On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union generated the space race by successfully launching the world’s

The world has experienced very many huge moments, such big moments in which sometimes you don’t think it’s really happening. October 4, 1957, was one of those days. Because that was the day the world changed forever and there was no turning back. It was the day of the Sputnik launch. Sputnik was a Soviet satellite that orbited in the earth’s rotation 500 miles above the earth and traveling at about 18,000 mph. It took approximately 98 minutes for it to rotate the earth which meant it passed the United States seven times a day. It looked like it was from a whole another world or out of a movie or a fantasy story. It consisted of a ball with four stem like structures coming out and pointing down at the ground. The ball like structure

Science education has been a controversial topic among employers and schools for years. Employers are requesting more STEM graduates yet the schools are unable to keep up with the rising demand. Unemployment rates continue to go up while positions in the science, technology, and engineering fields have remained open and unfulfilled. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is vital to the position of the United States in the world standings in STEM research and design. Currently 3 of the 5 top positions in STEM research are held by Asian countries and sadly the United States doesn’t even fall in the top 10 for the list. There was once a time when the United States led the world in STEM research, but times have

With the emergence of technology the United States has invested heavily in STEM, the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math, as they are known to be the vehicle that continues to expand the economy with constant innovation. By gearing the nation to revolve their educational system on these four principles the United States is attempting to maintain its global leadership and competitive position as it is widely believed that U.S. students are consistently falling behind their contemporaries from other developed nations. A series of three reports published in 2005 argued that the alarming decline of STEM related graduates in the United States and its loosening grip as the world’s nucleus for scientific innovation.

During 1957, the Soviets launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1. The U.S were concerned that the Soviets would attach a missile to the satellite and consequently gain the ability to fire down at the U.S with little to no notice. As fear rose in the U.S, the government seized the perfect opportunity to gain public support for NASA and the space program. The government used this as the ideal time to magnify the nation's fears of communism into the form of propaganda. As the U.S produced high quantities of propaganda, the Soviets responded with their own, highlighting their personal attitudes and ideologies.

No under 30 of the 56 different nations that took an interest in the Program for Worldwide Understudy Appraisal (PISA) math test had a bigger level of understudies who scored at what might as well be called the propelled level on our National Evaluation of Instructive Advance (NAEP) tests. While 6 percent of U.S. public and private school understudies evaluated as cutting edge in eighth grade arithmetic, 28 percent of Taiwanese understudies did (Hanushek, 2010). This is revealing to me that different nations are using something we are not that is enabling their understudies to exceed expectations pass the U. S. No less than 20 percent of understudies in Hong Kong, Korea, and Finland were exceptionally expert, and 12 different nations had no less than double the level of very proficient understudies as the U.S. also, different nations (Hanushek,2010). This proof demonstrates that only 8 years prior U.S. understudies were failing to meet expectations in math and

America’s space program is undoubtedly one of its greatest modern achievements. Few people cannot recall the famous quote “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” or do not know where it came from. The story leading up to the moment a man walked on the moon, as well as everything that came after, is just as interesting and important as the moment itself. The significance of the history of America’s aeronautics programs cannot possibly be overestimated, and their story is one that is incredibly important to the modern world of today. It would not be the nation that it is, with the technology it possesses, without its crucial involvement in the “space race”. If the technology that sent a man to the moon did not exist, our daily lives would be impacted and basic tools would be missing. Beginning with America’s first official aeronautics organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (or NACA) and continuing through to the present day and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or NASA), the story of America’s aerospace programs is interesting and extremely important. It is a story that spans many years and giant leaps in technology, and involves important locations like Wallops Flight Facility and Kennedy Space Center. From the early beginnings of NACA and Wallops, and continuing on to the rise and success of NASA and Kennedy Space Center, aeronautics

DeVry University Online The Space Race and education: An annotated Bibliography Goldgeier, J. M., & McFaul, M. (1992). A tale of two worlds: core and periphery in the post-cold war era. International Organization, 46(02), 467-491. This article focuses on how the space race was realized in the twentieth century between year 1955 and 1972.

