08.25.11
STEM
In education one of the hot new buzz words is STEM. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In Washington state, and to some extent across the nation, we are not generating enough young people who want to participate in these subjects. We present these topics as “hard”, very much a meritocracy–only the great need apply. I don’t remember that as part of my education. When I went to school these were positioned as exciting, fun and challenging. I really wonder when that change occurred.
A good day in the laboratory was often described as being like Christmas. You were constantly amazed by what you learned, what you saw, what you were able to do. That was true of my experiences in research laboratories and engineering shops. Figuring out how to prove something, how to make something work or what made this attempt not work was a game. You won when you figured it out. The figuring it out was way more of a reason to get up in the morning than any paycheck ever was.
Somehow, we lost this joy of creating in teaching our children about STEM subjects. Getting it back into our schools will go a long way towards filling the needs our society has for experts in STEM. If you need to understand why I teach, this is it. STEM careers are to much fun; no student should miss out on them. And every student is capable of achieving such careers. First, we just need to convince them that there is nothing “hard” about any of these topics.
