Recently, STEM education and Maker spaces are popular in and outside of schools. It is a trend of providing children opportunities to explore and DIY to apply their creativity and problem-solving skills.
What is STEM? STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. STEM is a teaching philosophy that integrates all four disciplines together into a single, cross-disciplinary program which offers instruction in real-world (as opposed to purely academic) applications and teaching methods.
Why STEM education? According to the National Science Foundation, “In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. To succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society, students need to develop their capabilities in STEM to levels much beyond what was considered acceptable in the past.” In addition, STEM education provides students with a well-rounded foundation of skills to help them understand a wide range of concepts and thrive in many industries.
The importance of STEM education:
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2018, the bulk of STEM careers will be:
- Computing – 71 percent
- Traditional Engineering – 16 percent
- Physical sciences – 7 percent
- Life sciences – 4 percent
- Mathematics – 2 percent
STEM is a new way of learning.
As a philosophy, STEM is meant to create a program that integrates all four disciplines in a way that forces the student to use cross-disciplinary knowledge to solve problems. Which essentially means that the traditional learning style incoming freshman are used to—typically some form of memorization and recitation of information—is pretty much out the window.
You’ll rarely be given the explicit solution to a problem. Instead, you’ll often be required to use what you already know to figure out the right answer for yourself. This requires a significant amount of creativity and flexible thinking, as well as technical knowledge and mastery of each individual discipline.
Then, let’s dig a little bit into STEM.
- Maker
“Makerspace is a constructivist and constructionist movement that is taking the world by storm! Imagine DIY meets education! Makerspace is not only a hackshop where you can go to learn how to use an arc welder for the afternoon, but an educational concept as well! A makerspace presents readily-available materials that can act as a provocation for inquiry, as well as modern technology and items to invent with.
Makerspace is more than a space itself, it is a mindset that can and should be taught (Gerstein, 2014). We have a student culture of children who have learned to consume technology; educational zombies with all of their technological skill residing in the swipe of an index finger. With a makerspace, we can move beyond consumption to creation! There is a strong advocacy for this type of teaching and learning and it is critical for policy makers to understand as we develop frameworks that move away from consumption, towards creation in our educational settings (Alberta Education, 2011; Fullan, 2013; Wagner & Compton, 2012). A makerspace is about “turning knowledge into action” (Flemming, 2015, p. 7), and allows for a true opportunity to support personalized learning (Martinez & Stager, 2013). ”
- Coding
Code.org is also the home of the wildly popular “An Hour of Code” project along with a wide variety of related “computational thinking” resources. Check out their vast curriculum guide for ideas on how to incorporate their materials into your own classroom.
- Scratch
Scratch is part of MIT’s “lifelong kindergarten” program – it’s designed to make it easy to program simple graphical software applications using snappable “blocks” of code.
- Makey Makey
Makey Makey: The inexpensive “makerspace” chip that lets kids create their own physical interfaces. Check out some cool stuff here!
Useful websites:
Carly and Adam: https://carlyandadam.com/?fbclid=IwAR1-MI8ekO6KcP0_X_EDb9BtMjGTMKfngcJDuKgXBYL47lfPAr9GsGYyO3U
References:
- Business Insider. (2016, May 6). These high-tech classes are the coolest thing happening in schools today. https://www.businessinsider.com/makerspaces-diy-schools-2016-5?IR=T
- Engineering for kids. (n.d.). why-is-stem-education-so-important. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from https://www.engineeringforkids.com/about/news/2016/february/why-is-stem-education-so-important-/
- Hom, E. J. (2014, February 11). What is STEM Education? Livescience.Com. https://www.livescience.com/43296-what-is-stem-education.html
- Makerspace. (n.d.). Makerspace for Education. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from http://www.makerspaceforeducation.com/makerspace.html
- Makey Makey LLC. (n.d.). Makey Makey. Joylabz Official Makey Makey Store. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from https://makeymakey.com
- Pearson. (2019, May 11). What is STEM? What Is STEM? https://pearsonaccelerated.com/blog/stem