Tag Archives: education

Resources to Support Quality Education in a COVID-19 World

On World Teachers Day we celebrate all the ways that teachers touch our lives and thank them for educating and inspiring. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely upended education systems and has required teachers to find new ways to connect with and motivate students. Our resources can inform and enhance efforts to support vulnerable populations, reopen schools, and provide remote learning while maintaining quality learning experiences. All are free to download.

Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity, and Communities

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to the nation’s K-12 education system. The rush to slow the spread of the virus led to closures of schools across the country, with little time to ensure continuity of instruction or to create a framework for deciding when and how to …[more]

Teaching K-12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in widespread and ongoing changes to how the K55 education system functions, including disruptions to science teaching and learning environments. Students and teachers are all figuring out how to do schooling differently, and districts and states are working …[more]

Changing Expectations for the K-12 Teacher Workforce: Policies, Preservice Education, Professional Development, and the Workplace

Teachers play a critical role in the success of their students, both academically and in regard to long term outcomes such as higher education participation and economic attainment. Expectations for teachers are increasing due to changing learning standards and a rapidly diversifying student …[more]

English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives

The imperative that all students, including English learners (ELs), achieve high academic standards and have opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning has become even more urgent and complex given shifts in science and mathematics …[more]

Science and Engineering for Grades 6-12: Investigation and Design at the Center

It is essential for today’s students to learn about science and engineering in order to make sense of the world around them and participate as informed members of a democratic society. The skills and ways of thinking that are developed and honed through engaging in scientific and engineering …[more]

Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments

Practitioners in informal science settings–museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens–are interested in finding out what learning looks like, how to measure it, and what they can do to ensure that people …[more]

Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELs—who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in …[more]

Building Capacity for Teaching Engineering in K-12 Education

Engineering education is emerging as an important component of US K-12 education. Across the country, students in classrooms and after- and out-of-school programs are participating in hands-on, problem-focused learning activities using the engineering design process. These experiences can be …[more]

Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms

What types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding? What do science educators, teachers, teacher leaders, science specialists, professional development staff, curriculum designers, and school administrators need to know to create and support such …[more]

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity’s most pressing current and future challenges. The United States’ position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in …[more]

Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States

Next Generation Science Standards identifies the science all K-12 students should know. These new standards are based on the National Research Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education. The National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the …[more]

Examining Early Childhood Education

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. The environments, supports, and relationships young children experience have profound effects, and they thrive when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Our reports explore the current state of care and education for young children, and offer recommendations to build upon existing strategies and programs.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, …

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Transforming the Financing of Early Care and Education

High-quality early care and education for children from birth to kindergarten entry is critical to positive child development and has the potential to generate economic returns, which benefit not only children and their families but society at large. Despite the great promise of early care and …

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Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the family—which includes all primary caregivers—are at the foundation of children’s well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers …

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Exploring Early Childhood Care and Education Levers to Improve Population Health: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Experts from the health and the early childhood care and education (ECE) fields gathered on September 14, 2017, in New York City at a workshop hosted by the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement. The workshop presentations and discussion focused on the evidence base at the intersection of …

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Financing Investments in Young Children Globally: Summary of a Joint Workshop by the Institute of Medicine, National Research Council, and The Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development, Ambedkar University, Delhi

In January 2014, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, in collaboration with the IOM Board on Global Health, launched the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally. At this meeting, the participants agreed to focus on …

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Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

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Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity

Early childhood mathematics is vitally important for young children’s present and future educational success. Research demonstrates that virtually all young children have the capability to learn and become competent in mathematics. Furthermore, young children enjoy their early informal …

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Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How

The assessment of young children’s development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and …

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Strengthening Benefit-Cost Analysis for Early Childhood Interventions: Workshop Summary

The deficiencies that many children experience from birth to school age–in health care, nutrition, emotional support, and intellectual stimulation, for example–play a major role in academic achievement gaps that persist for years, as well as in behavior and other problems. There are many …

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From Neurons to Neighborhoods: An Update: Workshop Summary

