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4.3 STEM career activities: teacher practices

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4.3 STEM career activities: teacher practices

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A series of replicable teacher practices

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.

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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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5 Keys to Rigorous Project-Based Learning

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Foundations of learnig

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Building STEM Skills Through Unit Block Play  | Foundations Series

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STEM skills can be promoted through different pedagogies and educational methodologies. Below, we show a number of different approaches (some of them based on A conceptual framework for integrated STEM education by Todd R. Kelley and J. Geoff Knowles, 2016). .
1. Engineering design: Engineering design 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.
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.
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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Just what skills do students need today to succeed in the future? We asked 7 leaders in STEM education what they think classroom teachers should focus on to prepare kids for jobs we haven’t even conceived of yet.

Many of our interviewees cited a diverse range of skills, but we challenged them to name at least one key ability they believe will be more critical than the rest in order to succeed in future STEM fields.

We were surprised by the equal mix of “soft” and more traditional academic skills mentioned, from creativity to statistics. Read on for more of what our experts had to say:

1. Statistics

“If I were to choose one specific discipline for students to study, it would be statistics, a course that can be applied across all STEM fields. You don’t need higher levels of calculus or physics for all STEM careers, but you do need statistics. A deep understanding of statistics means understanding probability and error rates, concepts that cut across almost any type of problem you want to solve in STEM.”

—Gregg Fleisher, president, National Math and Science Initiative, Dallas, Texas

2. Problem-Solving

“What binds together the STEM movement is the notion of modern skills. Employers talk about problem-solving. Society requires problem-solving. Doing your taxes requires problem-solving. Those are the types of skills that really matter. A practicing engineer will tell you, ‘I didn’t use the calculus I learned to solve problems on paper, but the way it taught me to solve problems and to think about problems was really important.’”

—James Brown, executive director of the STEM Education Coalition in Washington, D.C., and a nuclear engineer by training

3. Creativity

“Creativity can be simple and complex at the same time. We don’t always teach to think outside of the box. You’ve got to look at a problem from a different perspective sometimes. Teachers can nurture this by asking open-ended questions. In math and science, you can show different models so students get varying ideas of how it might look to bring together one idea. Or don’t show a model at all and leave it a little open-ended so they have to come up with a solution on their own. Ask: ‘Why do you think this is?’ Reflecting and explaining what they did to solve a problem can foster creativity and teach collaboration—another important skill.”

—Jenny Nash, education specialist with LEGO Education in Boston, former middle school teacher and teacher-preparation instructor

4. Argumentation

“The act of arguing is using evidence to support a claim. In the STEM fields, this means using analytical and critical-thinking skills to look for patterns in data, trying to determine what those patterns mean, and then using that data to support a claim. This skill transfers across all disciplines. In an elementary school science class, for example, if you give students a lot of different experiences with noisemakers—everything from tuning forks to speakers to whoopee cushions—they have the experience of collecting data. And then they will be able to use that data to make the argument that sounds are caused by vibrations.”

—Eric Brunsell, associate professor of science education and director of the teacher education program at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

5. Intellectual Curiosity

“The days of coming into an organization and having the same role forever are over. Many people will have two-year stints and then are moved into a different role. That’s the nature of modern career paths. Beyond mastering content, individuals need to be innovators, learn from failures and keep moving on. You need to cut across disciplines and be able to ask the questions that help build connections. People need to be lifelong learners and be driven by an intellectual curiosity to try to figure things out.”

—Ted Wells, vice president and chief strategy officer at STEMconnector®, in Washington, D.C.

6. Data-Driven Decision-Making

“Students need to be able to make a decision not just based on what they think or feel, but on scientific data that supports the best solution. Everyone needs to know how to do this. It doesn’t matter whether you go on to a career in STEM or not—you need to know how to use data to make informed decisions in your life.”

—Stacy Klein-Gardner, director of Center for STEM Education for Girls at Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a biomedical engineer and on faculty at Vanderbilt University.

7. Flexibility

“People are now required to adapt quickly to new demands and new situations. They need quantitative skills to manipulate data well. They need to be able to communicate clearly. There is a broad set of skills that, I would argue, everyone needs. Just look at the sheer number of people in manufacturing who were skilled at what they did but who now need a whole new set of skills, often late in their careers, to be viable in the job market. They need to know statistics, technology, quality control. They need to understand programming and systems to ensure the automated production technology is operating correctly. The trick for teachers is to give their students authentic problems to tackle in school, problems that require students to draw on different areas of knowledge and skill.”

—Claus von Zastrow, chief operating officer and director of research for Change the Equation in Washington, D.C
Just what skills do students need today to succeed in the future? We asked 7 leaders in STEM education what they think classroom teachers should focus on to prepare kids for jobs we haven’t even conceived of yet.

Many of our interviewees cited a diverse range of skills, but we challenged them to name at least one key ability they believe will be more critical than the rest in order to succeed in future STEM fields.

