Martin Cooper changed the world when he made the first cell phone call 40 years ago, on a two-pound-plus Motorola DynaTAC phone. His first call: to the head of research at Bell Labs, a company that also was attempting to build the first cell phone. It would be over a decade before the first cell phone would be commercially available, but Cooper’s call opened the door to true mobility and continues to affect virtually every aspect of our lives.

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Illinois recently adopted new education standards for math and science–the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards, respectively. These programs have been met with diverse political opposition,confusion, andhave hadmisinformation spread about them. What do these new standards really say, and what do they mean for our students, communities and educators? Why were they created? Will they improve educationorare theyjust the next fad in a long series of programs from meddling government officials?

Continue reading “Decoding the New Science and Math Standards”