Why STEM Matters: Educators and Experts Sound Off
“STEM,” an acronym for “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math” is a term that is becoming increasingly common across education circles. It is often followed by the word “crisis.”
There is a growing sense that students are not getting a strong enough STEM education, developing an adequate interest in STEM subjects nor embarking on the kinds of STEM careers that will ensure a comfortable economic future. In Texas, the state has struggled to meet its goals for conferring STEM degrees and certifying teachers for STEM subjects.
Last week, Dallas played host to a STEM conference with a mouthful of a name ...
Comments (6)
D W
its all good and well to want to add STEM graduates. the problem really exactly what will they do when the graduate? its not like we have a huge demand for them. students dont just look at going to school based on their interests, but also based on what their education can earn them on the future. as it is, there isn't much demand at all for them. the private sector has very jobs for folks with these degrees. government actually has more jobs for them.
thats not to say that these aren't the future (just like in the past). its just that we want to add more graduates. that end up not being able to work in their chosen fields
Alice Taylor
There are plenty of jobs for STEM graduates. The key word, though, is "graduate".
So what is Texas doing to get good STEM teachers? I teach computer graphics in a high school and have a pretty good track record (I was one of 6 national teachers who won an AP teaching award in 2010 for my program), but I don't make anywhere near what I could in the private sector. Shoot, I don't make anywhere near what the local volleyball coach makes. I make a basic teaching salary an all of the talk about promoting STEM skills falls a bit flat when I walk in the classroom and frankly, I work for a supportive district. God help the teachers in districts that think technology electives are fluff because, and I've been told this to my face by education administrators, every kid comes to school knowing how to operate a computer already.
When I retire, how is Texas going to attract top quality teachers who know how to teach Javascript or animation or basic engineering skills when there is a shortage in the private sector that will suck up the good applicants? Teaching in Texas is a pretty discouraging proposition nowadays. It seems that the entire Texas executive branch from Perry on down is flat against teachers and public education and I really don't see any movement to prove me wrong. The legislature is not far behind, with only a few bright individuals beating their heads against the wall made up of real disdain for public education. The people in this panel talk about the great programs that keep kids involved in STEM subjects, but in the end those programs are run by great teachers. What are they doing to keep them in teaching?
T D
Alice Taylor's post, above, is a necessary read, for it reminds us that STEM is just part of a larger education problem in Texas.
All the talk in the world concerning our seriousness about seriously serious sciences won't mean a thing if our schools aren't strong. And we won't have strong schools if we don't pay teachers a good wage.
Jeff Funkhouser
I was at the STEM Solutions conference described above, and as an educator I have to say that was one of the worst titled conferences I've ever been to in 24 years as a teacher. There were almost NO solutions actually discussed and no opportunity for participants to discuss them. Your virtual roundtable is a microcosm of what I saw - here are some excerpts and the problem embedded within:
Mary Ann Rankin: “In the era of Sputnik, there was this urgency around math and science and achievement … we need to refocus on that.” Then later, “I think we need a focus on how both state and federal education dollars are spent so that they are really effective in bringing about change.”
Tom Luce: “We’re falling behind the rest of the world in math and science. Every test shows it.” Then later, “We have a culture in this country that says, “Well, Johnny’s not good at math and science, so don’t make him do it.” We can’t afford this anymore. The world has changed.”
John Ellis Price: “What we want to do [at UNT-Dallas] is have some degree programs in STEM disciplines that would allow our graduates to do internships in those areas …” Then later, “What we want to do [at UNT-Dallas] is have some degree programs in STEM disciplines that would allow our graduates to do internships in those areas…”
Raymund Paredes: “We have shortages in high skilled fields across the board.” Then later, “… in the senior year into an applied course. Students actually learn how to build rockets — I’m not talking about firecrackers, I’m talking about rockets that go 1,000 or 2,000 feet in the air …”
Steve Smith: “We’re reaching down into the eighth grade to pull students into our STEM program at our early college high school.” Then later, “Although I would be hesitant to say it’s too late, it certainly is really late to catch them when they’re graduating from high school and try to get them into a STEM field.
Steve Zipkes: “ I can’t get them to go home. They don’t even know they are in a STEM school. They are in a project-based learning school, but at the same time, they are getting five math credits, six science credits, and two years of engineering. I like to call STEM at our program the invisible curriculum. Why aren’t more people doing it this way?
