STEM education is increasingly important for the development of today’s students and for their successes in the future. So many factors go into how educational leaders ensure students are ready for the real world and, often, it involves STEM. Factors like technology, the economy, emerging careers, and the workforce all continue to shape how educators introduce students to STEM. Some even start this from a young age and ramp things up for students once they reach high school. And, as of now, we see little indication that the key elements fueling STEM education will take any steps back.
Starting Small with STEM
Like we said, there are many factors that go in to developing STEM instruction. As time goes on, educators will learn even more about what will help them create the best STEM experiences and what students need and want from STEM learning. Although trends that shaped STEAM instruction in the past can sometimes lose momentum or fade away to something newer, this indicates that it's good to look out for the next big thing. Pedagogical approaches to STEM are always changing—due partly to emerging new technologies in education. For teachers without a lot of STEM experience, one helpful approach might be to start small and build from there, focusing on a few key areas to help ease students in to some new STEM learning.
How students can help shape goals.
When starting a STEM program, there are objectives educators can keep in mind and goals they can try to achieve. One of the most important things to measure is learning analytics. Students provide all sorts of data for teachers, including way more than their test scores and grades. They'll show how they learn, how their engagement changes in different types of learning, how they work in groups, and a lot more. Using an analytical approach to creating STEM initiatives, you can capitalize on this data and alter your instruction if necessary. Another initiative that’s fairly easy to implement is digital learning. Kids can do so much STEM learning from tablets or laptops since they can bring these devices anywhere. Take programming a robot, for example. They can learn valuable coding skills by using two small devices that are easy to move.
Adding enough tech to STEM learning.
Another thing school leaders can do to shape STEM experiences for students is to engage them in online learning. This is a potential way to save money since you would only need Internet-connected devices, like laptops or tablets, instead of pairing them with other technologies, like robotics or coding kits, for example. Students can still gain STEM skills through online learning, including basic coding skills with various online platforms. Finally, one other way to ease in to STEM experiences is through virtual learning. You might see in-depth mixed reality systems like the Expeditions 2.0 systems or various others but you don't have to dive in right away. Students can gain valuable STEM skills from smaller-scale VR tools like VR headsets, for example. They can see new things and ask questions, building a foundation for future STEM learning.
Technologies That Are Driving STEM
So often, it’s the development of new and cutting-edge technologies that leads to a revolution in teaching and learning. STEM education is no exception to that trend. As top technologies continue evolving, many manufacturers and educators are finding applications for classrooms and makerspaces for different grade levels. So, while 3D printing was originally more for engineers and manufacturers, it also helps unlock new problem-solving strategies for students. This, in turn, increases the commonality of 3D printing in schools since it can prepare students for professional work environments. And, though it’s certainly made a splash in schools where MakerEd is important, 3D printing isn't the only technology to affect today’s students.
Building STEM skills with academic-adjacent technology.
Additional technologies with educational value despite other, more common uses are virtual STEAM tools, immersive technology (virtual reality), and now even gaming thanks to esports. Gaming, for example, now involves team-based competitions, which has had its own revolution in recent years, becoming much more accessible and tied to student development. The same is true for learning as students can use technology to collaborate with peers from anywhere in the world. They can also use virtual games and challenges, like Dash's Neighborhood, to take some of the pressure out of learning and still show that they’ve mastered the concepts they need to know while staying more engaged with the content. These tools certainly are plentiful and often even involve the introduction of important concepts, like coding, while students play.
Immersive learning with VR and AR.
Immersive learning tools are some of today's most valuable technologies for driving STEAM experiences children have. When we say ‘immersive technologies,’ we’re generally referring to either augmented reality, virtual reality, or both. They can help students see things they’ve never seen before and even practice real-life problem solving once they get older. With so many STEM jobs available, students can also use VR and AR to peek into life in these careers. Finally, there's data capturing technology, which include some digital tools but also extends beyond that. With access to so much technology and data, we want to always know how to best use each. So, data-centered tech tools, like the databot 2.0 and Phidget STEM kits can help students capture so much information and learn how to use it in experiments and problem solving.
The Next Advances in Technology
While virtual reality, 3D printing, and digital learning will continue to develop, newer areas of technology are already in focus. And, like the technologies we just mentioned, these each have the potential to shape how we teach STEM subjects. Three technologies that have come into play both from a consumer point of view and on the educational side of things are the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and even some of the virtual assistants. These might sound like really powerful technologies and you might be thinking that they’re too complex for K-12 education but, in reality, they’re not all that complicated and are already in many learning environments, including classrooms and libraries.
