How do you get kids into STEM at school?
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/JWeaver1219/status/1463994380751196163
Forum: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eevblab/eevblab-90-how-to-get-kids-into-stemsteam/
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Hi I got an interesting question on Twitter from a follower um and I thought I would give my answer and then throw it over to my audience to see what everyone else uh, thinks. So it comes from Jamie Weaver and I'll leave her link to the Twitter down below and looks like she's a like a stem teacher. something like that in education. Fantastic.
And she asked, how should teachers best incorporate engineering into their stem and steam curriculum? how can we broaden the horizons for our students within our classrooms And she's asking Eevblog and Alt Embedded for any suggestions and I'm going to open to my audience as well. So if you're on the Twitters, leave your response down below or in this uh comment which any comment in this video which I'm sure she'll see as well. Now I gave the answer down here. Give kids an hour every week to work on a project of their choosing, right? Because the the obvious answer to this is oh yeah, Look, get you know, give them kits and things like that to work on and you know stuff like that and hey, that's great.
Okay and no problems whatsoever. We should be doing that, but a lot of kids will just think, oh, this is just another school thing right that I have to do and it's You know, if you give them something, sure they'll work on it and sure you might get a small percentage of kids who think that's fun and then go on to do that as a hobby or a career, etc. etc. But what this is all about is that you're going to have a small X number of kids that already know what their passion is and they're just going to go into stem steam fields anyway regardless of what you give them, regardless of what you do.
Okay, there's a small percentage like us, right? There's a small percentage. You just naturally go into this. But how do you get more? Well, you don't get more by just offering them to work on something. As I just said, yeah, you can get a smaller increase in kids that didn't know they had an interest in that sort of thing.
And if you give them something and they you know they might play around with it, do a couple of projects or whatever and they might like it. but the vast majority of kids like are just going to treat it as something else you do in school just like you do the countless other things in school. So that's why I put down here to work on a project of their choosing instead of just giving them something to work on. Here it is if you actually let them choose.
that means that they have to think about it, right. They've got to think, oh, what, what am I interested in? Hmm. I'd love to work on a robot. I'd love to like just play around with chemistry stuff.
I'd love to sculpt something. I'd love to do this. I'd love to do that. Whatever it is in the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
That's what steam is. instead of just stem, you could put the arts in. A lot of people put the arts in there as well and that's great. Um, so whatever it is, it gets them thinking what they want to do. So obviously it can't just be anything it's going to be. You know, something in this sort of field, but get them to think about something and I think if you do that then you will get a larger conversion percentage of uh, kids who will because that's something that they chose rather than something that was given to them. A task that they're just. you know here here it is Play with it, you know, and which is fun in school, right? That's great, but I reckon if you have to make them think about it and then they chose it, they'll be more invested in it and then you'll have a higher uptake percentage of kids who then will go on to like work on that project at home for example.
In fact, you should encourage projects that they can't that they can also work on at home as well, let them take it home, etc so that they can give them the resources. Like to play around with whatever it is they're working on and I I just threw in like one hour every week and somebody else said like it's um uh z Zhang says uh inu That's how they do their Phb undergraduate program. That sounds really good. Um, and somebody else said um, that you know one hour is not enough and stuff like that, but it's better than zero.
And as I said, you can get a larger conversion of people working on this in their own time and that's what creates people in the field. It's not just giving them stuff, it's having a passion for it. And if you make them think about something then the odds are they're going to be more passionate. But still.
You know you're not going to convert everyone into stem. Uh, you know, aficionados, stem hobbyists, stem careers, and things like that, but you know it's the whole idea is finding those who didn't know that they had an interest in that or they had an interest. but they were never given like the opportunity or time or encouragement to work on this sort of stuff. So anyway, that's my thought on it.
That's my answer to this question. So let us know in the comments down below or over and or over on the Twitterverse what you think catch you next time.
I can see this working if kids got to choose from a list of say twenty projects that have been selected by the teacher and students down the years, or to think up one themselves if they're very keen. But from my experience teachers have already got it right in getting kids to carry out experiments and projects with their class mates, hence developing their negotiating and cooperative social skills.
