Mention science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in polite conversation, and people will likely cringe with memories from their school experiences. For many years, there has been a stigma related to STEM courses and degrees, that they are simply “too challenging.” To enjoy any of these subjects was to be labeled a “nerd,” and to teach them was even worse.
So how can that negative perception of such an important and often lucrative field be overcome?
Dr. John Walz, incoming dean of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, tackles the stigma not by implying that STEM fields aren’t challenging, but by saying that students are simply underestimating themselves and their capabilities.
“Students can do it,” Walz said. “We just need to get over this stereotype. It’s not an impossible major. Is it more challenging than others? Yes. It’s a challenging four or five years, but the rewards are tremendous when you get out.”
When asked how to get students interested in STEM learning at the high-school level, James Hardin, Fayette County Public Schools’ coordinator of career and technical education, said, “I think what we overall have to look at is engaging students. If we engage students with meaningful curriculum and activities, they will rise to the occasion. The fact is is that we have many students who are interested in many fields, we just need to work on identifying the students who are up to the challenge of STEM.”
On the high-school level, the most useful way of determining which students are interested in STEM is by using their individualized learning plans (ILP). According to the Kentucky Department of Education’s website, ILPs begin exploring career interests in the sixth grade by determining which careers match each student’s skills and interests, and creating education plans to establish personal goals for the student’s education throughout school.
According to Hardin, though, there are other ways to encourage students to explore STEM learning.
“Get the word out, not only to the students, but to the families, the parents, and the communities,” Hardin said. “A lot of different schools have individualized things that they do at their schools; teachers can ‘sell’ their programs to kids and parents during events like incoming orientations, etc.”
FCPS is taking even further steps to champion the cause of STEM. The Math, Science and Technology Center (MSTC) at Dunbar High School and the Pre-Engineering Program at Lafayette High School are both programs that accept applications from interested students across the district. According to the FCPS website, “MSTC offers a rigorous four-year curriculum designed to develop students who are internationally competitive in mathematics and science,” and “The thriving Pre-Engineering Program at Lafayette High School is designed to provide every student with the skills needed to succeed in such mathematically rigorous and technical fields as engineering, architecture, medicine, computer programming, mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.” Other schools have offered courses focused in technology that are available to students in their general schedules.
FCPS also participates in the national ACE mentoring program, which is for students interested in architecture, construction or engineering.
“If we can reach out to the community, I know there are people in the community who would love to come into the schools and partner with us, and these are some of the things that I would like to work with them on,” said Vicki Ritchie, FCPS director of high schools, in reference to encouraging STEM learning in high-school students. “Mr. Jeff Stivers [of RossTarrant architects] and his team of professionals worked with some Lafayette students after school this year, and [they] plan to continue their chapter of the program next year.”
Yet another program offered by many schools across the state, including FCPS, is the Engineering by Design (EbD) program. It is a K-12 curriculum offered by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association’s STEM Center for Teaching and Learning and purchased by the Kentucky Department of Education. The KDE offers the EbD curriculum to schools free of charge.
With the United States ranked 23rd in science and 31st in math, programs like those offered at FCPS and the University of Kentucky are quickly becoming more valuable than ever before. Even though we have these efforts, 50 percent of doctoral degrees awarded in STEM fields in the United States are given to temporary citizens, and Europe produces three times as many engineering graduates as the United States each year. Asia produces almost five times as many. So can high schools be doing more?
“I think the high schools can play a role in helping tell students about the opportunities in engineering, but I think the universities have to play a role in that as well, through outreach programs,” Walz said. “What can we do to let students know about the many types of opportunities that are out there and that engineering today is very different than it was 20 or 30 years ago? The types of companies and the types of work and fields that engineers work in these days are very, very different than they were 20 or 30 years ago.”
Business Lexington's Tom Martin contributed to this article.