It is also important to note that STEM education highlights the real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and math. In school, all students take math and science classes. However, it can be difficult for them to see the application of the math and science concepts they are learning. One of the most common questions students ask is "When am I ever going to use this?" When algebra concepts like factoring and completing the square are presented in the vacuum of a traditional classroom environment, students struggle to understand its importance. STEM education discourages educators from teaching in the traditional, lecture-heavy way that is so popular in classes like history and English.
STEM classrooms encourage collaboration and student-centered learning. Sometimes, students get frustrated with inquiry and problem-based learning because they feel like they are doing all the work. But that's the point! STEM classes are difficult because students need to take an active role in their learning. Students learn invaluable life skills in the STEM classroom, such as collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking. These skills will be crucial for students in higher education and beyond.
I believe that STEM is important in public education. The high school I will be teaching at this year has a few magnet programs, most of which are STEM-based. I am teaching computer science principles, which is a class for the computer science magnet program. Students in this program take computer science principles in their sophomore year. Between my two rosters, I have about 17 students per class (17 students x 2 classes = 34 students). There are about 500 students in the 10th grade, so about 6.8% of students at my school take these classes (34 students/500 students = 0.068 x 100 = 6.8%). That is a shockingly small amount. Not to mention that the student population in computer science classes is generally not very diverse. More male students tend to take computer science than female students. There also tends to be an overrepresentation of Asian students in computer science classes.
STEM is a growing career field. However, there is a deficit of college students majoring in STEM fields. This leads to a shortage of employees in STEM careers. I believe that we need to enhance the value of STEM in public education to prepare students for the workforce. We need to promote a growth mindset and an attitude that anyone can do STEM.
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Update: After doing some research, I realized how truly homogeneous the STEM workforce is. White and Asian individuals make up the majority of the workforce at 69 percent. According to U.S. News, White and Asian individuals represent "87 percent of the engineering workforce, 84 percent of the computing workforce and 83 percent of the advanced manufacturing workforce" (Bidwell, 2015). Men also make up the majority of the STEM workforce. In 2014, women represented "24 percent of the engineering workforce... 36 percent of the computing workforce... and 18 percent of the advanced manufacturing workforce" (Bidwell, 2015). The percentage of women in STEM has continued to drop over the past several years.
According to U.S. News, "part of the problem could come to a lack of access" (Bidwell, 2015). In fact, "African-American and Latino students are much less likely to have access to Advanced Placement courses in STEM fields" (Bidwell, 2015). In my own experience, I know this to be true. Not only do minority students often lack access to AP classes, but they also seem to lack confidence. I believe that a lot of students lack confidence when it comes to taking AP classes. AP classes seem unattainable. Only "smart" students take AP classes. In the training for the AP class I am teaching this semester, we talked about how the class was built for any student to take. Since this class is designed for students in 10th grade, it is often the first AP class they take. The class is very manageable and I look forward to recruiting students to take AP computer science principles in the future.
Reference
Bidwell, A.
(2015, February 24). “STEM Workforce No More Diverse Than 14 Years Ago.” U.S. News. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2015/02/24/stem-workforce-no-more-diverse-than-14-years-ago
You raise an interesting point about lack of confidence and its potential impact on the number of students in general choosing STEM careers. That might also be part of why so many students drop STEM majors even if they choose them when starting college. You reminded me of the importance of not just using STEM practices, but also focusing on growth mindset. When we try to, as one of my colleagues calls it, "shove curriculum down their throats to finish what we're supposed to finish in math this year," we do nothing to build confidence. To the contrary, we probably shatter it more often than not and leave students feeling like AP's are too high a bar. Then it continues to feed as so many students don't get qualifying scores on STEM-related AP exams. I think I could accept leaving a few gaps in my students' learning for the sake of building a growth mindset and equipping them with the tools to explore and research questions with confidence when they run into those gaps again later. The balance often feels impossible to find, though!
ReplyDeleteHi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a lot of solid points that I thought about when looking at STEM education but did not include it in my blog post. For instance, you brought up how STEM education encourages collaboration. I absolutely love this approach because it is causing a shift in education from a place where students sit in straight rows and work independently to work on a classroom assignment. With me being a new science teacher, a lot of my normal routine is allowing my students to work together in small groups to help and learn from one another. As a student I cannot count the amount of times where I would be lost on a concept or an idea but hearing it from a classmate allowed for me to gain a different perspective and this ultimately helped with making me more confident in my content area. After this week, I plan on going into my first week of teaching creating learning dynamics where students know that it is not only okay for students to collaborate and work together, but it is vital to their success.