Just formulating a task a little more open or slightly differently doesn't make people an expert in education, pedagogics and didactics. There's a lot more to giving children a good vision of what they might want to do in their life than a sentence which fits in a Twitter message. So that is a self-confident Dave speaking there. Doesn't mean you are wrong in principle, but it is just a bit too simplistic that answer. Then again, what do you expect if somebody asks such a thing on Twitter anyway.
Remember the video from Veritaserum where you said it "pisses off" engineers? Well, you are dong the same with pedagogics here (you know, I'm not really pissed off, I am just drawing parallels). Making the children chose their own project theme? Duh. That we learned in the first week of teaching study. Making this actually work though is much more difficult.
STEM, eh? compare and contrast the S&M (!) with the T and E.
I think the recent veritasium video and your response illustrate the difference nicely.
I'd also suggest to let kids just play and investigate. not everything has to be a huge deal. "project" sounds like a big deal.
1) Get that shitty A out of the word!!!! Art has nothing to do with this! Get that crap out!!!
2) Have hands-on fathers. Show them how to change oil in their car when they are 12+. Father does not know how to change oil??? Well, that's where the problem is! No father in the family? Then I can't help you…
3) Get kids away from screens (as is, never give them screens until they are 18). And get them into hands-on instead.
I self-taught myself reading at 4-5, self-taught (later, with a mentor) electronics myself at 12.5+ years of age, and I have rebuilt my car's engine (after overheating it) and the transmission, never mind doing absolutely all (well, less tire balance / alignment, and tire remounting) maintenance, voluntary PM and breakdowns. Currently wife's car is 290k miles, my car is 220k miles.
All depends of teacher. Some STEM teaches really really should have another jobs, and they effectively discourage children. If physics is taught in a silly, way with idiotic examples and on top of it teacher not only teaches bad but actually doesn't know much about physics then the kids are lost. And this is not that rare unfortunately. Even in large coutnry it is impossible to find hundred thousand or so of science teachers that will be competent. So first step is to pick a right school. Most of the kids will never end up in right school.
I've seen multiple people talking about using an EPROM as a kind of mini FPGA. So if you have say a big complex static logic circuit with 8 inputs and 3 outputs, you can program a single EPROM to perform the same task instead of having to use a bunch of logic chips. How's that done?
I always felt that teachers who assigned projects that take up a good portion of the semester were being lazy for actually not teaching but making the students to learn by themselves. But I absolutely agree that getting students to work on their own chosen projects could help them realize their own talent and interest in stem. And the time of the semester not used to learn at "full speed" is gained back as motivation and curiosity which are as important as the transfer of knowledge.
Keep it out of the curriculum and give the students the opportunity and equipment to have fun with it. Kids' parents can't afford to buy their kids a $500 oscilloscope when they have no idea what it is themselves. Equipment familiarization gives students a lens to see how they can interface with invisible things like electrons and 0402 components.
Collect "craft resources (rubbish)", cardboard tubes, plastic containers of all sizes, cardboard boxes etc. – the sort of stuff you'd put in a recycling bin but make sure it's all clean and free of sharp edges. Then present a heap of it to a class of 5-7 year olds along with glue and string and let their imaginations run riot. It's called crafting, and our granddaughter still is hooked on making things even though she's moved up to a class where they no longer have a bin of "craft resources" in the corner. Maybe it's art – pretty pictures or maybe engineering – moon rocket.
1) tours. There is a huge need for electricians/ engineers/ welders etc. Companies/ workshops struggling to get workers will gladly show a class around. Even if just one of those kids likes what he or she sees and applies for work/ apprenticeship 3 years down the line, it will be worth it.
2) practical demonstrations
3) real-life examples. (almost) no one likes barren equations and definitions
4) show them Practical Engineering channel videos from YT
5) sexy teacher
Translation: Dave, how do I force upon children what I think they should be passionate about?
