Last week I watched President Obama as he announced new initiatives and partnerships to focus on STEM education nationally. I was quite excited as this is my life’s work! I am interested to see the country’s response and I hope major companies don’t simply view this as a method of cashing in, but instead really attempt to work towards better STEM education.
My Recent STEM Experience
From my own experience, it can be quite difficult to explore and dig deeper regarding technology development in this country, specifically when dealing with hardware (individual parts and pieces). I’ve had to order parts from China instead of simply having a store ‘down the street’ at which to shop for my needs.
STEM and Improving Our Economy
This is quite an interesting downfall as this country brainstorms ways to improve our economy. After listening to a discussion on NPR this past week about our need to produce consumer goods that we can sell to other developing countries as a means to improve our economy, I thought it quite interesting that our future leaders, scientists, researchers, etc. aren’t getting a quality education in this area. How can we produce and sell, if we aren’t providing adequate quality education and resources. It’s easy to explore with software development these days. You simply pick up a book or browse the web for learning resources, and in a few days you can learn a new language. But if you are interested in doing just as much exploration on the hardware side of the coin, it’s not so easy.
KIDs’ Exploration of STEM
As mobile and other handheld devices are becoming more and more popular across the globe, the US does not provide up and coming innovators with enough accessible resources to test and try – not nearly as much as the available software resources. Kids at any age can learn a programming language – peruse youtube and you’ll find several ‘tutorial’ clips by young programmers (some as young as 8 or 9). But if these same budding technologists wanted to explore the world of hardware, they’d have to purchase pre-made kits that can cost a great deal of money. Don’t get me wrong, these kits are wonderful (e.g. Lego Mindstorm) – I am even using them myself as I teach a Lego Robotics class on Saturday. But if you want to dig a bit deeper beyond the ready-made parts and sensors that are made available by these kits and explore making your own board, own device, gadget, and or handheld (like I’m doing in my doctoral program), resources are limited.
STEM in Under-resourced Communities
This limitation spans across the country. So you can imagine the lack experienced by those in under-resourced communities. STEM education needs to be more than emphasized in these communities as there is already low representation of people from populations typically residing in these communities – minorities of any race/ethnicity.
How This Relates to My Life’s Work
This is where my life’s work comes in and its manifestation of Uplift, Inc. This is why I paid a great deal of attention to President Obama’s announcement and what it might mean for those of us really trying to make a difference. I hope the Sony’s of the world don’t push/keep up out. Organizations like Uplift and The Juxtopia Group have a great deal to contribute to this discussion.
So, stay tuned because we are clearing our throats, getting ready to speak…
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