From Neurons to Neighborhoods: An Update: Workshop Summary is based on the original study From Neurons to Neighborhoods: Early Childhood Development, which released in October of 2000. From the time of the original publication’s release, much has occurred to cause a fundamental …

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From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development

How we raise young children is one of today’s most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of “expertise.” The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the …

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The Top 20 Most Popular Titles Of 2013

As we approach the end of the year, we’re taking a quick look back at the best selling books that were released in 2013. In just the top 20 titles of the year, we can see the incredible variety of topics covered in the reports of the National Academies, including education, cancer care, preventing obesity, alternative vehicles and fuels, veterinary medicine, data, solar and space physics, veteran’s health, mathematical sciences, climate change and sports-related concussions.

Our list, ranked from our #1 top seller of 2013, is below. When you’re done looking through the list, take a little time to browse through all of the topics we cover.

1. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States

2. Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America

America’s health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress … [more]

3. U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives … [more]

4. Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis

In the United States, approximately 14 million people have had cancer and more than 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed each year. However, more than a decade after the Institute of Medicine (IOM) first studied the quality of cancer care, the … [more]

5. Interprofessional Education for Collaboration: Learning How to Improve Health from Interprofessional Models Across the Continuum of Education to Practice: Workshop Summary

Interprofessional Education for Collaboration: Learning How to Improve Health from Interprofessional Models Across the Continuum of Education to Practice: Workshop Summary

Every year, the Global Forum undertakes two workshops whose topics are selected by the more than 55 members of the Forum. It was decided in this first year of the Forum’s existence that the workshops should lay the foundation for future work of … [more]

6. Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach

Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and … [more]

7. Alternatives for Managing the Nation’s Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites

Across the United States, thousands of hazardous waste sites are contaminated with chemicals that prevent the underlying groundwater from meeting drinking water standards. These include Superfund sites and other facilities that handle and dispose … [more]

8. Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress

Obesity poses one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century, creating serious health, economic, and social consequences for individuals and society. Despite acceleration in efforts to characterize, comprehend, and act on this … [more]

9. Variation in Health Care Spending: Target Decision Making, Not Geography

Health care in the United States is more expensive than in other developed countries, costing $2.7 trillion in 2011, or 17.9 percent of the national gross domestic product. Increasing costs strain budgets at all levels of government and threaten … [more]

10. Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels

For a century, almost all light-duty vehicles (LDVs) have been powered by internal combustion engines operating on petroleum fuels. Energy security concerns about petroleum imports and the effect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on global … [more]

11. Frontiers in Massive Data Analysis

Data mining of massive data sets is transforming the way we think about crisis response, marketing, entertainment, cybersecurity and national intelligence. Collections of documents, images, videos, and networks are being thought of not merely as … [more]

12. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. … [more]

13. Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society

From the interior of the Sun, to the upper atmosphere and near-space environment of Earth, and outward to a region far beyond Pluto where the Sun’s influence wanes, advances during the past decade in space physics and solar physics–the … [more]

14. Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation

Optics and photonics technologies are ubiquitous: they are responsible for the displays on smart phones and computing devices, optical fiber that carries the information in the internet, advanced precision manufacturing, enhanced defense … [more]

15. Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families

As of December 2012, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq have resulted in the deployment of about 2.2 million troops; there have been 2,222 US fatalities in OEF and Operation New Dawn (OND)1 … [more]

16. Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine

The U.S. veterinary medical profession contributes to society in diverse ways, from developing drugs and protecting the food supply to treating companion animals and investigating animal diseases in the wild. In a study of the issues related to … [more]

17. The Mathematical Sciences in 2025

The mathematical sciences are part of nearly all aspects of everyday life–the discipline has underpinned such beneficial modern capabilities as Internet search, medical imaging, computer animation, numerical weather predictions, and all types of … [more]

Sports-Related Concussions in Youth: Improving the Science, Changing the Culture

In the past decade, few subjects at the intersection of medicine and sports have generated as much public interest as sports-related concussions – especially among youth. Despite growing awareness of sports-related concussions and campaigns to … [more]

19. Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises

Climate is changing, forced out of the range of the past million years by levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases not seen in the Earth’s atmosphere for a very, very long time. Lacking action by the world’s nations, it is clear that … [more]

20. Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward

Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward reviews the science that underpins the Bureau of Land Management’s oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United … [more]

Announcing the Winners of the Next Generation Science Standards Give-away

The results are in for our first Next Generation Science Standards give-away. Congratulations to our grand prize winner: Kirsten P.! She will receive the Next Generation Science Standards Teacher Prize Pack.

