In previous post, we have talked about what is STEM. Just for revise, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Nowadays, STEM is getting more important than before, as it involves every part of our lives. As you look around your home, Science is everywhere and every corner of your home. And when you are skimming thru your smartphone, do you notice Technology is continuously expanding into every aspect of our lives? In the grand old days, there were not much flyover and highways. But today, we already have subways connecting every cities, need not to mention of the multi-stack highways that connect states around the country. Engineering development has pervaded into our lives and makes our working and living lifestyle more convenient and friendly. And for Math, it involves in our daily activities, especially in our occupation.
STEM provides hands-on and minds-on learning environments to spark the passion of the children.
So by exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM related concepts and subjects, they will develop a passion for it in the students early learning stage and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field. A curriculum that is STEM based has real life situation to help the students learn practically. Programs like Robotics For Kids integrates multiple classes to provide opportunities to see how concepts relate to life by encouraging children to invent something that may relate to their personal life or solve a problem that they faced in order to spark a passion for a future career in a STEM field. In another words, STEM activities provide hand-on and minds-on lessons for the children. Finally it makes math and science both fin and interesting instead of difficult. All these helps the children to do much more than just learn theoretically.
In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. To succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society, children need to develop their capabilities in STEM to levels much beyond what was considered acceptable in the past.
In the near future where human will be living together with robots, What would you think of the required capabilities for our next generation?
Next we will look into ‘Who will benefit from STEM?”
