62 South Bay Accent STEM Education Coalition claims that in the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs was three times that of non-STEM fields, and predicts STEM occupation opportunities will grow at a pace almost twice as fast as non-technical jobs. Although the top 10 majors with the highest median earning potential are all in STEM fields, employers are having a hard time filling vacancies with qualified Americans. “STEM education is closely linked with our nation’s economic prosperity in the modern global economy,” the STEM Education Coalition states. “STEM education must be elevated as a national priority.” Yet while educators are sensitive to employment concerns and indeed do discuss them with their students, some are a bit wary of predictions. “It’s entirely possible that the jobs in the future are the ones we haven’t thought about,” says Hadley Ruggles, head of Basis Independent Silicon Valley. “If you give children a strong foundation, they’ll do more than you can imagine.” She adds with a laugh, “When I went to school I was told the No. 1 job prospect was to be a travel agent. If I had followed that advice I’d be unemployed today.” GREG STAMOS STEM EXPERTS love to play with numbers, and they say that what they’ve added up is troubling. Two main arguments drive STEM education reform: American kids are falling behind in math and science, and the nation is paying a heavy price for this failing. The most popular data point is the influential PISA (“Programme for International Student Assessment”) triennial survey that tests students from 34 developed nations. The most recent study, from 2012, ranked U.S, students at a dismal No. 27 in math, which merited a “below average” grade from PISA. Among PISA’s key findings: “Students in the United States have particular weaknesses in performing mathematics tasks with higher cognitive demands, such as taking real-world situations, translating them into mathematical terms and interpreting mathematical aspects in real-world problems.” Only 2 percent of U.S. students were rated by PISA as “top performers” capable of complex mathematical problem solving. By contrast, 31 percent of students in Singapore-China earned that distinction, which helped them achieve a No. 1 overall worldwide ranking. From an employment perspective, the Fair and retrofitted its science lab to allow more emphasis on experiments thanks to financial support from the parents’ group. Hands-on activity is crucial in this new STEM world, agrees Werner Vavken, vice president and director of Valley Christian Schools Applied Math, Science and Engineering (AMSE) Institute. VCS is a K-12 San Jose school that four years ago asked Vavken, a veteran of the engineering development world, to pull together a high school STEM program. “Here we are, Valley Christian, in the middle of Silicon Valley, and we didn’t have a STEM initiative,” recalls Vavken. That quickly changed with the creation of the AMSE Institute, an academic track to which students apply (and can be removed from). VCS’s program weaves together in-class curriculum and an extensive array of extracurricular clubs. AMSE started with 100 students and five clubs, and a few short years later now stands at approximately 250 students and 18 co-curricular offerings. The latter range from International Space Station, rocketry and satellite development to robotics, nanotechnology and forensics programs. Rather than going with STEM, VCS “took a little different twist and called it AMSE,” Vavken remarks. “We very specifically wanted to emphasize application and relevance. Young people want to know why they’re doing something.” He adds: “We wanted to do something fun, where you could get your hands dirty.” For the space station program, VCS students create experiments that are carried out on the space station and study the data beamed down. “I’ve been told we have more experiments up there than NASA,” claims Vavken. This May, the school made its first successful rocket launch, and Vavken’s next assignment is to bring more STEM activities to younger VCS students. Also known for its athletics and arts programs, VCS has made a special commitment to AMSE, says Vavken. “I think I have the biggest budget at the school,” he remarks. “This stuff isn’t cheap, but the payback is huge. The AMSE program has become a big draw for new students.” OLD WEST SPIRIT LIVES ON A STEM focus is also drawing students to Basis Independent Silicon Valley, a new San Jose school that opens its doors this August to 400 students. This first year Basis will operate grades 5-11, and will Doing the MATH HILLBROOK SCHOOL A team of fifth-graders at Hillbrook School uses a whiteboard table to solve a complex multiplication problem in math class.
South Bay Accent - Aug/Sep 2014
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