Immediately when I searched for articles relating to
technology, I came across an article “America’s Children: Providing Early
Exposure to STEM Initiatives” written by Nancy Dejarnette. It discussed how
important STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is to not
only American children’s education but in relevance to the high demands of the
global economy. This article jumped out at me. There is a need for providing
early exposure to STEM in the American children’s education. As I have a year
left before becoming a teacher, I see how true this is. Most students do not
feel comfortable when it comes to learning about science and math. Engineering
is barely touched in classrooms today. Lastly, technology is becoming a bigger
part of classrooms but teachers are lacking the skills and the knowledge of how
they can use technology in the classroom in a way that is productive and
educational. This video attached below informs the audience what STEM is, how
important it is to know about STEM, and why and how it can be integrated into
classrooms today.
The
article opens up by discussing how important it is to expose STEM to students
in elementary school. It is supposed to have a positive impact on the students’
thoughts and perceptions about STEM. By exposing students early to STEM
content, this can encourage and motivate students to continue their desire to
learn more when it comes to middle school, high school, and college. The
article states, “The need for professionals in the fields of Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) continues to grow at a
comparable rate as well to meet the demands of this high-tech global economy”
(Dejarnette, 2012). It is important to expose these students to STEM so that
way one day they may want to continue their knowledge in a STEM- related
career. This early exposure does not happen in one day at a school. The
curriculum and ideas of the schools need to be reevaluated and reshaped to help
with this desire to increase STEM in the classroom. It has been close to two decade
since this reformation has been trying to take place in the United States’
Education system.
I really
enjoyed how this article took some time to explain the history behind trying to
increase STEM education in the classroom. What they have discovered is that no
matter where in the world, introducing STEM and STEM professions to students in
their elementary years of school has been one of the most effective things that
we can possibly do to increase students’ excitement about it. It gives them the
opportunity to become aware and create connections that they would not normally
do. Something else that I did not know was the number of different initiatives
that are currently working so hard to help the United States Department of
Education see how important this is. The first one discussed began in 2004 and
is called The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Attached is the link to their website. Their main goal, according to the
article, is “To prepare American children to develop the skills they will need
in order to compete in our global economy” (Dejarnette, 2012). On their
website, they go into more detail about their ideas and concepts of how more 21st
century themes and ideas can be brought inside of a classroom. They even give a
list of schools that have accomplished these goals and are seen as leaders of
how to incorporate these 21st century ideas and technology. 21st
century technology and concepts revolve around making sure that students are
using technology and what they are being taught in a way that engages,enhances, and extends their learning. It is important to know
the difference between all three of these words, especially in a 21st
century classroom. In Liz Keren-Kolb’s article, it discusses the difference
between these three E’s and what it means to a 21st century STEM
based classroom (2013). To engage means to find ways to motivate students or
gain their attention to the subject at hand. Enhancement means to develop ideas
and concepts students are learning at a level that could not have been achieved
without the use of this technology. Lastly, extension means to bring technology
into the students’ lives and relate it back to learning that happens outside of
the classroom. Students will experience all three of these E's if they are exposed early enough to science, technology, engineering, and math and taught in a way that is devoted to the 21st century classroom.
As a result from the
works of all of these initiatives, educators are now understanding how exposure
to science, technology, engineering, and math will increase students want and
desire to learn more about STEM. By doing this, it will increase interest in
students who want to be motivated to take more advance science and math courses
in middle and high school. Eventually is may guide them to become a part of
STEM related careers. It will also give students more confidence and motivation
to work at these subjects. But mere exposure will not get the job done.
Teachers need to educate their students in a way that will get them excited
about science, technology, engineering, and math. As the article states,
“Elementary teachers need support to find ways to incorporate more hands-on,
inquiry-based activities into the math and science curricula to assist in teaching
the more abstract concepts” (Dejarnette, 2012). These classes need to promote
and encourage more critical thinking, open-ended inquiry, and problem solving;
all important skills that go hand-in-hand with STEM. I thought it was very
important how the article states that elementary students are told about
scientific theory and the nature of science, instead of letting them figure it
out for themselves. I can one hundred percent attest to this. When I was in
elementary school, I never knew why things were the way they were. I just knew
that it was because the teacher told me. Now I realize how wrong that really
was. It is important to let students experience these ideas for themselves. Let
them find the answers! It is difficult for teachers to find a balance of when
to do this, especially with all of the pressure on them for testing. When
researching a little further into the importance of STEM in the classroom, I
found a website that discussed how important a holistic education is compared
for the students compared to that final score on the assessment test. “Through
their exposure to math and science they have room for developing their
interests and experiencing the wonders and joys of math and science. It’s
speaking to the holistic experience rather than the one-shot test score” (Wang, 2013). While standards-based testing are
important, integrating STEM concepts into the curriculum are close to becoming
more important.
The
last part of the article discusses goals for future elementary STEM education.
They include three major ideas.
- Bettering teacher education. STEM concepts should be a major requirement that every elementary teacher receives in their teacher education programs. The qualifications to be a teacher needs to be raised and education programs need to work on making elementary teachers more confident and comfortable to bring STEM concepts into their classroom and curriculum.
- Educating veteran teachers. Universities and colleges need to reach out to their local schools and help to provide them with instructions and education on how to incorporate STEM initiatives into their existing curriculum. They need to help veteran teachers become more positive about the fields of STEM so they can transfer that energy to their students.
- Providing various opportunities for students to be able to be exposed to STEM related concepts. Working together to create classes, workshops, summer school, summer camps, etc. that revolve around STEM will spark their interests. It will motivate them along with encouraging them to pursue things that have to do with STEM after their elementary years. STEM will prepare them for the future and the 21st century skills that along with it.
Our best way to bring STEM to our students is by
educating them and exposing them to it. Both of these websites attached give
some simple facts that we are not doing enough to educate them about STEM or prepare
our students for the future. It is vital for elementary teachers to learn how to
correctly teach our youngest learners about STEM. We are helping them to lay
the foundations for their possible careers in the future. The exposure that we
give our students to STEM may be the key for our education system to become
more successful one day. Lastly, as teachers, we need to prepare our students
for the world that lies in front of them and give them everything they need in
order to help America achieve high status in the STEM world that we live in. As
a future teacher, I want to educate myself so I can help my students be the
best that they can be. I want to set them up to be successful and I feel that
integrating all components of STEM will give them this opportunity.
References
Dejarnette, N. K. (2012). America’s children: Providing
early exposure to stem (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives. Education, 133(1),
77-84.
Keren-Kolb, L. (2013). Engage, enhance, and extend
learning. Learning and Leading Technology, 20-27.
Rogers, M. (2013, October 1). Study finds math and
science exposure has significant impact on intent to study STEM fields.
Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/01/study-finds-math-and-science-exposure-has-significant-impact-intent-study-stem
STEM Integration in K-12 Education. (2014, March 6).
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlPJ48simtE
