The Importance of STEM Education

This week marks the beginning of the last semester of my MAT program. One of the courses I am taking during this final semester focuses on issues in STEM education. During this first week, we've been asked to answer three questions related to STEM education from our own perspective and then return to our responses after doing some research and add in additional thoughts that we developed through exposing ourselves to other perspectives. The following are my responses to the three prompts. Anything added after I did research will be marked as "Additional thoughts."

1) How would you describe STEM education to a friend or family member in informal conversation?

On the most basic level, STEM education involves teaching kids about science, technology, engineering, and math. These four areas are key for students to know in today's world and often rely heavily on each other. In addition to just teaching the content of these subjects, however, STEM courses encourage the development of critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and more in students. Current STEM education often revolves around finding solutions to problems that are relevant to the world outside of education. This problem solving process involves finding out information about a topic that is already known and researched, then developing solutions by extending upon that newly acquired knowledge. The final thing that STEM education does is it provides students with an understanding of the scientific process and an appreciation for how we as a society gain and disseminate knowledge. Ultimately, STEM education is multifaceted, challenging, and impactful when correctly implemented.

Additional thoughts: In his article for Huffington Post, Mason (2016) discusses the use of technology in the form of phones in the classroom. During my initial response, one thing I neglected to mention was that good STEM classrooms also teach students how to utilize current technology correctly. In the article, Mason describes students creating apps for smartphones to solve problems (2016). Today in my own class, I had my students use their phones to take pictures of what they were seeing in the microscope so that they could more easily share what they observed with the class. STEM classrooms give students the ability to learn about and use technology in appropriate ways to facilitate their learning.

2) Why do you think STEM education is (or is not) important?

While I believe it is important for students to learn about each of the four topics in STEM, I think it is even more important that students be involved in STEM education in order to develop the skills that it teaches. Students learn how to acquire knowledge from previous research as well as how to acquire knowledge through developing their own studies. They learn the importance of asking questions and refining their work to make it better. By working with all of the STEM fields, students develop a better understanding that each of the subjects work with each other and none of them exist in a bubble on their own. Well developed STEM education encourages collaboration through group projects, which is a critical skill to have in any STEM field. Through these skills, STEM education prepares students to be successful careers involving science, technology, engineering, and math. More crucial however, is that students learn to be more critical consumers of scientific content. It is imperative that we help students learn what makes research credible in a world where they have endless information at their finger tips, but also endless misrepresentations of research or facts.

Additional thoughts: It's not new news that the US often underperforms on tests compared to other countries in areas like math and science. DeAngelis (2014) reports in an article for Wired that US students also have trouble matching other countries in their problem solving ability. This further supports my claim that the critical thinking and problem solving taught by STEM education is a huge part of what makes it so important. DeAngeles also mentions that problem solving is a skill that is necessary to have in all professions, STEM related or otherwise. This is why all students benefit from having STEM education, even if their passion lies elsewhere.

3) What is the value of incorporating or enhancing STEM in public education. 

As I've mentioned in my previous responses, well developed STEM education can impact students' lives in many ways. It can help them be more successful as they enter into careers and it can make them better consumers of information. In addition to positively impacting the students, having individuals in the world who have a good grasp on STEM-related knowledge and skills will positively impact both the nation and the world. As we continue to try to fight climate change, make advancements in medicine, develop more efficient and sustainable products, and create more cutting edge technology, society needs people who are creative and innovative thinkers. We also need people who are educated and excited about working in these fields. Investing in quality STEM education for all students means investing in a better future.

Additional thoughts: In my initial response, I left out the problems with diversity in STEM fields. Women and minorities are both underrepresented in STEM fields and that does not seem to have improved significantly in the past several years (Bidwell, 2015). The classes I work with are all entirely made up of minority students, predominantly African American. According to Bidwell, not only has the percentage of African American students self-reporting interest in STEM fields not increased, it has actually decreased drastically since 2000 (2015). For this reason, we need to improve how we teach STEM in public education and find ways to help minority students overcome the hurdles that have been keeping them out of the STEM fields. Better outreach and support systems need to be put it place to help each and every student get the STEM education that they deserve by providing them with the opportunities and resources that they need.


In addition to doing research on STEM education through reading articles, I also went to Twitter and asked my followers to tell me what they thought about STEM education. This was my initial post:

Everyone responded with a positive attitude toward STEM education, which is unsurprising given that it is like that people who follow me have similar views on the importance of these fields. Two of my followers mentioned that they felt STEM changes the way that students think. 

A friend of mine who is a computer scientist echoed my sentiments about the importance of STEM in general life, not just for those working in STEM fields.

Finally, I had an individual who works in a creative field chime in to remind me of the importance of giving students a well rounded experience. 

Just like the STEM fields do not exist outside of one another, none of those fields exist separate from the humanities. In every day life, technology and engineering are intertwined with subjects like economics, sociology, and art. When we teach like each subject exists in its own vacuum, we do a major disservice to our students and limit their understanding. In a TEDx talk by Bushnell and Gradman (2014), they discuss how they took STEM and pushed it outside of the box by creating a STEM carnival that combined STEM curriculum with the arts. This is a fascinating look at how the presentation of STEM concepts can be made so much richer by adding in creativity.

In my opinion, it is incredibly important to spend time and resources developing appropriate, complex, and engaging STEM education to encourage the next generation of students to not only learn about STEM subjects, but also to excited about them in a way that is long lasting and meaningful.

References 

Bidwell, A. (2015). STEM Workforce No More Diverse Than 14 Years Ago. U.S. News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2015/02/24/stem-workforce-no-more-diverse-than-14-years-ago 
TEDx Talks. (2014, Jan 22). From STEM to STEAM: Brent Bushnell and Eric Gradman at TEDxManhattanBeach [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/0rAbylCphUk
DeAngeles, S. F. (2014). Why STEM? Success Starts With Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving Skills. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/06/stem-success-starts-critical-thinking-problem-solving-skills/ 
Mason, R. (2016). Student Solutions to Global Problems: STEM Education in South Carolina. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randal-mason/student-solutions-to-glob_b_8591808.html