education

It's been a year unlike any other for teachers during the pandemic.

They've had to hold remote classes while teaching students in-person at the same time; they've had to step into school buildings with the threat of the virus, wearing masks and getting their students to wear masks; and they've had to navigate new lesson plans.

A small group of parents and school staff got up early enough on a recent Saturday to make it to North Falmouth Elementary by 8:30 a.m.

They came for a morning of work, setting up outdoor spaces for kids to play and learn.

A state memo appears to say classrooms could be limited to 10 children in the fall, but officials say that’s not the final word.

In the past year, Barnstable High School has seen a dramatic increase in its population of students coming from Brazil. Today, in the hallways between classes, visitors are almost as likely to hear Portuguese being spoken as English.

For the past few years, schools from Provincetown to Bourne have seen an uptick in the number of students who are classified as English Language Learners. Barnstable Public Schools has been at the epicenter of this increase, particularly in its high school.

On a sunny autumn day, Cape Cod Regional Technical High School Superintendent Robert Sanborn took a small group of visitors on a tour of the new Cape Tech in Harwich.

The Cape has a little over 200,000 year-round residents, and just under 15 percent are school-aged children. It’s an unusual statistic—towns elsewhere in Massachusetts have numbers closer to 30 percent, and the Cape’s school-aged population is predicted to decline even more over the next decade. For some towns, the answer to this challenge is regionalization of schools; and for some parents, the answer is school choice.

A new demographic report shows that the number of children on Cape Cod has been declining since 2010, as the population shifts to one that’s more elderly, childless, and seasonal. School officials are already seeing these effects, particularly on the Outer Cape, where enrollment numbers are slipping. 

Next Tuesday, residents in twelve Cape Cod towns will vote to either approve or deny the construction of a new Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. The new building in Harwich would cost $128 million, and raise property taxes for the next 30 years.

Supporters say it’s worth the investment in the Cape’s workforce, while opponents argue the cost is too high.

Amy Fleischer is a teacher at Nauset Regional Middle School. But for most of July, she’s part of a team exploring California’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and mapping the seafloor aboard the exploration ship E/V Nautilus. One of the main goals of the mission is to find where the coastline was during the last ice age.

Hsueh-tze Lee always thought she would have a career in science, but her passion for dance took her in a different direction. Lee, who studied at MIT and had received a doctorate in physiology from Harvard University, was teaching biology at Wellesley College in the 1990s when she discovered that her favorite pastime was becoming more and more important to her.

Climate change is heavy enough for adults to contemplate, but as a topic for children, it can be downright scary. Not to mention that the science is pretty complicated. How do we teach children what they need to know without terrifying them -- and in a way they can understand?

The Space Race inspired a generation of students interested in science. Today, the issues facing aspiring scientists are no less momentous. For one, there's NASA's efforts to put people on Mars. But, closer to home, science issues touch each of us, every day – from climate change, to genetically modified organisms, and cutting edge medical treatments. And, of course, most of us have access to the world's collective knowledge via tiny, powerful computers we carry around in our pockets.

White House science advisor John Holdren says how we talk to children about climate change is important. 

"The key... is to be clear about the basics of climate change," he said at a forum on climate education at WGBH in November. "Namely, what climate change is, and why it matters. "The second thing in talking to kids is, don't just paralyze them with all the bad news. End with solutions, with opportunities."

Unpaid internships are a luxury some students just can't afford, so Falmouth Academy has launched a summer research program that pays.

STEM seems to be everywhere these days. To most, the acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. In Sandwich, the buzzword has an additional, slightly different, meaning:

STrategies for Engaging Minds.

What are those strategies? Basically, it boils down to something educators call inquiry- or project-based learning, with a healthy dose of the technology that pervades modern life.

Over the past 25 years education reform has focused on standards, testing and school choice as a means to improve student achievement. Have the reforms been successful? And how have they impacted curriculum and the ways teachers teach? We’ll sit down with three Massachusetts educators to get their perspective and discuss their thoughts on how education might further evolve to meet the needs of students and society.

Aquariums are the topic on the second of two shows looking at ocean education outside the classroom.

Millions of Americans visit an aquarium each year. In fact, some 80,000 people from around the world visit the tiny Woods Hole Science Aquarium. For many aquarium visitors, the touch tank may be as close as they get to a first-hand experience with marine life.

Science fair winners may not enjoy the celebrity and wealth of Super Bowl champions, as President Obama has quipped they should, but science fairs can yield lucrative scholarships and prizes, not to mention invaluable learning experiences for those who participate.

The mission of Massachusetts Community Colleges’ is to provide affordable education that serves the needs of their individual regions. This means providing the appropriate coursework, training and skills students require now, while looking ahead to be prepared for how community needs will evolve in the future.