Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

Unlocking the Power of Energy Data

The U.S. Government, as well as the private sector, is sitting on a vast – and in many cases, untapped – supply of energy data.  Sets of data aren’t what most people think of when we talk about safely and responsibly developing American energy resources such as wind, solar, oil, and gas. But data are also essential components of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.  To help harness the power of these data through a combination of technology and ingenuity, the Obama Administration has launched the Energy Data Initiative (EDI).  The goal of EDI is to drive entrepreneurs to use data to create tools that can help Americans save money on utility bills and at the pump – by, for example, virtually identifying cost-effective retrofits or delivering route- and vehicle-optimization tips to improve fuel efficiency. In doing so, this will generate a rising tide of innovation that can help grow the economy and create jobs. 

Evidence Points to Benefits of Active Teaching in STEM Education

An exciting new report was released today by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies.  The report, “Discipline-Based Education Research; Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering,” provides some clear direction, backed by extensive evidence, on how to improve science and engineering education in this country.  Improvement in this domain has long been a national goal. But despite good intentions and the launch of numerous programs over the past few decades, progress has been too slow.

The new study summarizes a large body of research and concludes that, across the science and engineering disciplines, scholarly studies clearly indicate that “student-centered instructional strategies can positively influence students’ learning, achievement, and knowledge retention, as compared with traditional instructional methods.” It specifically cites such approaches as making lectures more interactive, having students work in groups, and incorporating authentic problems and activities into coursework as being superior to traditional lectures, which remain the mainstay approach to teaching in too many classrooms.