Growing a STEM Initiative: Establishing Philosophies, Identifying Needs, and Lessons Learned

Les Kinsler, Saeed Khan
2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings   unpublished
The momentum for promoting STEM education is on the rise across the country in unprecedented ways through educational grant offerings, student competitions, media coverage, and project oriented curriculums. Indeed, all are making positive contributions, but the need for more such programs in many school districts remains strong. This paper is an attempt at documenting the rolling out process of a STEM initiative in such a district where a needs assessment survey of area high school teachers and
more » ... counselors came out in support of this endeavor. Analysis of the survey data made it immediately apparent that creating a STEM initiative that served as a pathway to higher education in the STEM fields would be well-received by the respondents. The collaborative STEM initiative was designed for a local high school and it consisted of a course designed to provide an introduction to high technology careers in science, mathematics, engineering and engineering technology. Through combination of lectures, projects, and shared experiences, students were to learn to differentiate between these fields. Students would also learn to make informed choices by listening to first-hand experiences that describe the rewards and demands in these areas. Starting with the basic design background, the authors will proceed to describe the two different renditions of this course and its evolution. Following an assessment review, the authors proceed to talk about future issues that will include discussion scalability and curriculum design.
doi:10.18260/1-2--20548 fatcat:dowyqxfd6reppoqqy5pqscmehm