Search

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has been a powerful engine of prosperity in the US since World War II. Currently, American students' performances and enthusiasm in STEM education are inadequate for the US to maintain its leadership in STEM professions unless the government takes more actions to motivate a new generation of US students towards STEM careers. Despite of coherent actions taken by the government and various institutions, the US cannot ensure the production of a sufficient number of experts in STEM fields to meet its national and global needs. The current situation is that the US is largely dependent on the foreign-born STEM workforce. This paper starts with a deeper look at the participation rate of American students in STEM careers and the basis of career choices by the US students. The discussion is driven by barriers and misconceptions about STEM education. It concludes with recommendations for how to motivate more US students to pursue STEM careers. (Contains 1 figure.)

Despite being the inventing country of the Internet, the US is not satisfied with its current state in Internet speed and broadband adoption. Although, more students, teachers and researchers in the US use Internet than any other country in the world, it is not satisfactory for the US educators and legislators to maintain US competitiveness in the achievement of science, mathematics and technology. Another alarming situation is that the mean scores in science and mathematics of US, students are lower than expected. Even with coherent action taken by the government and various institutions, the US cannot produce a sufficient number of experts in science, mathematics and technology fields to meet national and global needs. These situations are not satisfactory for educators and legislators to reach US education goals. To improve this situation, President Obama's government has taken several action plans. This paper presents a closer look at US science, mathematics and technology education as well as the President's plan to improve the situation. Conclusions are made regarding whether the US plan is too ambitious as well as whether the vision is comprehensive enough but still possible to execute. (Contains 1 table.)

Background: Tomato is one of the most important and popular vegetable crop grown mainly in dry seasons in Bangladesh. The southern part of the country is suffering from soil salinity problem due to tidal floods. The increasing salinity in the cultivatable land causes huge crop failure. A dozen of tomato varieties have been developed but they are not been tested for salinity tolerance. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the tolerance level of tomato varieties against NaCl salinity stress at the vegetative stage. Methods: The study comprised of four levels of electrical conductivity (EC) based NaCl salinity viz., EC 2 (control), EC 4, EC 6 and EC8 mS/cm and eight varieties of tomato. The two-factor pot experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. NaCl salinity was imposed on the tomato plants through a hydroponic culture system and the effects of salinity on shoot-roots traits were measured. Result: Results showed that morphological traits of tomato plants varied significantly with the salinity levels and variety. It is also noticed that all the vegetative traits reduced as salt concentrations increased in the solution. In combined effects of variety and salinity levels, it was found that BARI Tomato-17 performed superior. It can be concluded that variety BARI Tomato-17 showed comparatively salt tolerant than the other varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweet gourd (Cucurbita moschata Duch ex Poir) has a high production volume in Bangladesh and holds third rank next to eggplant and radish. Salinity affects almost all growth and physiological aspects of the plant development and eventually reduces yield. Identifying salt tolerance among genetic resources and breeding populations is a valuable study for solving salinity problems. This research aimed to find sweet gourd hybrids tolerant to salinity. Sixteen sweet gourd hybrids (F1) were used for testing salt stress tolerance levels. Salinity stress was induced in pot soil by adding NaCl solutions (4, 8, 12, 16, and control 0.35 dS m-1). The experiment was conducted from October 2019 to March 2020 in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The research was conducted at the Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur. The measurements included changes in gas exchange parameters against photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (E), quantum yield (Fv/Fm), and relative water content (RWC). Results showed that the gas exchange traits and RWC in all hybrids decreased under stress compared to the control. Photosynthetic parameters in sweet gourd hybrids responded susceptibly to salt stress, thus suppressing overall growth under salinity stress. The reduction of gaseous exchange traits and RWC were minimal in P11 × P12 and P6 × P14. The highest Fv/Fm and RWC occurred in P11 × P12 at 8 dS m-1 salinity stress. The highest Fv/Fm and RWC appeared in P6 × P14 and P11 × P12 hybrids at 12 and 16 dS m-1 salinity stress, so the hybrid P11 × P12 appeared salt tolerant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Web 2.0 is a collaborative web development platform that has had tremendous usage in building effective, interactive, and collaborative virtual societies at home and abroad. Multicultural study is another trend that has tremendous possibilities to help people in the fight against racism and enables them to become active members of a democratic society. Based on the advanced and interactive features, Web 2.0 technologies could be appropriate media to build many virtual collaborative societies among students in local and global classrooms. Students and teachers from any corner of the world would be able to participate in such virtual communities to practice effective multicultural skills with no or minimum cost. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual framework of a Web 2.0 model. This paper focuses the background of Web 2.0 technologies and multiculturalism and a feasibility study of using Web 2.0 technologies in the teaching and learning of multiculturalism, and depicts a conceptual framework involving use of a Web 2.0-based collaborative model for a multicultural classroom using one of the simple but powerful Web 2.0 tools, blogging technology. Findings: Web 2.0 technologies could be crucial tools for students, teachers, educators and social workers to build and participate in many virtual collaborative societies to practice effective skills of multiculturalism. Social implications: Participants from different corners of the world are able to participate in virtual communities simultaneously to practice effective multiculturalism. Originality/value: This is a newly developed model.