AMSP News

NSF's Math & Science Partnerships Score
Early analysis shows K-12 student proficiency rising with new educational approaches

Analysis of early data from NSF's Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program shows K-12 student proficiency rising in conjunction with new educational approaches. Forty-eight partnerships and more than 30 other tool-development and evaluation projects comprise NSF's current MSP portfolio.
Credit: Photos.com

Chart showinng proficient students in Math and Science in participating NSF Schools

Student achievement at 130 schools participating in the NSF Math and Science Partnership program is illustrated. The percentage of students "at or above proficiency" is shown for two school years. The percentage change is shown atop each pair of bars. The "*" denotes a statistically significant change at the 0.05 level (i.e., 1 in 20 chance the change results from random chance).
Credit: National Science Foundation

chart of participants

Through the Math and Science Partnership program, NSF awards competitive, merit-based grants to teams composed of institutions of higher education, local K-12 school systems and supporting partners. At their core, Partnerships contain at least one institution of higher education and one K-12 school system. Credit: National Science Foundation

NASA LACKS FUNDS TO FIND KILLER ASTEROIDS
NASA officials say the space agency is capable of finding nearly all the asteroids that might pose a devastating hit to Earth, but there isn't enough money to pay for the task so it won't get done.   Read more online @ CNN.com - March 6, 2007 >>

DINOSAUR HAD YARD-LONG HORNS OVER EYEBROWS
A new dinosaur species was a plant-eater with yard-long horns over its eyebrows, suggesting an evolutionary middle step between older dinosaurs with even larger horns and the small-horned creatures that followed, experts said.   Read more online @ CNN.com - March 5, 2007 >>

TOOLS FOR PREY: FEMALE CHIMPS MOVE TO FORE IN HUNTING
For the first time, researchers have observed wild chimpanzees making and using tools to hunt other animals, a practice adopted mainly by adult females and youngsters.   Read more online @ /Science News.com - March 3, 2007 >>

WORLD SCIENTISTS NEAR CONSENSUS ON WARMING
Scientists from across the world gathered Monday to hammer out the final details of an authoritative report on climate change that is expected to project centuries of rising temperatures and sea levels unless there are curbs in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.   Read more online in NYTimes - Jan 29, 2007 >>

RESEARCHERS BUILD MEMORY CHIP THE SIZE OF A BLOOD CELL
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have created a memory circuit the size of a white blood cell that they claim has enough capacity to store the Declaration of Independence and still have space left over.   Read more online in InformationWeek - Jan 25, 2007 >>

VIEW STREAMING VIDEO "HOW COULD MORE BE LESS? " BY DR. LIPING MA
View information about Dr. Ma's presentation for the Mathematics Education Seminar at UK, Sept. 28, 2006

View presentation video >>

AS MATH SCORES LAG, A NEW PUSH FOR THE BASICS
Across the nation, the reconsideration of WHAT should be taught and HOW has been accelerated by a report in September by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the nationís leading group of math teachers.   Read more online in the NYTimes - Nov 14, 2006 >>

ANCIENT CRASH, EPIC WAVE
Newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface of the Indian Ocean.   Read more online in the NYTimes - Nov 14, 2006 >>

TROUBLED SEAS
The progressive unraveling of entire marine ecosystems up and down the food chain could lead to the "collapse" of all commercial species, possibly by the middle of this century.   Read more online in the NYTimes - Nov 14, 2006 >>

PROGRAM AWARDS GRANTS TO KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA SCHOOLS
Appalachian Mathematics and Science Partnership (AMSP) has issued a third round of Partnership Enhancement Programs (PEP) to elementary, middle and high schools in 20 Appalachian counties in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, Sept. 18, 2006,    Read more >>

AMSP NEWSLETTER: SPRING 2006
with an introduction by project director John Yopp.   Read more >>

MATHEMATICS PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT REVIEW (MPIR)
Free Reviewer Training Program on Thursday, August 10, 2006, Ramada Inn and Conference Center, Lexington, KY.    Read more >>

BATS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AT LEAST 55 MILLION YEARS!
The Science of Bats...Studying a Misunderstood Creature. Listen to a Nancy Simmons' discussion on bats--online Video--The New York Times.com, October 31, 2006, >>

THERE'S MUCH MORE TO BEES THAN HONEY!
Scientist have unraveled the genetic code of the honey bee, uncovering clues about its complex social behavior, heightened sense of smell and African origins. Read more online at CNN.com, October 26, 2006, >>

WHO IS DMITRI TYMOCZKO?
A Professor of Music at Princeton writes about "The Geometry of Musical Chords" Learn more from his website, October 24, 2006, >>

THE EMPEROR OF MATH – SING-TUNG YAU
For nine months of the year, Dr. Yau is a Harvard math professor, best known for inventing the mathematical structures known as Calabi-Yau spaces. Read more in The New York Times Online, October 17, 2006, >>

ELEMENT 118 – HEAVIEST EVER, REPORTED FOR 1,000th of a Second
The substance remains the Baby Doe of elements until its existence is confirmed at other laboratories. Read more in The New York Times Online, October 17, 2006, >>

EULER'S BRIDGES
A well-known puzzle about bridges led to a pioneering paper in topology. Read more in Science News Online, September 23, 2006, >>

UV BLOCKER: LOTION YIELDS PROTECTIVE TAN IN FAIR-SKINNED MICE
A lotion that stimulates production of the skin pigment melanin induces a deep tan in specially bred laboratory mice. Read more in Science News Online, September 23, 2006, >>

MISSION SUNWARD: better forecasting for solar storms
An international mission to gather the most detailed information yet on the sun's magnetic fields is slated for launch in Japan. Read more online in The Christian Science Monitor, September 21, 2006, >>

RARE URANIAN ECLIPSE
The Hubble Space Telescope has for the first time recorded an eclipse on Uranus. The white dot is Uranus' moon Ariel, which is 1,120 kilometers wide. Read more at Science News Online, September 9, 2006, >>

ON THE HORIZON
Hot Jupiters' may help planets form. Read more online from the Christian Science Monitor, September 14, 2006 >>

ARCHIVED ARTICLES from the AMSP News Editor  >>