Solid Curriculum and Strong Teaching Outweigh Negatives in Math and Science Learning
U.S. fourth-graders' performance on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) proves students can overcome factors that traditionally are blamed for poor learning, if challenged by a solid curriculum based on national education standards coupled with competent teaching, according to officials of the National Science Foundation (NSF).    More...

Presidential Awards Recognize the World's Best Teaching
On the day after the TIMSS results were announced, 107 elementary teachers were in Washington, DC, to receive their 1996 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). The presidential awards - the nation's highest honor for K-12 educators - were presented at a ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences. NSF administers PAEMST for the White House.    More...

Let's Get the Word Out Together About Why Science Matters
An Open Letter from Neal F. Lane, Director, National Science Foundation, to Scientists and Engineers: We are enjoying a golden age of discovery, as exciting research continues to uncover new knowledge about our universe. However, a different kind of golden age -- that of ever increasing funding for American science and engineering -- is clearly over. Some experienced researchers now look back nostalgically to the decades after World War II, when taxpayer support of science was almost unquestioned ...Today, public support must be earned.    More...

Researcher Closing in on Birth Control Pill for Men
It's often been said that love is blind. Now a scientist is hoping that he has found a way to apply that old saying to a new method of family planning. Joseph Hall, a biochemist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, is unlocking the secrets of sperm, and closing in on a possible birth control pill for men. The scientist, whose research is supported by the National Science Foundation's division of integrative biology and neuroscience, has recently developed a synthetic chemical compound that "blinds" sperm.    More...