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STEM career activities: teacher practices

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STEM career activities: teacher practices

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We come back to The Emerging Role of Science Teachers in Facilitating STEM Career Awareness (Cohen & Patterson, 2012) study, to Exhibit 1, where the study presents a series of replicable teacher practices, which can be used with the four strategies we have previously mentioned. Below you will find a summary of these main practices. You can consult Exhibit 1 of the study for full examples.

1. Utilize career materials in science texts/journals/articles: consult these sources and extract/incorporate articles or supplemental readings in your lessons.​​​​​​

2. Integrate experiential activities in the classroom: role-playing or designing research posters.

3. Incorporate authentic research: give students the opportunity to participate in real research projects.​​​​​​​

4. Invite guest speakers: ask speakers from a variety of careers to talk to your students, to present their educational and career pathway. Invite also parents engaged in STEM fields to speak.​​​​​​​#

5. Research science careers / map out career paths: assign homework where students have to research various careers, support students in building resumes or to analyze their skills.​​​​​​​

6. Support inclusion of science careers in school career fairs.​​​​​​​

7. Weave career information informally into lessons: try to frame or open your lessons with career information, or as you work throughout a particular chapter or unit, make sure you point out career aspects where relevant.​​​​​​​

8. Share personal experiences: share your own experience of working in STEM fields, participate in professional development opportunities and share also your own educational and career pathway.​​​​​​​

9. Expose students to worksites and outside opportunities: take students on visits to various STEM centers (companies, research centers, etc.), prepare them before, seek funding and see how you can bridge the education-industry gap for your students.​​​​​​​

10. Be a mentor/advocate.

The full details of these practices can be found in the The Emerging Role of Science Teachers in Facilitating STEM Career Awareness (Cohen & Patterson, 2012) study.

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Our colleagues across the world are using these tools: see  HERE!

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1. Understand and learn what are the types of STEM careers activities available at school level and  how they can use them in the classroom.

2. Learn practical steps to introduce STEM career activities in the classroom.

3. Become familiarized with various experiences of STEM career activities implemented across several countries.

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STEM career activities: how to use them?

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STEM career activities: how to use them?

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In Module 1, section 1.3, we presented briefly four teaching strategies:

1. Incorporate both formal and informal approaches: constantly bring career awareness in your activities and do not keep it as a separate unit.

2. Help students see scientists as real people: students may have difficulty imagining themselves as scientists because they cannot see that scientists have a normal life, just like them. They have hobbies, families and various interests.

3. Connect the dots: it is not enough to just expose students to career information, the teacher also has to directly connect career information with whatever the student is learning at that moment. This can refer to making clear connections to the real-life use of subjects, to giving examples of how it connects to jobs of scientists. The student will not be always capable of making these connections themselves, and you will have to do that for him.

4. Embed reflection: To make sure that information sticks with students, embed reflection to drive a deeper understanding. Otherwise, a lot of the information can be lost over time if reflection is not used to “glue” it.

In this module, we will be building on these strategies by adding very concrete, specific activities and materials  to our students.

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The purpose of this webinar is to give teachers, career counsellors, educational authorities, researchers, and school principals an insight regarding the scheme. The speakers will provide information about how to organize a visit from a STEM professionals and how to concretely get in touch with a professional through the unique STEM Professionals Back To School Tool.
Additionally, you will be provided with excellent practice examples of activities related to professionals visiting schools, useful tips and advices related to the pedagogical aspects of the visit and last but not least, how to spread the word about the scheme with the Professionals Go Back To School communication material.

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1. Understand and learn what are the types of STEM careers activities available at school level and  how they can use them in the classroom.

2. Learn practical steps to introduce STEM career activities in the classroom.

3. Become familiarized with various experiences of STEM career activities implemented across several countries.

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Module 4 - Career induction activities, materials and guidelines 

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Module 4 - Career induction activities, materials and guidelines 

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Kahoot is a free game-based learning platform that helps educators create a collection of questions on specific topics while creating a game-like learning environment. Through this platform, you can create quizzes, discussion and surveys about any topic of your choice.