Congratulations as well to our four additional winners, who will each receive their own copy of Next Generation Science Standards:

Roberta H.
Camilo S.
Glenda D. F.
Tonalee F.

If you didn’t win this time, don’t worry. There will be more opportunities to win a Teacher Prize Pack or a print copy of Next Generation Science Standards.

Enter to Win A Copy of the Next Generation Science Standards Book

Whether your state has already adopted the Next Generation Science Standards or is still waiting in line, you need to be prepared for the changes ahead. And we’re offering the chance to win a prize pack with all the resources you’ll need to implement the NGSS.

The first step is simple. Using the widget at the bottom of this post, tell us what inspired you to get involved in science education and you’ll instantly have three entries in the bag. You can earn extra entries by liking us on Facebook, tweeting, following our Pinterest boards, and more. The more you do, the better your chance of winning one of our five prizes.

One grand prize winner will receive the Next Generation Science Standards Teacher Prize Pack:

The print version of Next Generation Science Standards
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
Ready, Set, Science!
A Disappearing Dinosaur Mug
Three finger puppets: Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and George Washington Carver
All included in a limited-edition 150th Anniversary National Academy of Sciences tote bag!

Plus, four more winners will receive their own copy of Next Generation Science Standards.

You only have two weeks to improve your chances. At midnight, October 19, the giveaway will end and we’ll randomly select the winners.

Don’t get left behind, start earning entries now. And good luck!

Enter National Academy Press’ NGSS Giveaway

Seven 2012 Science Videos from the National Academies

In 2012, the National Academies produced a number of videos based on reports released this past year. Watch the seven videos below, and please share these great resources for teaching and communicating.

Top Titles of 2012

“Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it.” — Vannevar Bush

Science has the power to change the world–but only if people know about it. We want everyone in the world to have access to the scientific knowledge we have to share. To help people discover information and ideas that can make this world a better place, we decided last year to make the great majority of our reports—more than 5,000 of them–free to download from our website. This year alone, there were over 1.5 million downloads from NAP.edu. That’s twice as many as the year before!

Curious to see what grabbed our readers’ attention most in our first full year of offering PDFs free to download? What were the hottest topics for NAP.edu visitors this year? We compiled a list of the top 50 most downloaded reports throughout 2012.

Happy New Year!
The National Academies Press

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas400 pages | Paperback | Price: $35.95Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity’s most pressing current and future challenges. The United States’ position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S…. [more]

Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America450 pages | Hardcover | Price: $71.10America’s health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving… [more]

Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation462 pages | Paperback | Price: $44.10One-third of adults are now obese, and children’s obesity rates have climbed from 5 to 17 percent in the past 30 years. The causes of the nation’s obesity epidemic are multi-factorial, having much more to do with the absence of sidewalks and the limited… [more]

Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century256 pages | Paperback | Price: $44.95Americans have long recognized that investments in public education contribute to the common good, enhancing national prosperity and supporting stable families, neighborhoods, and communities. Education is even more critical today, in the face of economic,… [more]

Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation’s Prosperity and Security250 pages | Paperback | Price: $44.10Research Universities and the Future of America presents critically important strategies for ensuring that our nation’s research universities contribute strongly to America’s prosperity, security, and national goals. Widely considered the best… [more]

Primary Care and Public Health: Exploring Integration to Improve Population Health192 pages | Paperback | Price: $40.50Ensuring that members of society are healthy and reaching their full potential requires the prevention of disease and injury; the promotion of health and well-being; the assurance of conditions in which people can be healthy; and the provision of timely,… [more]

Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering263 pages | Paperback | Price: $44.10The National Science Foundation funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and… [more]

Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action350 pages | Paperback | Price: $56.70In the United States, chronic diseases currently account for 70 percent of all deaths, and close to 48 million Americans report a disability related to a chronic condition. Today, about one in four Americans have multiple diseases and the prevalence and… [more]

Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care211 pages | Paperback | Price: $43.20IOM’s 1999 landmark study To Err is Human estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 lives are lost every year due to medical errors. This call to action has led to a number of efforts to reduce errors and provide safe and effective health care…. [more]

Crisis Standards of Care: A Systems Framework for Catastrophic Disaster Response516 pages | Hardcover | Price: $80.10Catastrophic disasters occurring in 2011 in the United States and worldwide–from the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, to the earthquake in New Zealand–have demonstrated that even prepared communities can be overwhelmed…. [more]

For the Public’s Health: Investing in a Healthier Future296 pages | Paperback | Price: $52.20The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to examine three topics in relation to public health: measurement, the law, and funding. IOM prepared a three report series–one report on each topic–that contains actionable… [more]

NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities: Restoring NASA’s Technological Edge and Paving the Way for a New Era in Space122 pages | Paperback | Price: $34.20NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) has begun to rebuild the advanced space technology program in the agency with plans laid out in 14 draft technology roadmaps. It has been years since NASA has had a vigorous, broad-based program in advanced space… [more]

Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation’s Water Supply Through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater262 pages | Hardcover | Price: $57.60Expanding water reuse–the use of treated wastewater for beneficial purposes including irrigation, industrial uses, and drinking water augmentation–could significantly increase the nation’s total available water resources. Water Reuse presents a… [more]

Evolution of Translational Omics: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward338 pages | Paperback | Price: $57.60Technologies collectively called omics enable simultaneous measurement of an enormous number of biomolecules; for example, genomics investigates thousands of DNA sequences, and proteomics examines large numbers of proteins. Scientists are using these… [more]

Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education230 pages | Paperback | Price: $42.30Higher education is a linchpin of the American economy and society: Teaching and research at colleges and universities contribute significantly to the nation’s economic activity, both directly and through their impact on future growth; federal and state… [more]

Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative244 pages | Paperback | Price: $44.10No person or place is immune from disasters or disaster-related losses. Infectious disease outbreaks, acts of terrorism, social unrest, or financial disasters in addition to natural hazards can all lead to large-scale consequences for the nation and its… [more]

Measuring Progress in Obesity Prevention: Workshop Report158 pages | Paperback | Price: $35.10Nearly 69 percent of U.S. adults and 32 percent of children are either overweight or obese, creating an annual medical cost burden that may reach $147 billion. Researchers and policy makers are eager to identify improved measures of environmental and policy… [more]

Sea-Level Rise for the Coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington: Past, Present, and Future201 pages | Paperback | Price: $48.60Tide gages show that global sea level has risen about 7 inches during the 20th century, and recent satellite data show that the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating. As Earth warms, sea levels are rising mainly because ocean water expands as it warms; and… [more]

Thinking Evolutionarily: Evolution Education Across the Life Sciences: Summary of a Convocation96 pages | Paperback | Price: $32.40Evolution is the central unifying theme of biology. Yet today, more than a century and a half after Charles Darwin proposed the idea of evolution through natural selection, the topic is often relegated to a handful of chapters in textbooks and a few class… [more]

Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies300 pages | Paperback | Price: $51.30In the past several years, some energy technologies that inject or extract fluid from the Earth, such as oil and gas development and geothermal energy development, have been found or suspected to cause seismic events, drawing heightened public… [more]

Assessing the Reliability of Complex Models: Mathematical and Statistical Foundations of Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification131 pages | Paperback | Price: $37.80Advances in computing hardware and algorithms have dramatically improved the ability to simulate complex processes computationally. Today’s simulation capabilities offer the prospect of addressing questions that in the past could be addressed only by… [more]

Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality892 pages | Hardcover | Price: $71.95In 1900, for every 1,000 babies born in the United States, 100 would die before their first birthday, often due to infectious diseases. Today, vaccines exist for many viral and bacterial diseases. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, passed in 1986, was… [more]

Fueling Innovation and Discovery: The Mathematical Sciences in the 21st Century57 pages | Paperback | Price: $17.95The mathematical sciences are part of everyday life. Modern communication, transportation, science, engineering, technology, medicine, manufacturing, security, and finance all depend on the mathematical sciences. Fueling Innovation and Discovery… [more]

Ethical and Scientific Issues in Studying the Safety of Approved Drugs275 pages | Paperback | Price: $49.50An estimated 48 percent of the population takes at least one prescription drug in a given month. Drugs provide great benefits to society by saving or improving lives. Many drugs are also associated with side effects or adverse events, some serious and some… [more]

Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation280 pages | Paperback | Price: $48.60Optics and photonics technologies are ubiquitous: they are responsible for the displays on smart phones and computing devices, optical fiber that carries the information in the internet, advanced precision manufacturing, enhanced defense capabilities, and a… [more]

Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military and Veteran Populations: Initial Assessment396 pages | Paperback | Price: $56.70Prior to the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars and conflicts have been characterized by such injuries as infectious diseases and catastrophic gunshot wounds. However, the signature injuries sustained by United States military personnel in these… [more]

Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense: An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives296 pages | Paperback | Price: $55.80The Committee on an Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives set forth to provide an assessment of the feasibility, practicality, and affordability of U.S. boost-phase missile defense compared… [more]

A Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials212 pages | Paperback | Price: $51.30The nanotechnology sector, which generated about $225 billion in product sales in 2009, is predicted to expand rapidly over the next decade with the development of new technologies that have new capabilities. The increasing production and use of engineered… [more]

Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences200 pages | Paperback | Price: $45.00New research opportunities to advance hydrologic sciences promise a better understanding of the role of water in the Earth system that could help improve human welfare and the health of the environment. Reaching this understanding will require both… [more]

Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society454 pages | Paperback | Price: $60.30From the interior of the Sun, to the upper atmosphere and near-space environment of Earth, and outward to a region far beyond Pluto where the Sun’s influence wanes, advances during the past decade in space physics and solar physics–the disciplines NASA… [more]

Ecosystem Services: Charting a Path to Sustainability121 pages | Paperback | Price: $36.90Natural environments provide enormously valuable, but largely unappreciated, services that aid humans and other earthlings. It is becoming clear that these life-support systems are faltering and failing worldwide due to human actions that disrupt nature’s… [more]

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Options for Practice and Research504 pages | Paperback | Price: $58.50A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million… [more]

Improving the Decision Making Abilities of Small Unit Leaders115 pages | Paperback | Price: $37.80For the past decade, the U.S. Marine Corps and its sister services have been engaged in what has been termed “hybrid warfare,” which ranges from active combat to civilian support. Hybrid warfare typically occurs in environments where all modes of war are… [more]

The Role of Obesity in Cancer Survival and Recurrence: Workshop Summary110 pages | Paperback | Price: $35.10Recent research suggests that obesity and excess weight can play a prominent role in the incidence and progression of various cancers. Obesity results from an energy imbalance – that is, energy intake that is higher than energy expenditure – could also… [more]

Frontiers of Engineering 2011: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2011 Symposium174 pages | Paperback | Price: $40.50The practice of engineering is continually changing. Engineers today must be able not only to thrive in an environment of rapid technological change and globalization, but also to work on interdisciplinary teams. Cutting-edge research is being done at the… [more]

Earth Science and Applications from Space: A Midterm Assessment of NASA’s Implementation of the Decadal Survey124 pages | Paperback | Price: $40.50Understanding the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment and their implications requires a foundation of integrated observations of land, sea, air and space, on which to build credible information products, forecast models, and… [more]

Continuing Innovation in Information Technology42 pages | Paperback | Price: $24.30Information technology (IT) is widely understood to be the enabling technology of the 21st century. IT has transformed, and continues to transform, all aspects of our lives: commerce and finance, education, employment, energy, health care, manufacturing,… [more]

