This week in STEM news, we've found that surveys show scientists are worried about the state of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in the United States. At the same time, we see various K-12 schools and organizations around the country making leaps and bounds in their STEM education efforts.

On the East Coast, an all-girls school has created a week-long, immersive STEM program. And looking to the West Coast, a middle school is recognized for its stellar achievements in STEM education.

New Hampshire Companies Offering STEM-Related Internships 

In order to reach out to students and get them excited about technology, some companies in New Hampshire are creating education-related programs.

“The most recent incarnation of this strategy -- to be launched this month by the SEE Science Center and Dyn University, an education arm of Dyn Inc. -- targets mostly 8th graders by teaching them the basics of software engineering,” reports Amanda Beland for the New Hampshire Union Leader.

The program was recently launched, and called Software Development Fundamentals. It is an eight- to 10-week course covering various topics in software engineering and programming. At the end, students receive official certification.

Proceeds from The Austin (Texas) Marathon To Benefit STEM Education

All proceeds raised from The Austin Marathon on February 15, 2015 will go toward funding STEM education in Texas. They will benefit the nonprofit FIRST in Texas.

“In order to demonstrate the importance of STEM education, high school students will race robots that they’ve been building at the marathon,” KVUE ABC reports.

Pew Research Center Survey Finds 84% Scientists Consider STEM Education in US Problematic

According to a report conduction by The Pew Research Center, scientists are attributing the United States’ lack of competitive STEM education to limited public knowledge. This fact was identified by 84% of scientists as a “major problem.”

“The mediocre math and science scores among US students has been well-known for a while now, and public opinion reflects that,” reports BetaBoston. “Only 29 percent of Americans rate the US Science, Technology, Education and Math, or STEM, education as above average or best in the world.”

Washington State Middle School Recognized For Leadership in STEM

The Saghalie Middle School in Federal Way, WA was recently recognized as a “STEM Lighthouse School” for their superior educational model in STEM subjects.

“‘Lighthouse’ schools are selected and awarded grants to promote and develop STEM education, including technical assistance and advice for other elementary, middle and high schools that are creating their own STEM environments,” reports the Federal Way Mirror.

Schools like Saghalie Middle School are honored in order to serve as resources and examples of how to best and most effectively teach STEM subjects.

Program Encourages Female Students to Become STEM Leaders

As recently covered by Education World, the Garrison Forest School for girls in Maryland has create an immersive, week-long STEM program encourage students to explore their potential skills in technology and programming.

"The girls have an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in a project-based learning experience," Renee Hawkins, the director of libraries and instructional technology at Garrison Forest School,said in the article. "This means that they'll practice patience, perseverance, self-directedness, collaboration, and teamwork."

Students will learn how to combine circuitry and Arduino programming to build an interactive robot monsters over the course of the week.

Send your STEM news to editor[at]educationworld.com.

Compiled by Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor

2/10/2015