Classflow is cloud-based platform that allows teachers to create interactive lessons in a single place, while (at the same time) pulling in resources from anywhere.

PhET simulations are free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations.  These are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded from any computer. PhET is designed to encourage scientific inquiry and to provide interactivity among students.

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Classroom methodologies to promote STEM skills

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Classroom methodologies to promote STEM skills

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1. Engineering design: it is a methodology to promote the inclusion of engineering practices into the existing STEM curriculum (through the design and construction of a specific object/prototype).

This design will provide with a context for learning through mathematical processes. The analytical element of these processes will also allow students to use science inquiry to create and conduct experiments. These experiments will inform the learner about the function and performance of potential design solutions for the construction of their object/prototype. Students can benefit from this design, as it provides them with a systematic approach to solving problems in the STEM fields. Finally, it will allow students to build upon their own experiences and it will provide them with opportunities to construct new science and math knowledge through design analysis and scientific investigation.

2. Scientific inquiry/Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE): An inquiry approach to instruction requires teachers to “encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas, and skepticism that characterize science”. Scientific inquiry prepares students to think and act like real scientists, ask questions, hypothesize, and conduct investigations using standard science practices. However, an inquiry-based approach involves a high level of knowledge and engagement on the part of the teachers and students. Teachers often feel unprepared because they are lacking authentic scientific research and inquiry experiences themselves. However, through IBSE, students will be able to construct their own questions related to the science content they are investigating while becoming drivers of their learning.

3. Project based learning (PBL): Project based learning approach can be defined as “the ongoing act of learning about different subjects simultaneously”. When engaged in project-based learning, students will be assigned a project or a number of projects guiding them to identify, through research, a real-world problem and to develop its solution using evidence to support the claim.
This approach usually requires students to use diverse skills (such as researching, writing, interviewing, working in teams, speaking in public, etc.) to produce different pieces of work (like research papers following experiment results, multimedia presentations or video documentaries, among others).

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The 7 Most Important STEM Skills We Should Be Teaching Our Kids

What are the 21st-century skills every student needs?

CA Technologies

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The transition to become an efficient professional entails much more than the academic knowledge attained through the schooling system.

It also requires the development of key soft skills necessary within the business environment.

Future STEM professionals will be also progressively required to have greatly advanced ‘soft’ skills such as project management skills, communication aptitudes and problem-solving abilities.

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STEM skills of the future. In focus: ICT and digital skills

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STEM skills of the future. In focus: ICT and digital skills

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When discussing technology and digital skills in formal education, the first thing that comes to mind is the contrast between the use of technologies in everyday life and its limited application in schools.

In order to prepare the workers of tomorrow’s digital society, it is necessary to start by tackling general digital skills proficiency.

It should be a priority in formal education systems to address the need to raise the level of digital skills of both pupils and teachers, as “a higher threshold of digital skills will allow for an easier upskilling and for a higher number of young people to make the leap from general users to ICT professionals” (Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), 2015).

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(Hard) skills for STEM – Carlos Cunha, Scientix Ambassador

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(Hard) skills for STEM – Carlos Cunha, Scientix Ambassador

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Focus on: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills”, STEM skills are defined as “those skills expected to be held by people with a tertiary-education level degree in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths” (EU Skills Panorama (2014) STEM skills Analytical Highlight, prepared by ICF and Cedefop for the European Commission). Still, this definition could be considered incomplete, as it specifically refers to those skills achieved through an academic progression to tertiary education, somehow dismissing STEM skills that can be achieved through other academic paths, such as vocational technical education.

In any case, how can we recognise those skills classified within STEM disciplines?

1. An easy way to identify them is by linking STEM skills to qualifications attained in STEM subjects. For instance, Mathematics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Biology or Physics are easily classified as core STEM skills.

2. Another way of defining STEM skills is by linking them to STEM occupations. For instance, this study identified 30 STEM occupations (concerning those that most utilize STEM skills).

