Learning & Leading Through Technology

skills are supplemented by citizenship, effective communication, and practical life skills.

In other words, as always, one basket does not fit all the eggs. Today’s students certainly need STEM courses to understand the physical and theoretical world, but they also need courses that will help them to better understand the people they will meet along the road of life. We must create funding schemata that will allow our students to succeed in the world, not just in the laboratory or the classroom.

—Larry Edmonds is a full-time lecturer and doctoral student at Arizona State University.

He is also a member of ISTE, the World Communication Association, and the International Leadership Association.

Our national approach to STEM education should not be based on fears that we are doomed to be overtaken technologically by other nations. Rather, our choices as educators should be driven by what we know is right for our children.

Students today need authentic learning environments that mirror what’s going on outside the classroom. In our increasingly global society, a STEM education and the skills it develops will propel today’s students to succeed in college, careers, and citizenship. That is why we should spend more time on STEM.

—Cindy Moss, director of global STEM initiatives for Discovery Education, is charged with supporting school districts in their work to develop and deploy student initiatives to drive science, technology, engineering, and math achievement nationwide.

Here’s what other ISTE members had to say about this topic.

Don’t Be a Loser

STEM is the choice of winners everywhere in the world. Those who emphasize STEM advance.

Those who don’t lag. When a country neglects STEM education, its people will fall behind the STEM-strong countries. They will be more ignorant, more dependent on the handouts of their governments, and more useless to the world. American corporations, hospitals, and universities have to recruit heavily from immigrants and overseas if they want to retain the talent to stay competitive.

Rick Bruderick Owner, iRLB Detroit, Michigan

Keep the Balance

Overemphasis on STEM will destroy the crown jewel of the United States—its balanced academic ecosystem of learning and innovation that attracts global talents, which in turn enriches the U.S. economy/ society. It’s not STEM alone, or else India or China would have dominated.

Sandipan Nath Author and founder of Mind Waves Calcutta, India

More to the World Than STEM

STEM is too narrow. The ISTE Standards for Students and Partnership for 21st Century Skills framework are better descriptors of the entire bank of skills and competencies students need. Almost every set of benchmarks for what students need for future work and citizenship includes global awareness, including world language and cultural proficiency.

Nicole Naditz High school French teacher Sacramento, California Comment on ISTE’s Facebook page

STEM Breeds Innovation

STEM education encourages growth in the 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Students who are involved in STEM education become innovators who are not waiting on the world to change [but] have the skills to perceive a need, develop possible solutions, and determine the most viable [ones] through the scientific method.

Evelyn Wassel, EdD Supervisor of technology integration MarLin, Pennsylvania

Missing the Mark

The polarized groups that claim there is a STEM crisis,
and that we have an abundance of STEM graduates,
are both right. Because the STEM curriculum is so
outdated, hardly any of those graduates are ready for
the positions technology companies need to compete
globally. We [should] align college curricula to the
skills that 21st century employers need.

Kyle Schmitt Coordinator of education technology and integration Lake Forest, Illinois

STEM’s Not for Everyone

Fully funded education is essential for the good of humankind. We ignore non-STEM at our peril. I suspect this lobby is coming from big industry more than education because of the need to produce workers, not thinkers. There is more to life than consumerism and being part of the industrial machine.

Nigel Thomas ICT/AV tech support, learning spaces manager Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom

Life or Death Matter

The idea of STEM is ... to make society functionally science literate. If our communities [understood] the rationale of boiling drinking water, it would immensely reduce infant deaths due to diarrheal diseases. If [they] appreciated the necessity of washing hands, there would be a marked reduction in microbial infections. If [they] understood the importance of preventive medical services, they would not hesitate to participate in child immunisation programmes.

Mwananyanda Mbikusita Lewanika, PhD Founder and CEO, STEM Education Centre Mongu, Zambia

YES 58 NO 42%

[Kate Conley’s last column], “Don’t Let Your Brains Fall Out” (Issue Oriented, L&L, March/April 2014) was timely for the digital transformations our schools are considering across the country. I teach a digital transformation course, and I made the mistake of sharing a TED Talk [to get teachers] excited about the possibilities our students have in a 1: 1 district. One teacher commented, “That all looks great, but I can’t jump from where I am to where that teacher is.” I started to take a more thoughtful look at the TED Talks I share.