlying searching. They examined the search habits of 72 participants while conducting a total of 426 searching tasks. [...]

ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2009) — Two findings from a new national study reveal the power of mentors, particularly those in the teaching profession:

For all teen students, having an adult mentor meant a 50 percent greater likelihood of attending college.
For disadvantaged students, mentorship by a teacher nearly doubled the odds of attending college.

"Potential is sometimes squashed [...]