This is the problem. The mindset from the start is that some people think they can mold the children to learn to like something. Genuine discovery is the only way people grow a passion.
Im not actually that sure if we should get more kids into STEM. This implies that it is something that anyone should do. I think it is fine to just present its existence to kids and have them figure out if they are interested or not. Certainly worked fine for me. So in more general terms let the kids work on something they are interested in from any topic, not just STEM and naturally those who are interested in STEM will choose that.
Im also a bit annoyed that "Art" is now trying to sneak itsself to the same status as science… Dont get me wrong, art is great, but its got nothing to do with STEM. It has no place in this acronym.
One of the primary schools I went to had a project in grade 3 or 4. All you had to do was make any device which used all of the simple machines – the wheel and axle, wedge, inclined plane, pulley, lever and screw. The fact that I remember them all is testament to how great it was. I ended up building a crane on wheels with dad that I somehow convinced my teacher had a wedge in it. I think he was just happy that I didn't make a catapult
+ by not enforcing military-like drill of accepting scientific and technical concepts as religious dogma.
Ideas, just like components, should be given in a way so that a person could play around with them. Sure, you'll burn a few components by improper implementation and the same stands for ideas — but making personal assumptions and learning from personally-induced mistakes is the best way to learn.
Teachers / professors shouldn't act like stuck-up priesthood. Sadly, most are there to preach – not teach, and that pushes people away.
P.S. I got into electrical engineering because I had a professor who really loved his job, encouraged us to research stuff on our own. He discussed new technological concepts with us like our equal – not superior. He gave us sets of complex tasks/projects to choose from (such as making equations, control algorithms, designing and home-manufacturing PCBs for various power converters). Most importantly, he was a good fatherly figure and a good man.
The best teachers, show confidence to there students that they understand the subject, at the simplest levels.
Kids like to see a teacher being confident in pushing what they are educating kids in there classroom.
So, only teach in class room, what you fully understand, and have the confidence to show the kids, that you know.
Kids can tell, if a teacher does not really know what the subject really is.
A confident teacher, gets children more interested in a subject over anything else.
When i was at school, i found classes boring when teachers were no smarter then you were, and did not really know there subject.
So my advice to teachers, is to know there subject and what they are teaching, and show the kids you have that confidence and kids will pick up on that. When a teacher teaches stuff they do not really understand, it comes across to kids, and for me, when i was at school, a teacher that did not really fully understand what they were teaching, made classes boring, and put me off.
So best way to teach anything, no matter what, like engineering, is to know what your teaching to kids, and show them you have confidence in what your saying.
Some kids, like i was at school, will just be put off by a teacher not knowing what they were talking about.
Thats why teachers should only be teaching subjects they truly know, and understand, and like themselves, as that energising themselves to teach it to others.
Just like eevblog, you get viewers, as you are confident in this subject and that confidence gets people not knowing anything, to listen to you and learn.
So my main advice for teachers, is to know your subject well, and teach it with confidence, and show kids you know what your teaching is something you understand. That applies to all subjects, and there is no exceptions in teaching kids.
A teacher confident in there subject and truly knows it, excites kids to learn more then anything else.
Its the reason why eevblog has a big following, as people like to listen to people that know what they are speaking and teaching, and are confident that they know, and can teach it, in very simple ways.
If you cannot teach any subject at the simplest forms, you do not understand it, and therefore many kids will be bored with it, as you as a teacher are not showing the confidence you understand it yourselfs.
Here, in The Netherlands, there actually is a new school concept, called Agora. The idea is that there are no lessons, but you work all day, every day, on projects of your choosing. And sure, there are some kinks to work out, but the concept is really awesome. I was one of the first 60 or so students ever to start the program, and I loved it! Of the 6 years of high school (or whatever the equivalence is), I spent 4 years doing cool stuff, and only two years on learning stuff so I got the papers to go to university. I think they changed to to 3 now, but are adding more freedoms in working towards the end exam. Like I said, there are still kinks to work out, and it's constantly evolving.
