Shaping the Future of STEM Education: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities Ahead

Victoria Webster, Director of STEM at Mansfield ISD

One month ago, I was star struck.  Thanks to the leadership in my school district, I was fortunate enough to spend a morning learning from a world-renowned researcher in education.  The entire morning, I listened intently to every word he said.  I reflected on my own practice and the practice of my team as we hobble along on our mission to use STEM pedagogy as disruptive innovation in the education ecosystem.  After the session, I eagerly waited in line to buy some of his books and then engaged him in conversation while he waited on the Uber that would be taking him to the airport.  As we talked about k-12 education he asked me my role in my district, I responded proudly “I’m the STEM Director”. He paused and then asked, “Don’t you think we’ve missed a huge opportunity with STEM?”

I was in striking stance, a missed opportunity with STEM!  You must be mistaken sir; STEM will be the saving grace of k-12 education.  But instead of scoffing and striking with the self-righteous indignation of someone ready to topple the whole system because it has failed so many, I listened while he continued.  Basically, his point was that we have forced STEM to live in science and math and engineering courses.  We’ve denied the STEM moniker to anything that lived outside of those domains even if it was building STEM habits and mindset.  After our brief conversation I realized that we have missed a huge opportunity with STEM.  The reality is that k-12 education did what k-12 education does; we siloed STEM into those 4 letters to live in siloed classrooms in siloed grade levels.  The acronym started in the 1990’s; previously STEM was SMET and then it was changed, and it was catchy.  But those 4 little letters have been approached as either Science or Technology or Engineering or Math.  This has led to the following issues in STEM Education:

1. Focus on memorization instead of problem solving.  Although changes have been made to instructional pedagogy and praxis over the last decade, most of the STEM instruction lives in science and math classes without consideration to how skills and knowledge obtained in these classes can be leveraged to solve real world problems.  The fear to take a leap towards innovative instructional STEM practices often can be attributed to teachers and administrators not knowing or having confidence in how STEM focused instruction will impact the standardized test scores they are held accountable to.

2. Limited exposure to STEM Careers and the inability of k-12 education to prepare learners for STEM careers that don’t yet exist. Even within CTE (career and technical education) programs there is a lag between the rollout of programs recognized by individual state education agencies and the actual jobs that are currently available in the market.  The greatest example of this gap that has recently emerged is in computer science.  In k-12 education, we are still trying to figure out how to increase enrollment in our computer science classes that teach learners different levels of coding; normally maxing out with Python.  Seven months ago, with the release of ChatGPT, we now need to look at the pathways that k-12 computer science can really lead learners because they can now ask Open AI to provide python code for a specific task.  As AI becomes more common, we will have to adjust the k-12 ecosystem to respond to industry needs but our state will be several years behind in making these adjustments.

3. Insufficient funding. STEM is expensive; STEM done well is very expensive.  It’s more than just having the latest and greatest technology, the newest robotics kits, the updated 3D printers.  It’s also the ongoing training that teachers and administrators need to go through to have a sustainable STEM program.  All this technology, equipment, and professional learning takes money and so often school districts underestimate and do not plan for the financial commitment that a sustainable STEM program requires.

4. Limited emphasis on so called “soft” skills.  Remember issue #1 above?  Those siloes and reliance on a pure engineering design process or scientific method has caused STEM to get the reputation of being hard and cold.  All numbers and facts and thinking in isolation.  There is nothing further from the truth; learners involved in dynamic STEM programs will collaborate with others.  These collaborations will span from working within a group of learners to reaching out to experts and professionals in specific areas, learning how to get feedback from others and how to communicate their solutions to a diverse audience.

5. Lack of diversity in STEM education and STEM careers.  STEM fields have traditionally lacked diversity, especially in the areas of race and gender.  According to the “Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities 2023” report released by NSF over the last decade the number of degrees earned by women and minorities have increased.  However, all groups continue to be underrepresented in STEM careers.  One can draw a direct line from underrepresentation in STEM careers to lack of STEM opportunities in k-12 STEM education.

However, this is not an article full of gloom and doom.  I’ll reframe our famous friend’s question to me “don’t you think we’ve missed a huge opportunity in STEM…so far?”  It’s the so far that gives us hope and a mission to improve STEM education.  If we want to create a pipeline directly from the k-12 STEM classroom to the STEM career for every single learner, here are five things we need to start doing now:

1. Unsilo STEM.  So “unsilo” really isn’t a word, but the sentiment is there.  It’s not Science or Technology or Engineering or Math.  It is the overlap of science, technology, engineering, and math to solve everyday problems. STEM is an elective; STEM is not only in CTE classes and STEM does not solely reside in math and science classrooms.  We need to champion Integrative STEM – this is STEM that focuses on real world problem solving across all contents through a design process. Did you know that the Jacquard loom is considered the predecessor to modern computing?  Neither did I until I observed an 8^th grade US History class that focuses on Integrative STEM instruction.  We must stop leaving our humanities teachers out of the STEM world.

2. Fund STEM. Have a 3, 5, and 7-year plan for the funding.  The sustainable budget must include technology and equipment with refresh cycles, as well as continuous training for teachers and administrators.  This budget should also include paid time to allow teachers to collaborate and plan.  Currently most large grants are going to post-secondary research and implementation efforts.  Some colleges across the U.S. are developing teacher training programs focused on integrative STEM; but funding for k-12 is still restrictive since it is most often tied to Perkins Grants and federal title funds. 

3. Staff campuses with STEM enthusiasts.  STEM enthusiasts are those educators and campus leaders that believe in the need for STEM education.  They focus instruction on real world problem solving through a design process.  They honor the learner’s voice and choice.  They embrace flexible learning spaces that it’s about the process of getting to the solution and not just the solution that is important.  A learner who has had a year with a STEM enthusiast will become empowered by the impact they can have on their community, and we will move beyond the association of STEM with computer science and robotics.

4. Embed soft skills in integrative STEM.  When integrative STEM is approached through problem-based learning (PrBL) that uses a design process to develop a solution, the soft skills of communication, collaboration, responsible decision making, self-management, and relationship skills will happen.  STEM educators must be intentional about the structure they provide for these soft skills to be developed.  Through exercises like critical friends’ protocols, learners will be able to give honest and respectful feedback to one another.  By incorporating group contracts before launching a PrBL, learners will be able to agree on group norms and roles that will allow them, with guidance from teachers, to hold one another accountable.

5. Develop an inclusive STEM pipeline.  K-12 education must be intentional about creating a pipeline of STEM learning that is both vertically and horizontally aligned for content and skill acquisition.  Unfortunately, waiting until high school to offer an environment that is STEM focused will result in lower participation by underrepresented groups.  However, if a pipeline is developed early; during elementary years, research shows that learners will begin to identify themselves as a STEM thinker and be more comfortable signing up for advanced math and science classes – which are often gate keepers to STEM post-secondary education.  Additionally, when girls are exposed to the impact that STEM careers can have on communities, they are more likely to identify a desire to engage in that type of work.  We have seen some increases in some STEM fields over the last decade, but we continue to see underrepresentation in mathematics-based fields, physical science, computer science, and engineering fields.

If we spend the next decade addressing the missed opportunities of the last decade, if we become intentional in how we design and implement k-12 integrative STEM education,  if we become bold in our expectations for k-12 integrative STEM education, if we become proactive and connected to advances in STEM industries instead of reactive and educating the next generation behind where the current generation is working, we will realize an inclusive and diverse school to career STEM pipeline.

 

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