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What are your thoughts on STEM education in schools? Good, bad and ugly?
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laureng:
Hi all! Long time EEVblog viewer, first time forum poster ;D

I'm interested to know your thoughts about STEM education in schools - both the good (what you think works well), the bad (what's missing, and what we're not doing), and the ugly (teaches kids the wrong thing or just wastes money). Also, why you think it's important (or not) that kids learn STEM subjects (Get a job? Become a future electronics YouTuber? Hack the planet?). If you were a teacher, how would you go about things?

A little about me, so you can see where I'm coming from. I graduated Computer Science in 2006, and since then have been working mainly in software engineering, at all levels but typically lower down in the stack (firmware, motion control, network protocols and industrial automation). I'm also an electronics hobbyist, and have hung out in the hacker/maker movement and done a bit of ham radio. I've always been interested in teaching, though (and have done some University tutoring), and I'm thinking of getting into STEM teaching, either as a school teacher, in curriculum development, or in a University or vocational training centre to look at how we get high school students into computing and engineering courses (women and girls in particular, although there's a worry about an overall decline in STEM graduations).

Anyway, a LOT has been written about this in academic and teaching circles, it's something of a political hot topic, and there are plenty of people and gadgets in this space. I figure those of us who have worked in industry, though, may have a different/additional perspective. What better place than here to find it? :D

I'm also happy to hear from any current/former teachers, or people who have kids in school and might have seen how their local teacher/school does things.
smorriso3:
I'm enrolled in one of the top engineering schools in the USA. I'm a Post-Bac student who already has a background in management. Here's my input lets start with the worst and build up to the good.

The Ugly:
Students who focus on nothing but good grades. I'm a senior officer in our campus IEEE chapter and I'm mentoring several students, some of which are EXCELLENT academically but poor when it comes to networking and career building. Yeah! Some (I don't want to call them kids) students are phenomenally good with maths but just don't care when it comes to networking and/or soft skills. Thats hard because as a mentor I really... want... them... to... care... thats not something thats easy to instill in somebody

The Bad:
Shitty bureaucracy. I personally mentor several students who have been absolutely f'd up by registration policies. IE they got cut out from enrolling in classes that they absolutely needed to because (for example) their last name started with an M instead of an A. Sound dumb? Yeah it is! One of these cases is currently steamrolling into a buddy losing his marriage because he's been delayed graduation a whole half year.

The Good:
Really excellent teachers. I don't know if there's too much I can quantify here. I had a Greybeard in my house yesterday. Can you guess who he was? He was one of the folks who designed the Atari and was mentioned one the Amp Hour a couple months ago!
SL4P:
If for no other reason STEM forces the student to perform analysis and critical thinking if it’s done properly to achieve knowledge in the subject.

That’s why STEM subjects fell out of favour... they require the teacher to know  and  understand  the subject (which is more expensive/difficult) for the institution.  And, they require the student to engage and commit to the process.  Too hard.

Same with computers and tablets... they’re great for ‘delivery’, but useless to impart understanding.  There’s that darn word again. How inconvenient.
Cyberdragon:
At the college level it's generally good (except for the issues explained above), but at high school or below, depending on where you are, it's usually pretty bad. Generally bad teaching/teachers (even smart teachers can suck at teaching) and lack of equipment/resources. Not just lack of or crappy lab equipment either, even with computers some schools still have XP era machines (probably running on Windows 7) everywhere with a sprinkling of more modern computers in select rooms. :scared: :--
steve30:
The Ugly: The fact the people feel the need to lump various subjects together to create unnecessary acronyms like 'STEM'. Though having said that, 'STEM' is probably more of an appropriate combination of subjects than the 'XAS' department that we briefly had at my comprehensive school.

I have wondered if schools and colleges are gradually reducing the availability of engineering courses. When I was at comprehensive school in the 2000s, we did some electronics as part of Design & Technology lessons, and later on, I chose it as a GCSE subject. To the best of my knowledge, they don't do it anymore.

I also did electronics at college. Electronics courses were a bit lacking when I did them, but I was fortunate to have some of the older teachers who were very enthusiastic about the subject. Said teachers have pretty much all retired now and I gather there are fewer electronics courses at local colleges now than there were 10 years ago.

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