The only person actually DOING something is the HS principal. Everyone else is TALKING about what they WANT to do. Only half of them are actually talking about programmatic things (Smith and Paredes) and Paredes has actually REDUCED the chances of improving STEM solutions by supporting the dissolution of the physics degree programs at seven state universities! How is that a SOLUTION especially since those three institutions have historically served under represented student populations?!? see ref here http://bit.ly/OdZcPh
Less talk, more action! And, sorry to say it, but it ALL takes MONEY!!
Alice Taylor
Here are some practical ways to increase rigor in technology in public schools by recruiting teachers who are experts in their STEM fields and promoting STEM students.
Make tech teacher’s salaries are reasonably equal to private industry. They don’t have to be better, but it’s not realistic to expect techies to take a 1/3 pay cut to teach. The Texas average salary for a person who writes code is 60K a year. The teachers in my district start at 40K, so you can see the difference. State base for new teachers is 28K. A coach or band director in my district makes a 5 to 10k stipend. tech teachers don’t. Oddly, they don’t have any problems getting coaches or band directors but had problems getting tech teachers. Small schools in rural areas don’t have a chance when it comes to hiring.
Equalize teacher retirement benefits for late bloomers by repealing the WEP offset in SSI for teachers. No, the state can’t change SSI but not a single Rep. or Senator is working to repeal this readily acknowledged mistake in the SSI law. People who become teachers after years in private industry in Texas lose their full Social Security benefit because of the WEP offset that reduces SSI benefits to for teachers to $387. My SSI has gone from over $900 a month to $387. It’s not realistic for the state to expect that penalty for teaching not to be noticed and not to discourage experienced people from going in to teaching. Getting the federal government to repeal the offset provision for military (veterans who aren’t military retirees who go in to teaching are hurt badly by this) and private industry would be a de facto pay raise. The Teacher Retirement System says its formulas mean that teachers make more even without SSI, but that only applies to teachers who come in the system at age 22. If you have a job in private industry and come in to teaching later, you lose out big time because you don’t have the years in the system to make a decent retirement in TRS and you lose out in the back end with the WEP.
Match new tech teachers up with experienced tech mentors. Most tech teachers work in isolation. Even a large district like mine only needs one person teaching robotics or animation, so it can get pretty lonely in the classroom. While most districts have mentoring programs, tech is different. An English teacher might be able to mentor about discipline, but helping solve computer software issues as they relate to teaching can be out of their area of expertise. Research shows that collaboration makes better teachers, so getting those teachers matched up with people teaching the same thing outside of their district would help spread good classroom practices.
Set up UIL state competitions in tech. We have some scattered competitions from some colleges and sponsored by teacher tech organizations, in some areas, but no overall competitive system for kids that is equivalent to what is available in sports and music. You can be a first chair for Texas in flugelhorn or a state ranked shot-putter, but there is no state glory for animators or bridge builders. There are some contests in robotics, but they’re outside the school system, which is fine but it’s hard to get schools to approve field trips and funds for non-UIL funded activities that don’t align to classroom TEKS objectives, especially when the contests are out of state. Texas is big enough we can have our own contests to encourage kids in these areas.
Match private industry with public school tech programs much like the Adopt a School program the military has. This sound pretty self-explanatory to me. Private industry has a lot to say about what should go on in tech classes and can be a tremendous asset to the students of Texas.
Fund tech classes. You can’t have tech classes without tech equipment. Many years ago, back in the ‘80’s during a drawdown, my husband was a tanker in the Army and one year for practice in maneuvering he was sent out to a field with his crew and given broomsticks. They were to run around, yell “fire!” and “Boom!” and pretend they were in tanks because there was no money for fuel to practice with. Some of our tech classes in this state are running around in empty fields yelling “Boom”. My school is not one of them, but I hear from other teachers with NO equipment or software and I’m embarrassed for them and I’m angry for the educations of the kids.
Ricky Bennett
Perhaps the answer for STEM education is a two-fold approach. Until our schools can REALLY make a push, third party companies, like iD Tech Camps http://www.internaldrive.com/locations/tx-summer-camps-texas-computer-camps , are the answer. They provide a spark for the kids to begin learning and from there have online curriculum developed for self-guided learning. Kahn Academy and others are proving that students, when sparked with a drive to learn, find joy in pursuing these types of extracurricular education.