In America, the state of education has always been a pressing concern, perhaps now more than ever. Improving education has been proven to strengthen the nation time and time again, specifically with regard to science, mathematics and technology. Ten years after the start of the Cold War on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first ever man-made satellite, Sputnik-1. This action by the Soviets caused immediate concern for the educational system in the United States because this launch proved that the Soviet Union had superior technological capabilities (SOURCE 1). America’s first action was to improve education, and this was done through the National Defense Education Act, which provided large amounts of funding to American schools, and supported American students who showed particular skill in math, sciences or foreign languages (SOURCE 2). During the Cold War, supporting education was used to support the nation as a whole. Today the United States faces a similar problem, mainly due to the declining focus on science and math in schools. Students have been losing interest in these subjects, and as a result, America has been falling behind in the global education ranks. This decline has been hurting America’s ability to continue to be a successful global competitor. Now the government is working to reverse this trend by supporting STEM programs. STEM is an acronym for the academics concentrations of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The purpose of

An assessment, conducted by an assistant professor of education and his associates at University of Southern California, showed that the American test scores were very low compared to international standards (Porter, Polikoff, & Smithson, 2009). An assessment conducted in 2010 by Andrew Porter, dean at the University of Pennsylvania, showed the differences between the Common Core and the current state standards. Through his study, he concluded that Common Core standards improve a student’s performance in mathematics but not in English and language arts. The report also states that “the Common Core standards are also different from the standards of countries with higher student achievement” (Porter, McMaken, Hwang,& Yang). This differs from the information on the Common Core website, which states “ standards from top-performing countries played a significant role in the development of the math and English language arts/literacy standards.” (corestandards.org)

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War influenced the ‘space race’ to a significant extent…finish introduction

(the worldwide benchmark for educational rankings by country and is taken by more than half-a-million student globally). The US ranked 36th overall performing below the OECD average in mathematics and a score indistinguishable from the average for reading and science. The US failed to reach the top 20 in any of the tested subjects. Education secretary Arne Duncan was quoted; “The problem is not that our 15-year-olds are performing worse today than before – the problem, instead, is that they are simply not making progress. Yet, students in many other nations are advancing, instead of standing still”.

Did you know that the Soviet Union was the first to launch something outside of Earth’s orbit? In the 1960’s, the Soviet Union speed up the advancement of space science, faster than the United States ever could, during the Space Race. First of all, they were the first to start the Space Race and continually kept going onward to try new concepts and/or more concepts. On the other hand, the Soviet Union were more focused on witnessing who’s better. Finally, the Soviet Union were the ones who sent multiple of inventions into space, but still had a bunch of trial and error and learned what worked and what didn’t work.

As a result of this, the system is constantly receiving criticism concerning the quality of the American system. (U.S.D.E. The Educational System in the U.S…) In fact, a recent study done by the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment, states that in fourth grade math, Japan ranks third out of twenty-six countries while the U.S. ranks only twelfth, and that in eighth grade math, Japan keeps the ranking of third out of forty-one, while the U.S. drops to twenty-eighth. As result of these criticisms, sets of voluntary guidelines and standard achievement tests have recently been introduced as an effort to “catch up” to the other

In our ever evolving society we seem to be having a greater affinity to technical jobs and careers more integrated with our technology. It appears that we are heading into a world of Science, Technology , Engineering, and Mathematics or STEM. The STEM fields that are rapidly increasing relate to jobs that deal quite a bit with our newer technology and the creation and development of new and more efficient technologies. To compliment this increase in STEM careers, we need to focus our time, energy, and most of all capital on the lackluster STEM program in our school systems.

It is clear that STEM is a rapidly growing and advancing field that is needed for our human progression. There are so many different professions that fall under STEM education and many of them impact the world every day. According to former President Barack Obama "[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world" (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Here, former President Obama is talking about how important science is as more than just a school subject; science can be taken out of school and used to impact many people and change the world. Some may say that there have been other fields in history that became very popular but