Nonetheless, one must keep in mind that there are non-STEM professions that use STEM skills. There are also many STEM degree holders working in a non-STEM occupation who might still be using their STEM skills at work. For example, marketing employees in a chemical company might be graduates in chemical degrees.

For that reason, we need to show students how the acquisition of STEM skills will open the doors to a variety of professions (both inside and outside of the STEM fields). In the ‘Future Morph’ website, you will find a series of videos on how different professionals use math and science in STEM and non-STEM jobs.

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A quick guide to STEM career opportunities
STEM-Alliance
STEM - Alliance Pubblication

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Teachers play an important role in encouraging the uptake of STEM studies, often also acting as career advisors for their students. While classroom methods directed at encouraging the uptake of STEM may be easier to adopt, as we’ve seen in the study on “The Emerging Role of Science Teachers in Facilitating STEM Career Awareness” (Cohen & Patterson, 2012), being connected to emerging professions is one of the more difficult challenges teachers face.

One way of overcoming this challenge is by establishing links with industries. This will not only ensure that STEM subjects are contextualized in a real-life environment, but you can also learn more about the possible demands for STEM subjects in your local area!
IT sector - Data scietist (maths, statictixs) - Engineering - Biomedical sciences - Agriculture - and many more.

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SCIENTIX
The community for science education in Europe

http://blog.scientix.eu/2017/04/stem-studies-the-future-of-engineering/

European Parliament  Committees

about STEM

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The ‘Future of Jobs’ report has been compiled by the World Economic Forum (2016) and has been based on an extensive survey of Chief Human Resources Officers and other senior talent and strategy executives of leading global employers from over 9 industries in 15 developed and emerging economies and regional economic areas. In this report, a series of trends are identified and categorized over a time span of approximately 4 years, according to their impact. For example, rapid urbanization and cloud technology are already making their presence felt, whereas it will take a few more years for biotechnology and autonomous transport to seriously affect our lives.

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Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs — or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.

The future holds “more and more things that look like science fiction, and fewer and fewer things that look like jobs.” So predicts economist and research scientist Andrew McAfee in this energetic lecture. McAfee envisions a high-tech world where machines flood the workforce and forever change the nature of human labor. Those prepared for the shift will fare best, McAfee says, so getAbstract suggests this talk to employers, employees, policy makers and educators.

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World Economic Forum
The Fourth Industrial Revolution

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1. The first industrial revolution was driven by the discovery that we could use steam engines to do all kinds of interesting things.  That was followed by additional revolutions for:

2. electricity.

3. computers and communication technology.

4. We are now in the early stages of the fourth industrial revolution, which is bringing together digital, physical and biological systems.

This revolution does not change what we are doing, but it changes us by EEG devices.

We need a shift to a new system that will allow us to meet the basic needs of every human on the planet, that will live within planetary means, that will be fairer and that will focused, as its key goal, not on growth but on maximizing human well-being.

And history tells us that a value shift is triggered by creation of a new story about how we want to live.

3D printing and robotics will transform cities and the impact can be huge. … it isn't a matter of simply circulating things that are potentially toxic, it is circulating safe and healthy for all generations.

The main question is: what will be the future of work? How will we define work? How we will we share the wealth?

Now we dearly need new education and new training.

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Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of The World Economic Forum, explains how the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution will merge technology, biology and the physical world.
This revolution will capitalize on trends we already see today (nanotechnology, biotechnology, 3-D printing, materials science, etc.) to completely reshape and redesign the way we do business, we govern countries, we interact and we conduct our lives.

The author goes on to present the major challenges and opportunities this revolution brings: increased growth, prosperity and efficiency, but at the same time, a very high risk of inequality, and a shift in the labor market that a large part of the population may not be able to keep up with.

One of the answers, as you can guess, is education. Teachers represent a critical ingredient in preparing the human resources of the future - in making sure that by the time the students have left school, they are able to enter the work field.

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“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.”

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

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1. Understand which are the currently relevant STEM industries and what is the spectrum of jobs available in each of them.