Genome-Based Diagnostics: Clarifying Pathways to Clinical Use: Workshop Summary83 pages | Paperback | Price: $31.50The sequencing of the human genome and the identification of associations between specific genetic variants and diseases have led to an explosion of genomic-based diagnostic tests. These tests have the potential to direct therapeutic interventions, predict… [more]

In the Light of Evolution V: Cooperation and Conflict466 pages | Hardcover | Price: $80.77Biodiversity–the genetic variety of life–is an exuberant product of the evolutionary past, a vast human-supportive resource (aesthetic, intellectual, and material) of the present, and a rich legacy to cherish and preserve for the future. Two urgent… [more]

Epilepsy Across the Spectrum: Promoting Health and Understanding537 pages | Not for SaleAlthough epilepsy is one of the nation’s most common neurological disorders, public understanding of it is limited. Many people do not know the causes of epilepsy or what they should do if they see someone having a seizure. Epilepsy is a complex spectrum of… [more]

Essential Health Benefits: Balancing Coverage and Cost256 pages | Paperback | Price: $48.60In 2010, an estimated 50 million people were uninsured in the United States. A portion of the uninsured reflects unemployment rates; however, this rate is primarily a reflection of the fact that when most health plans meet an individual’s needs, most times,… [more]

Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy110 pages | Paperback | Price: $34.20Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy encourages scientists to think differently about the use of scientific evidence in policy making. This report investigates why scientific evidence is important to policy making and argues that an extensive… [more]

Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations Near Nuclear Facilities: Phase I412 pages | Paperback | Price: $61.20In the late 1980s, the National Cancer Institute initiated an investigation of cancer risks in populations near 52 commercial nuclear power plants and 10 Department of Energy nuclear facilities (including research and nuclear weapons production facilities and… [more]

Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy196 pages | Paperback | Price: $42.30From the use of personal products to our consumption of food, water, and air, people are exposed to a wide array of agents each day–many with the potential to affect health. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy investigates… [more]

A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling300 pages | Paperback | Price: $55.80As climate change has pushed climate patterns outside of historic norms, the need for detailed projections is growing across all sectors, including agriculture, insurance, and emergency preparedness planning. A National Strategy for Advancing Climate… [more]

Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels246 pages | Paperback | Price: $57.60Biofuels made from algae are gaining attention as a domestic source of renewable fuel. However, with current technologies, scaling up production of algal biofuels to meet even 5 percent of U.S. transportation fuel needs could create unsustainable demands for… [more]

Deterrence and the Death Penalty144 pages | Paperback | Price: $37.80Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of… [more]

Rising to the Challenge: U.S. Innovation Policy for Global Economy573 pages | Paperback | Price: $64.80America’s position as the source of much of the world’s global innovation has been the foundation of its economic vitality and military power in the post-war. No longer is U.S. pre-eminence assured as a place to turn laboratory discoveries into new commercial… [more]

Computing Research for Sustainability155 pages | Paperback | Price: $43.20A broad and growing literature describes the deep and multidisciplinary nature of the sustainability challenges faced by the United States and the world. Despite the profound technical challenges involved, sustainability is not, at its root, a technical… [more]

Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape: Summary of a Summit156 pages | Paperback | Price: $36.90The National Research Council (NRC) and National Academy of Engineering (NAE) have released a new report, Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape: Summary of a Summit. Based on a national summit that was supported by the National… [more]

Top 10 Downloads: Education

Since last June, hundreds of thousands of PDFs have been downloaded for free from the NAP website. Don’t miss out on your chance to read any of these top ten downloads in the Education category. Continue reading →

Happy National Teacher’s Day!

