"Bennett: Teaching kids to tackle STEM at an earlier age"

Richard Phillips, 11 years ago

STEM education is perhaps one of the most important things we can do to help our students be better equipped in the 21st century. Implementation though is perhaps the most important. My own dissertation researched stand alone T-STEM academies in Texas to traditional high schools and found no statistical difference between them on all but two of TEA’s college readiness indicators (Advanced course completion, and TSI ready in ELA). That to me brings up the question, are we implementing it right?

Richard Phillips, 11 years ago

I think the first step in a long term solution to educational needs in education related to STEM would be to require teachers receiving a Generalist certification to have more hours in Mathematics and Science (perhaps as high as 12 to 16 hours). Half of these classes could be courses specifically for how to teach mathematics or science and how what they teach links to higher level mathematics concepts. However, at least one class needs to be a mathematics course above College Algebra and Business Statistics. If we have elementary teachers who understand how the basic mathematics and science concepts they teach connect to those higher level mathematics and science skills their students will see at the end of middle school, in high school, and in college it should make how they teach it more effective and long lasting.

In the mid term creation of a STEM certification similar to ESL, Bilingual, and Special Education certifications could help promote STEM education with school districts, as well as provide the necessary training and professional development to prepare teachers for teaching STEM. A secondary and elementary STEM certification could be created that would indicate to districts that this teacher has undergone special training above and beyond the normal certification for their subject or grade level on integrating mathematics, science, and technology concepts in an innovative manner.

In the short term research, monitor, and adjust. Research innovative methods of implementing STEM education in the classroom, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to see if it is making a difference for those students. Monitor those campuses that call themselves T-STEM academies and make sure they are teaching how and what they say they are teaching and are teaching using those assumed best practices. Finally, be flexible and adjust. If after a time something does not seem to be working, or if the methodology does not seem to be as effective as research or theory indicated then make changes in order to address those short comings.

The concepts within STEM education are important to all students. Some students will need only the most basic understanding and others will need the most advanced in order to achieve their goals in life. The concepts within STEM education are universal but methodology in which those concepts are presented may not be. We need to make sure we are making educational decisions based on informative, accurate, quantitative and qualitative research and not because it sounds good or makes people feel good.