The IoT and its role in education.
In schools, using the Internet of Things means that teachers and students are better connected to the rest of the world, accessing a truly future-focused educational experience. IoT-connected devices give students access to extensive resources for building communication skills and learning in new ways. Almost all of the devices students use today (tablets, smartphones, laptops, and more) connect to the Internet, letting them collect and share all sorts of data. While privacy concerns are real, this data is valuable for educators who want to discover the best ways to teach. Also, anything with a sensor is potentially IoT-connected and any classroom with a wireless network can support them, making the power of the IoT continuously on the rise.
Other technologies impacting STEM instruction.
As for machine learning, it represents something similar in education. Machine learning involves a machine, like a computer, using statistics to give themselves the ability to learn. When they can learn about students and their educational environment, machines can help educators boost efficiency, analyze various learning analytics, and create predictions about things like which students are more likely to consider dropping out of school so that educators can spend some extra time working with them. Machine learning can also help educators optimize their instruction for each class, personalize lessons, and more accurately grade student work. So, while the IoT, machine learning, and virtual assistants are all somewhat related, each has its own specific benefits and they all can help improve STEM instruction.
Factors Promoting Positive STEM Experiences
As you could probably guess, there are a whole lot of factors that go into how teachers tailor their STEAM instruction or even into how much STEM instruction they offer. Now, educators know more about different ways students learn and can, often, tailor instruction to their strengths while avoiding weaknesses. This is also possible in STEAM subjects and in makerspaces. A lot of what kids want to learn about derives from what they perceive in society. Today, there are a lot of societies that are driven by technology and children need the hands-on experience to be able to develop and understand how they can use tech and creativity to enhance various outcomes. Essentially, the more technology that’s available, the more students need to consider its implications as they navigate STEM education.
STEM learning experiences beyond the classroom.
To create the most effective and authentic STEM-based learning experiences for students, there are some things teachers can do. This starts with creating engaged student communities for networking and practice and designing activities based on collaboration, play, and risk. They could also try creating interdisciplinary tasks to challenge students to solve problems on a larger, community-based scale. This is often effective in flexible learning spaces where students can use various technology tools to inform their learning. With that said, teachers need to know that these STEM experiences are working (and if they’re not), so it’s important to measure student success or address weaknesses in the content, setting, or activity.
Using maker learning to drive creativity.
To put these approaches into practice, educators often benefit from having a makerspace area to use at their school. Makerspace learning encourages collaboration, active problem solving, and experimentation while students use high-tech, low-tech, or even no-tech tools. These experiences could help children build digital literacy or problem-solving skills, which helps them prepare for potential STEAM careers. They could also help students collaborate on more dynamic projects and encourage them to all focus on one common cause. And, as some technologies of tomorrow, like AI, for example, start to develop further, there’s a very good chance they will also become a more routine part of STEM experiences for today’s students.
STEM and its Place in Early Education
We’re going to take this final section in a slightly different direction than the previous ones. One other factor that's driving STEM learning in K-12 environments is its place in early education. We've come to associate today's STEM education with starting early and, the sooner students can explore these tools, technologies, concepts, and ways of thinking, the better. We all know that a strong background in STEAM can pay off for students later in life, but there's also something to be said about how early they could start down this path. Essentially, since STEM is this important, educators are helping to bring it into students’ lives earlier.
Why STEM fits in early education.
Another reason that STEM learning works in early education, however, is that there is 100 percent a place for it. STEAM learning does not have to always involve fancy technologies and intense programming—and certainly not at the elementary level. There are more than enough age-appropriate STEM tools that these students can use to get that STEM foundation in the early grades and for the future. Whether the teachers want to focus on coding, more on engineering, and even on design, there are paths for each. EdTech tools like the Makey Makey, Cubetto Robot, Bee-Bot, and Blue-Bot to name just a few all serve very valuable purposes when introducing STEM at an early age and fill a need for early education instructors who want to help children think creatively.
Getting ahead and setting students up right.
One reason STEM jobs emerge faster than they're filled is because students don't always receive effective EarlyEd instruction. This often leads to them losing interest in STEM or never really generating much of an interest to begin with. With this in mind, their educational leaders can make informed decisions about when to introduce STEM and with which tools. Even if they can’t squeeze STEM experiences into the school day, afterschool or enrichment opportunities can be just as rewarding. Since it is almost a necessity today to introduce students to STEM early on, we now have some new methods. And, specifically for the youngest students, their skills can evolve with them as they grow.
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