Women are underrepresented in the field of computer science in the U.S., and their numbers are declining. A study by the National Science Foundation found the percentage of females among computer science majors in 2014 was 18, down from 35 percent in 1985. The underrepresentation begins in high school — girls are much less likely than boys to take an advanced-placement computer science test — and even middle school, when many girls lose interest in science in general and decide not to enroll in high school computer courses.
Attracting 40,000 teacher applicants each year, West Bank’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education reports that few of those candidates are competent in the delivery of student-centered teaching and learning approaches. Recognizing that qualified teachers are essential to the continued growth of its education system, the Palestinian Authority directed MOEHE to aggressively pursue new, innovative avenues to develop a high-quality teacher workforce ensuring that all students receive a world-class education.
A growing body of scholarship investigates the experiences of spiritually and religiously minoritized populations, such as black Muslim men. Findings from these studies highlight the ways students engage with campus support services, and their decisions concerning religious stylings and representations. A second line of inquiry examines students who occupy multiple marginalized social locations. With a few notable exceptions, much of empirical research on college students focuses on the realities of Muslim women.
A nation’s universities can play a central role in confronting challenges of social and economic development. But global progress can outpace the capacity of some universities to adequately prepare their graduates to meet those challenges. This disadvantage can hinder a country’s ability to compete internationally and provide opportunities for its citizens.
In Malawi, a nation of nearly 20 million in southeast Africa, more than 80,000 students graduate from secondary schools each year with no access to higher education. Multiple impediments are responsible for this lack of opportunity, including systemic societal barriers that confront females and students with disadvantages; the latter including orphans, persons with disabilities and students from rural areas served by an inadequate system of poorly resourced community schools. Similarly, institutions and stakeholders in the economy have significant capacity challenges to overcome.
In their Framework for K–12 Science Standards, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine define scientific knowledge as “a particular kind of knowledge with its own sources, justifications, ways of dealing with uncertainties and agreed-on levels of certainty.” Yet traditional school science emphasizes discoveries in their final forms, with little opportunity for students to experience how knowledge is developed — including the importance of uncertainty.