According to the Next Generation Science Standards, three-dimensional teaching challenges educators to adopt an inquiry approach through science and engineering practices aligned with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts. Few teachers today feel confident in their ability to orchestrate such lessons. Teaching inquiry science takes…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a number of programs that support undergraduate research and other kinds of research at primarily undergraduate institutions. Two of the most important are the Research in Undergraduate Institutions program and Major Research Instrumentation program. The aims of the programs and types of activities funded…

NSF's new Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026 was released on March 28, 2022. To achieve NSF's vision of "A nation that leads the world in science and engineering research and innovation, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation," the Plan lays out four strategic goals. The first, "Empower STEM talent to fully…

National Science Foundation's (NSF's) new Strategic Plan, "Building the Future: Investing in Discovery and Innovation--NSF Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2018-2022," was released on February 12, 2018. To achieve NSF's vision of "A Nation that is the global leader in research and innovation," the Plan lays out three…

This Memorandum is issued in response to the February 22, 2013, Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research." Through this Memorandum, OSTP directed all agencies with greater than $100 million in research…

The National Science Foundation (NSF), in carrying out the Obama administration's new push for greater public access to research published in scientific journals, will consider exclusivity periods shorter than the 12-month standard in the White House directive, as well as trade-offs involving data-sharing and considerations of publishers'…

An important factor in the success of America's national research system is that federal funds for university-based research are awarded primarily through peer review, which uses panels of scientific experts, or "peers," to evaluate the quality of grant proposals. In this competitive process, proposals compete for resources based on their…

Federal government agencies provide about $33 billion a year to universities to conduct scientific research. That continuing investment expands human knowledge and helps educate the next generation of science and technology leaders. New discoveries from university research also form the basis for many new products and processes that benefit the…

Researchers and practitioners need to exchange information in order for education research to become more useful. Practitioners need to develop more understanding of research and how to interpret its findings in light of local conditions. The What Works Clearinghouse, a project of the Institute for Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of…

Not long ago, academic scientists welcomed calls from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) asking them to volunteer as peer reviewers. Many were glad for the opportunity to help distribute billions of dollars in federal biomedical-research grants even though the service required a big time commitment--the equivalent of one month a year to…

When "crisis" and "extramural funding" are mentioned, most academics think about problems such as the low percentage of proposals funded by federal agencies (now approaching single digits in many fields) or inadequate indirect-cost recovery rates that fail to reimburse universities for all costs of research. These are great problems draining…

Jose Maria Albareda (1902-1966) was an applied chemist and a prominent member of the Roman Catholic organization, Opus Dei, who played a crucial role in organizing the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas (CSIC), the new scientific institution created by the Franco regime in 1939. The paper analyses first the formative years in…

This article presents compelling reasons why President George W. Bush decided to double federal funds for agencies supporting physical-science research. The biggest beneficiaries of Mr. Bush's plan for 2008 would be the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Those agencies, together with the National…

A few days before President Bush officially released his 2008 budget, administration officials announced that it would contain a historic increase in the maximum Pell Grant. The increase in Pell Grants would be paid for by cutting subsidies for student loans, a step that experts predicted could induce lenders to offer fewer benefits to borrowers.…

Investing in research, which drives industrial development and innovation, is essential to ensuring America's economic prosperity, national security, and leadership in a global economy. Although U.S. commitment to research and development (R&D) has traditionally been strong and sustained, federal funding of R&D as a share of U.S. gross domestic…