I haven’t been a fan of the A in STEAM. I have nothing against the arts. If you like the arts, go for it. But the point of the STEM education movement is to address the severe lack of candidates in the workforce in the STEM disciplines. We have plenty of A already.
Here, in Hungary some STEM majors are pretty much avoided by girls, which is unfortunate. There are many young women studying maths, chemistry, biology, civil engineering and architecture for example, but way too few studying electrical engineering, computer science or mechanical engineering for example. That is pretty unfortunate, as we are almost the half of a generation there. Also it would be better for the males and also for the few females to work in an environment that has more equal ration between them.
I work at a University here at the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. We do think that this is just a bad preconception that prevails in the society and it has to go away. We do not discriminate the graduating high school applicants by gender, but we do have things like "Girl's Day", when we invite only high school girls to look around, and mostly female teachers and students show them around.
We're making progress, but it's slow. Every year there are more and more girls accepted, and their rate increased over the last decades from 1-4% to 10-15%. Still, there is a long way to go…
Completely agree with you. I also think it is particularly important to let the kids fail, let them try to figure it out on their own, and only if they are stuck give them hints. Try to never give the answer even if it is an incredibly simple one. That way they will hopefully get addicted to the "aha it works" moment like I am sure most of us are.
is ARTS really the A of STEAM? what a ridiculous addition, it's not in the field AT ALL.. Might as well add Literature, writing, Sports and whatever else… There's nothing wrong with any of those fields but they are not related to STEM
Why force kids to waste their lives only to be undervalued, underpaid and unemployed (offshored) after they've wasted years studying STEM? I think the kids are much smarter than the teachers in this case.
ps. 40 years in engineering myself, btw. I would NEVER recommend it as a career NOW to any kid; yes, things WERE different back in my day, but that doesn't mean the world hasn't changed since – hence why great electronics engineers find themselves unemployed/bored/frustrated and decide to make their living running YouTube Channels and being re-badged Multimedia salesmen..:)
There's pure theory which some will enjoy, but I expect most kids would prefer practical things. Find a problem which they want to solve and solve it by building something. Incorporate the theory required into the build process.
People have poisoned "STEAM" to somehow include "Art" instead of "Architecture", so I exclusively prefer "STEM".
Teach them how to think scientifically. Once they start to look at things from a cause and effect point of view, once they have a qualitative understanding of dependant and independent variables, once they understand that the universe fundamentally can be described with mathematical relationships, then it falls into place. Children have no shortage of curiosity, but without knowing what they don’t know, and how they can investigate the universe themselves, there is no place to direct that curiosity in a scientifically productive manner.
As for Art, you have to learn both the techniques behind it and develop the ability to express thoughts and concepts abstractly through those techniques. It’s fundamentally different to the rest of the STEM group because it’s a way of communicating with other humans, not a way of understanding the world. You can teach those techniques at an early age and get them very proficient in them, but I wonder what the point of art that just looks nice is. A love and understanding of literature and other methods of asymmetric communication is what you should foster, and let them express that though art or writing or film or what have you.
Forget STEM and STEAM. Considering the large number of people with antiscience views, I wonder if even basic science education is still a thing. Having more scientists and engineers to help solve the world's many pressing problems is nice, but their solutions won't be accepted and implemented if nonscientists and nonengineers can be so easily convinced to reject them.
My 2 kids have access to stem toy and make a lot of projects with them.
From microscope, to different robot's and chemistry. My 9 years old son even start to play with all my arduino modules 😉
Still a school thing, even if you y make them decide what work they want to do.
Maybe you have to make kids want to learn practical things by having them need it. Maybe having that give them social status or praise or, maybe. Maybe if they could do something fun with practical info.
I knew I was interested in science and engineering before I started school. I was lucky to have science teachers who were happy to encourage that. A friend's daughter who goes to a girls' boarding school had just completed a project where they designed and built an electric car. She is very excited about that.
I will never force any in to electronica that do not like it, I wil make and intro for all that ask, and begin with the basis og they like it after, I already teach kids in a kids club with others, but almost All kids are only intro pixel om a screen for gaming and not hardware as I am into