ISB News

ISB's Director of Education, Dana Riley Black, mades national impact on science education.

ISB Impacts Education System Nationally and Locally

National: At the beginning of April, Dana Riley Black, ISB’s Director of Education, was invited to participate in one of three Ideas Labs hosted by the National Science Foundation in Washington D.C. The weeklong lab was related to the new NSF program “Improving Undergraduate STEM Education” (IUSE) and was focused on discussing ideas for integrating quantitative literacy into undergraduate biology education. The reason for this particular topic is that while…

WA State Adopts Next Generation Science Standards

PRESS RELEASE SEATTLE, Oct. 3, 2013 – After a two-year process, Washington State will officially adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It is the eighth state in the country to make the commitment. Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has been one of the leaders in the process of developing the standards and preparing local school districts for the implementation of NGSS. “It is unusual for a nonprofit scientific research…

ISB Leads the Way in Helping Washington Schools Adopt and Implement Next Generation Science Standards

Washington State is expected to be among the first 10 states to officially adopt the Next Generation Science Standards. The NGSS were released in spring 2013 after a two-year development process and reflect the most contemporary research on science and science learning in determining what K-12 students ought learn in order to be prepared for college. Washington State is one of 26 lead states that have been instrumental in the…

K-12 Science Education: MESA Math Scholars Visit ISB

Just as the Seattle tourist traffic picks up in the summer, the intern and visitor traffic at ISB spikes during July and August. It’s always inspiring to see the fresh faces of high school students in our halls. On Aug. 7, the MESA Math Scholars came to ISB to visit our labs and spend some time with a few of our scientists. MESA stands for Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement and…

Systems Biology and Systems Medicine Curriculum in Middle and High Schools?

By Dana Riley Black, Director of ISB’s Center for Inquiry Science Healthcare continues to be listed as a “high-demand” field, meaning there continue to be significant and projected employment opportunities in the field.  A recent employment gap analysis by Washington State released on April 3 suggests a projected deficit of 472 healthcare jobs filled annually in the state (see: http://www.wtb.wa.gov/HighDemandFields.asp). As a result, many middle and high schools are turning…