2. Explore and learn about different career pathways available to reach those careers.

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In the study entitled “The Emerging Role of Science Teachers in Facilitating STEM Career Awareness”  (Cohen & Patterson, 2012), based on a review of existing literature, the author outlines four cognitive-behaviour dimensions as the pillars of career development:

1. Awareness (students are aware and know the variety of STEM careers available),

2. Relevance (they see the connection between the subject they are studying and day to day life),

3. Engagement (students show direct interest and motivation to interact with the subject matter),

4. Self-efficacy (students are comfortable with using tools of science).

The report also goes on outlining four teaching strategies, which foster STEM careers awareness, derived from a series of interviews with science teachers:

1. Incorporate both formal and informal approaches: constantly bring career awareness in your activities and do not keep it as a separate unit.

2. Help students see scientists as real people: students may have difficulty imagining themselves as scientists because they cannot see that scientists have a normal life, just like them. They have hobbies, families and various interests.

3. Connect the dots: it is not enough to just expose students to career information, the teacher also has to directly connect career information with whatever the student is learning at that moment. This can refer to making clear connections to the real-life use of subjects, to giving examples of how it connects to jobs of scientists. The student will not be always capable of making these connections themselves, and you will have to do that for him.

4. Embed reflection: To make sure that information sticks with students, and embeds reflection to drive a deeper understanding. Otherwise, a lot of the information can be lost over time if reflection is not used to “glue” it.

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"The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem."        Albert Einstein                                                                 "Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of knowing." Conversations with Albert Einstein, 1920 

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"The aim [of education] must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals who, however, see in the service to the community their highest life problem."        Albert Einstein                                                                 "Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of knowing." Conversations with Albert Einstein, 1920 

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STEM careers in the job market -  Why this gap?

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STEM careers in the job market -  Why this gap?

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STEM skills gap is the lack of professionals with the necessary skills in STEM areas.
There are disagreements on the causes of such recruitment difficulties:

1. Some argue that employers’ problems in filling vacancies are related to the fact that young graduates are not prepared for the skills currently on demand.

2.  Others believe the skills gap in the labour market is caused by structural economic shifts. These shifts have made the skills of individuals insufficient or irrelevant for the demands of the current markets.

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It is crucial to be at the forefront on the efforts done to attract more pupils to scientific and technological careers so they later embark on related professions.
To make outstanding performers in the field, you need high quality and multi-disciplinary education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in order to drive the current innovative economy forward and to sustain a knowledge-driven society, supported by skilled, responsible and inspired young people.
While the number of graduates with science and technology qualifications keeps falling, recent reports
estimate the need for a high number of scientists and researchers within Europe.

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1. Understand the relevance of STEM studies for students and society.

2. Understand the importance of STEM career in the job market.

3. Understand the importance of integrating STEM career guidance in lessons, curriculum and what are the benefits for students.

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Module 1 - STEM careers in schools and in the job market 

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Module 1 - STEM careers in schools and in the job market 

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Demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) professionals and associated professionals is expected to grow by around eight percent between now and 2025. This means that Europe needs more young people to pursue STEM subjects and careers to become part of a much needed qualified workforce in the coming years. In the Opening Minds to STEM Careers MOOC, we will explore different ideas and we will introduce a number of tools to help you be an active actor in STEM career guidance processes.
Essentially, this course is meant to train and empower you in successfully introducing and attracting young people to STEM careers from an early age, as well as to learn about private and public initiatives on STEM education.

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Hi everybody! I am Italian and I teach Economics and Law in a Technical Institute for Tourism that is equipped with a computer in every classroom, some interactive whiteboards in few classrooms, multimedia labs, tablets and wireless connection. I'm keen on technology and I always used ICT. In my school there are students aged 14-19.  Class sizes range from 22 to 29.

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On board the European Schoolnet Academy course on "Opening Minds to STEM Careers"   -   Texts and images taken from Europen School Net Academy
3th  April 2017  - 4th June 2017