STEM for Everyone

STEM education, especially in the mathematics-heavy areas, has struggled with a history of students who feel as though the content is useless.   We have all heard the question more times than we can count, “when are we ever going to use this?”  The goal that I have, that is hopefully common among many other STEM educators, is to build those real life connections and help to answer those questions for our students.   We want to eliminate this perception and help our students break through to the whole realm of possibilities that STEM has to offer. 

I feel like so many kids are so turned away from future possibilities in STEM fields due to years of negative feelings, maybe due, in part, to poor, punitive educational experiences. That is why it is my goal to not only foster effective learning in my class but to create a comfortable place where my students feel at home. Especially in a population like mine, the environment is so important.  I am teaching students who have worked through years of education only to be three or more grade levels behind, who struggle daily with attendance and motivation, who have been through more traumas in their personal lives than moat adults.  I want to flip the switch for them and give them more future possibilities in the ever-growing STEM fields in our society today.  My other focus is on the (effective) use of technology and creating a more blended experience for my students.  This generation is so technology-oriented and I want to hone in on that to create technology-literate students that turn into competitive candidates for employment in the future.  In nearly any job, skills with technology are either required or highly valued. Mathematics courses and STEM courses in general, help to build those technical skills that are becoming more and more a necessity in our society.  I want to continue to build my students’ 21^st century skills to make them competitive in the college and career market as well as being technology-fluent and adaptable.