American Greatness? Not in STEM Education…

America has become the land of obsession with gadgets combined with general passivity in STEM fields. It seems that the more integrated we become with technology, the less interest there is in the actual application of science and mathematics that has made our current culture possible. When introduced as a Mathematics teacher, many of us are met with the reaction, “I’m just not a math person.” It seems that while many students are emotionally invested in math and science at an early age, the middle school years show such a dramatic change in curriculum that many students lose interest, and get stuck in a fixed mindset that makes them feel that success in STEM is out of their reach. In contrast, many countries around the world have taken different steps than the United States, and have experienced great success. What has created this fixed mindset when it comes to math and science, how does the classroom culture in these other countries compare to ours, and how can we support critical thinking and STEM integration in our classes and still “cover” the required content by many of our districts?

           

The recent PISA scores show a slight decline in performance in Mathematics and a slight increase in Science scores. Even with what we may consider a break-even mark in the STEM field academically, we can easily compare ourselves with the “GoldStandard” countries like Singapore, Japan and a greatly improved Estonia and find ourselves lacking. While those countries may seem to have many cultural differences with us, in terms of SES status, one of the measures that we generally connect to higher or lower STEM results, Estonia has very similar student demographics to much of the United States. While we push for more standardization and accountability through data via the common core curriculum, they adopted the opposite of many of the techniques that our government has consistently been pushing our education industry towards.

The world will be facing many challenges sooner than we realize that many believe can only be faced through STEM development. Technology, namely disruptive technology, has changed the workforce dramatically, and will soon have an even greater impact. To be successful in the future workplace, students need to have knowledge of the impact of STEM on our society and economy, and how they can apply STEM skills for the development of our country and our planet.

Some questions we as educators should explore:

• What creates a “fixed” mindset when it comes to Mathematics and Science in our classroom and culture?

• What can we do to promote a growth mindset in our classrooms while integrating STEM application into the real-life perspective of our students?

• Does our focus on testing and standardization take away from our ability to allow our students to embrace their curiosity and explore and discover new interests in STEM fields?

What do you think? Does the American education system stifle creativity in the foundational years when we should be strengthening it?