education
September 25, 2023
Q&A: Can AI in school actually help students be more creative and self-directed?
Katie Davis, a University of Washington associate professor in the Information School, discusses how generative AI might support learning, instead of detracting from it, if kids can keep their agency.
August 16, 2023
Q&A: As AI changes education, important conversations for kids still happen off-screen
Jason Yip, a UW associate professor in the Information School, discusses how parents and schools can adapt to new technologies in ways that support children’s learning.
July 20, 2022
UW atmospheric sciences achieves No. 1 global ranking; nearly three dozen UW subjects in top 50
Eight University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10 and Atmospheric Sciences moved to its position as No. 1 in the world on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2022. The ranking, released Tuesday, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicating to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.
June 10, 2020
Passing crucial, challenging introductory chemistry course gives biggest boost to underrepresented students
Researchers examined 15 years of records of student performance, education and demographics for chemistry courses at the University of Washington. They found that underrepresented students received lower grades in the general chemistry series compared to their peers and, if the grade was sufficiently low, were less likely to continue in the series and more likely to leave STEM. But if underrepresented students completed the first general chemistry course with at least the minimum grade needed to continue in the series, they were more likely than their peers to continue the general chemistry series and complete this major step toward a STEM degree.
March 9, 2020
Underrepresented college students benefit more from ‘active learning’ techniques in STEM courses
Students from different backgrounds in the United States enter college with equal interest in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But that equal interest does not result in equal outcomes. Six years after starting an undergraduate STEM degree, roughly twice as many white students finished it compared to African American students. A new…
December 12, 2018
Teens get more sleep, show improved grades and attendance with later school start time, researchers find
In 2016, Seattle Public Schools pushed back the start times for the district’s 18 high schools by 55 minutes, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. And as hoped, teenagers used the extra time to sleep in.
December 21, 2017
UW a leader in supporting Washington’s STEM students
Now serving its sixth cohort of students, the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship has helped more than 8,400 students attend the state’s universities and colleges. The UW has the largest number of scholarship recipients — 1,679 across all three campuses — and has seen more than 1,300 scholars graduate.
February 8, 2017
College of Engineering’s STARS program wins $2.2M to improve access for low-income students
The STARS program, which offers engineering students from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds extra academic support, will receive a one-time grant of $2.2 million from the Opportunity Expansion Fund passed by the Washington Legislature and funded by Microsoft.
October 25, 2016
New NSF initiative to bring ‘real-world’ mathematics to elementary education
The National Science Foundation will fund a three-year, $1.5 million research project to study teaching and learning of mathematical modeling in elementary education. Julia Aguirre, an associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington Tacoma, is one of four principal investigators leading the endeavor. “Mathematical modeling is a process of using mathematics to…
September 12, 2016
Graduate education in clean energy due for ‘big data’ overhaul
Jim Pfaendtner, University of Washington associate professor of chemical engineering, is leading a new endeavor funded by the National Science Foundation to bring big data to graduate education in clean energy research at the UW.
September 7, 2016
Feeling they are part of a group increased preschoolers’ interest, success in STEM
Cultivating young children’s interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics has become a leading educational priority, as experts predict that many future jobs will require substantial math and technology skills. Early education in STEM topics, as they’re known, is critical for boosting later success in school and attracting students to occupations in those fields. But…
February 17, 2016
NASA-funded consortium to support science education in Washington, Oregon and Montana
A new program based at the University of Washington will bring together educational institutions, K-12 teachers and informal education organizations to inspire, teach and recruit the next generation of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The new Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline, or NESSP, has begun a $10 million, five-year cooperative agreement with NASA…
February 11, 2016
Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers, study finds
Female college students are more likely to abandon studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines than their male classmates, and new research from the University of Washington suggests that those male peers may play a key role in undermining their confidence. Published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, the study found that…
September 10, 2015
UW scientists will continue studies of evolution ‘in real time’ with five-year grant renewal
Faculty members from several departments at the University of Washington will share $2.25 million in research funds from the National Science Foundation to study and apply the principles of evolution “in real time.” Their studies are a part of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Founded in 2010, this NSF science…
September 4, 2015
Grant will help Native American undergraduates attend first scientific meeting
Two professors from the University of Washington and Oklahoma State University have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to bring six Native American undergraduate students to their first scientific meeting. The students will attend the Jan. 2016 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Portland, Oregon. Known commonly…
February 17, 2015
Study: Manufacturing growth can benefit Bangladeshi women workers
The life of a Bangladeshi garment factory worker is not an easy one. But new research from the University of Washington indicates that access to such factory jobs can improve the lives of young Bangladeshi women — motivating them to stay in school and lowering their likelihood of early marriage and childbirth.
May 8, 2013
New ‘academic redshirt’ program to support undergraduate STEM education
The University of Washington in collaboration with Washington State University is developing an “academic redshirt” program that will bring dozens of low-income, Washington state high school graduates to the two universities to study engineering in a five-year bachelor’s program.
December 8, 2010
NSF awards $3.5 million to prepare math teachers for diverse classrooms
The UW Tacoma is part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation to transform how K-8 mathematics teachers can be trained as they face classrooms in which many students are not native English speakers.
