Dive Brief:
- Educators and administrators revealed their STEM and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenges and priorities for 2015 in a new survey from IESD, Inc. and STEM Market Impact. Business Report: National Survey STEM Education created by IESD, Inc. and STEM Market Impact.
- The annual, online "Business Report: National Survey STEM Education" included over 5,000 K-12 science and STEM teachers and supervisors, finding that while 80% were familiar with NGSS, just over 5% had negative feelings regarding the recommended science standards.
- Some other challenges faced: 41% of repsondents said they didn't have sufficient technology to support STEM education goals, 37% lack class time to adequately dive into these topics, 36% reported insufficient STEM funding, and 33% said there's a lack of STEM professional development.
Dive Insight:
While benefits of bringing STEM into classrooms are often touted, this survey shows there are still gaps in execution. Ultimately, if teachers don't have the resources or PD opportunities to effectively teach computer science or finish a lab experiment, there's a limit to how effective these efforts can be.
Figuring out how to bring adequate STEM education into schools — specifically those with high minority populations — has been a challenge that many in the education space and the tech world are looking to meet. Intel, for example, announced last week that it would invest $5 million over the course of the next five years in a high school computer science pilot program in the Oakland Unified School District. The program's goal is to send 600 students to college to study computer science so that they can then work for Intel or a similar company.
If successful, the pilot could become a national model not only for how tech companies can get more minority and low-income students to join their organizations, but also for how these subjects are taught. In this example, Intel is providing the curriculum, teacher training, Internet, devices, and tutoring, addressing many of the problem areas schools struggle with when it comes to STEM education.
