Read the Original Article Here!
Prior to starting my review, I’d like to establish that I graduated from the Downingtown STEM Academy, the nations largest STEM/IB school. I also have pursued art and music since I was a little girl, therefore I am partial to both sides of the argument.
First, the article establishes “What is a STEM Education?”. According to the article, a STEM Education “focuses on the core subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics”.
But as later defined in the article, a STEM education is much more then just the subjects focused on throughout an individuals career. Under the “What is STEM Education” Section, the article describes a STEM Education as a “meta-discipline” and states:
“STEM can be defined as the creation of a discipline based on the integration of other disciplinary knowledge into a new ‘whole’. This interdisciplinary bridging among discrete disciplines is now treated as an entity, known as ‘STEM’.”
In simpler terms, the goal of a STEM education, is to based learning off of a motive that all the subjects taught are interrelated and assist one another in the real world. The style of teaching is typically based on open-discussions and individualized research.
These ideas are true, as my high school often started lessons with an overall question, and the units within the lesson pertained to different pieces of the answer. There never was one concrete answer to anything proposed by my teachers though, everything was always arguable as long as evidence was presented.
The next section touches upon why a STEM education is important in todays world. This area discusses 2 issues; 1) that 80% of the jobs available require some sort of math and science skills and 2) that the United States is outperformed by various countries listed (15+).
As for the first issue, this is slightly contradicting to other ideas that the real-world wants more out-of-the-box thinking individuals. Which I’m not saying with a STEM education isn’t linear, but it is for the most part. However, the arts are typically lacking in a STEM education, therefore, the creative expression can be lacking in graduates.
As for the Second issue, it is true we are outperformed by several countries and the U.S. always has been. I do not think the correct way to increase our perform level is to force a STEM Education. A STEM Education is not for everyone. Some of the students I knew were very adaptable to the new way of thinking, others quickly dropped out because they couldn’t handle the complexity. Forcing someone to conform to a STEM Education could actually drop our performance.
The following is the List of Benefits as given by the article:
- Promotes equality in education (STEM benefits both male and female students equally)
- Teaches independent innovation
- Allows students to explore subjects at greater depth
- Helps students develop critical thinking skills
- graduate from STEM programs often find that they are better prepared for the rigors of a college curriculum
- Good salary right out of school
- Intellectually challenging
- Good job potential
- Student is passionate about field of study
- Students performed well in these subjects in primary and secondary grades
- Students can make a difference
- The U.S. is in need of qualified workers in these fields
The following is the list of drawbacks given by the article:
- One of the largest drawbacks to the STEM model is that it does not provide clear-cut guidelines for educators to follow as they develop their own STEM education models within their schools. When teachers transfer or retire, the integration is disrupted and must be started anew with the next teacher to fill the position.
- no national standards for STEM education or for teacher certification in these programs. leaving parents and students unsure of what type of quality STEM education is actually being offered at their local schools.
Overall, these pros and cons listed are an accurate representation of the current STEM education set up or at least, the STEM education I went through. I’d have to say that yes, students are better prepared for the teaching mechanisms in a college setting but are lacking in social abilities due to the high focus on these academics. The STEM education helps to expand the mind, not the interactions of a student. From the drawbacks, the curriculum is currently flawed, as specified in the article. There is no set guidelines for what does and doesn’t need to be taught, making it difficult to define the education model.