We were surprised by the equal mix of “soft” and more traditional academic skills mentioned, from creativity to statistics. Read on for more of what our experts had to say:

1. Statistics

“If I were to choose one specific discipline for students to study, it would be statistics, a course that can be applied across all STEM fields. You don’t need higher levels of calculus or physics for all STEM careers, but you do need statistics. A deep understanding of statistics means understanding probability and error rates, concepts that cut across almost any type of problem you want to solve in STEM.”

—Gregg Fleisher, president, National Math and Science Initiative, Dallas, Texas

2. Problem-Solving

“What binds together the STEM movement is the notion of modern skills. Employers talk about problem-solving. Society requires problem-solving. Doing your taxes requires problem-solving. Those are the types of skills that really matter. A practicing engineer will tell you, ‘I didn’t use the calculus I learned to solve problems on paper, but the way it taught me to solve problems and to think about problems was really important.’”

—James Brown, executive director of the STEM Education Coalition in Washington, D.C., and a nuclear engineer by training

3. Creativity

“Creativity can be simple and complex at the same time. We don’t always teach to think outside of the box. You’ve got to look at a problem from a different perspective sometimes. Teachers can nurture this by asking open-ended questions. In math and science, you can show different models so students get varying ideas of how it might look to bring together one idea. Or don’t show a model at all and leave it a little open-ended so they have to come up with a solution on their own. Ask: ‘Why do you think this is?’ Reflecting and explaining what they did to solve a problem can foster creativity and teach collaboration—another important skill.”

—Jenny Nash, education specialist with LEGO Education in Boston, former middle school teacher and teacher-preparation instructor

4. Argumentation

“The act of arguing is using evidence to support a claim. In the STEM fields, this means using analytical and critical-thinking skills to look for patterns in data, trying to determine what those patterns mean, and then using that data to support a claim. This skill transfers across all disciplines. In an elementary school science class, for example, if you give students a lot of different experiences with noisemakers—everything from tuning forks to speakers to whoopee cushions—they have the experience of collecting data. And then they will be able to use that data to make the argument that sounds are caused by vibrations.”

—Eric Brunsell, associate professor of science education and director of the teacher education program at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

5. Intellectual Curiosity

“The days of coming into an organization and having the same role forever are over. Many people will have two-year stints and then are moved into a different role. That’s the nature of modern career paths. Beyond mastering content, individuals need to be innovators, learn from failures and keep moving on. You need to cut across disciplines and be able to ask the questions that help build connections. People need to be lifelong learners and be driven by an intellectual curiosity to try to figure things out.”

—Ted Wells, vice president and chief strategy officer at STEMconnector®, in Washington, D.C.

6. Data-Driven Decision-Making

“Students need to be able to make a decision not just based on what they think or feel, but on scientific data that supports the best solution. Everyone needs to know how to do this. It doesn’t matter whether you go on to a career in STEM or not—you need to know how to use data to make informed decisions in your life.”

—Stacy Klein-Gardner, director of Center for STEM Education for Girls at Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a biomedical engineer and on faculty at Vanderbilt University.

7. Flexibility

“People are now required to adapt quickly to new demands and new situations. They need quantitative skills to manipulate data well. They need to be able to communicate clearly. There is a broad set of skills that, I would argue, everyone needs. Just look at the sheer number of people in manufacturing who were skilled at what they did but who now need a whole new set of skills, often late in their careers, to be viable in the job market. They need to know statistics, technology, quality control. They need to understand programming and systems to ensure the automated production technology is operating correctly. The trick for teachers is to give their students authentic problems to tackle in school, problems that require students to draw on different areas of knowledge and skill.”

—Claus von Zastrow, chief operating officer and director of research for Change the Equation in Washington, D.C

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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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In the future not only specific abilities will be needed, but also students that are able to understand how different skills are interrelated and who equally possess a variety of them. Traditional corporate limits are likely to be run down and collaboration within and across sectors will flourish. Without a doubt, “well-rounded candidates with technical skills, broader competencies, such as mathematical capability, and practical work experience” (Bosworth, Lyonette, & Wilson , 2013) will be much in demand. For that matter, it is necessary to start adapting science lessons and to focus them on teaching pupils the skills and competences they will need for future professions. Moreover, this new environment will have significant implications for future workers, who will need to engage and support evolving innovative situations, which will demand individuals to attain high levels of digital and ICT skills.

However, 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).

Watch the following video, entitled “eSkills for Jobs 2016 | Lavinia Morris, Head of IT, SMBC Aviation Capital to understand the Importance of IT and technology” to be able to get an overview of the skills needed in developing a career in IT, challenges in this field as well as some tips to work in the profession.

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The learning objectives of Module 3 are:

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The learning objectives of Module 3 are:

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1.Become familiarized with a set of STEM hard skills on demand;
2.Become familiarized with soft/transversal skills needed across all sectors/industries. 3.Explore various tools for matching skills with career pathways