To celebrate National Education Week, we created a list of recommended books and resources to teach climate change. Check out these top titles from NAP, climate change videos, and information from the Division on Earth and Life Studies. Continue reading →

What Makes a Good School Good? Resources to Promote Quality Education

We all want our kids to attend the best schools, with great teachers who engage students, teach them well, and inspire them to do their best. The recent controversy about a “Parent Trigger” law, that permits parents to petition for control of low-performing schools, highlights concern for quality education. The National Research Council has a number of reports that discuss the science of learning, address issues of teacher development, and make evidence-based recommendations to improve educational experiences. The video resources listed below, together with our books, can inform debate, aid in decision-making, and help parents and education advocates obtain the best learning outcomes for children. All are free to download.

Videos

Books

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition384 pages | Paperback | Price: $22.45

This popular trade book, originally released in hardcover in the Spring of 1999, has been newly expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom… [more]

How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice88 pages | Paperback | Price: $18.90

How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice provides a broad overview of research on learners and learning and on teachers and teaching. It expands on the 1999 National Research Council publication How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience,… [more]

How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom632 pages | Hardcover | Price: $49.45

How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed… [more]

Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy234 pages | Paperback | Price: $39.60

Teachers make a difference. The success of any plan for improving educational outcomes depends on the teachers who carry it out and thus on the abilities of those attracted to the field and their preparation. Yet there are many questions about how teachers… [more]

The Teacher Development Continuum in the United States and China: Summary of a Workshop68 pages | Paperback | Price: $18.90

In 1999, Liping Ma published her book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers’ Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in the United States and China, which probed the kinds of knowledge that elementary school teachers need to convey… [more]

Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Advanced-Level Certification Programs340 pages | Paperback | Price: $40.50

The mission of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is to establish “high and rigorous standards for what teachers should know and be able to do, to certify teachers who meet those standards, and to advance other education reforms… [more]

Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education150 pages | Paperback | Price: $28.80

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but… [more]

Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment382 pages | Hardcover | Price: $44.95

Education is a hot topic. From the stage of presidential debates to tonight’s dinner table, it is an issue that most Americans are deeply concerned about. While there are many strategies for improving the educational process, we need a way to find out what works… [more]

Systems for State Science Assessment248 pages | Hardcover | Price: $40.45

In response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), Systems for State Science Assessment explores the ideas and tools that are needed to assess science learning at the state level. This book provides a detailed examination of K-12 science… [more]

Nurturing and Sustaining Effective Programs in Science Education for Grades K-8: Building a Village in California: Summary of a Convocation154 pages | Paperback | Price: $33.07

K-8 science education in California (as in many other parts of the country) is in a state of crisis. K-8 students in California spend too little time studying science, many of their teachers are not well prepared in the subject, and the support system for… [more]

Learning and Instruction: A SERP Research Agenda176 pages | Paperback | Price: $35.95

The Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) is a bold, ambitious plan that proposes a revolutionary program of education research and development. Its purpose is to construct a powerful knowledge base, derived from both research and practice, that… [more]

Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success192 pages | Paperback | Price: $13.45

A devastatingly large number of people in America cannot read as well as they need for success in life. With literacy problems plaguing as many as four in ten children in America, this book discusses how best to help children succeed in reading. This book… [more]

Helping Children Learn Mathematics52 pages | Paperback | Price: $9.00

Results from national and international assessments indicate that school children in the United States are not learning mathematics well enough. Many students cannot correctly apply computational algorithms to solve problems. Their understanding and use of… [more]

Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity398 pages | Hardcover | Price: $49.45

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas400 pages | Paperback | Price: $35.95

Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn304 pages | Hardcover | Price: $40.45

When it comes to motivating people to learn, disadvantaged urban adolescents are usually perceived as a hard sell. Yet, in a recent MetLife survey, 89 percent of the low-income students claimed “I really want to learn” applied to them.

What is it about… [more]

Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics44 pages | Paperback | Price: $8.95

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are cultural achievements that reflect our humanity, power our economy, and constitute fundamental aspects of our lives as citizens, consumers, parents, and members of the workforce. Providing all… [more]

Successful STEM Education: A Workshop Summary100 pages | Paperback | Price: $26.10

What students learn about the science disciplines, technology, engineering, and mathematics during their K-12 schooling shapes their intellectual development, opportunities for future study and work, and choices of career, as well as their capacity to make… [more]