Raising Innovators? Introduce STEM in school!

Picture Credit: kidsparkeducation.org

STEM in School is related to the spirit of innovation!

India is known as a land of innovations. There are too many innovations which were done by Indians in the ancient past. All these innovations are listed in most of the museums spread across India and also a few abroad.

We have heard about them in different Bollywood movies taking great pride when they were narrated by the protagonist of the movie indicating nationalism and patriotism.

“India has been a land of innovations for the past 5000 years. It is just that we are not good at marketing ourselves.”-Dr V A Shiva Ayyadurai, Inventor of Email, Systems Scientist

After the invasion of British, we lost our identity. We forgot our heroes and in the wake of English Education. We embraced the heroes of other countries as our path guiders. What was needed was to have feelings of Nationalism. We should have kept our own innovators on the pedestals and looked up to them.

The school textbooks also taught about the important people of the western world and our own stalwarts did not receive a right place.

The result was we started copying the west and the spirit of innovation was lost somewhere. The education system was also such that the focus was on developing literacy among the masses not the skills.

The education in school was limited to duplicating not discovering.

The way to India’s development and progress was through education. But sadly education was misunderstood for decades in India. Parents were also of the opinion that literacy was the main output of education.

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.”

With the evolving demands of the marketplace there was a need of change in the school education system.

This change took place slowly and it is fulfilling the future needs of the children.

“My child can use a computer or a mobile better than I can but he doesn’t score good marks.”

As an administrator I have heard this statement a thousand times. But I am not able to provide a solution to it.

Reason-the parent is not willing to take the next step.

That next step is STEM-SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-ENGLISH-MATHEMATICS

STEM is the next step which motivates the child to proceed from being a user of technology to an innovator of technology.

This little step is not being understood by the parent community. The child gets carried away by the gadgets. He takes in a lot of knowledge but does not have the necessary space and guidance to experiment and put it to use.

Importance of STEM in daily lives

It is understood that all the children are not going to end up in professions related to STEM skills. Some are going to be artists, musicians, writers, actors, etc.

But all of them will need these skills in their daily life. A homemaker will need Math to develop and maintain a household budget, at some point they may need to repair or look after the maintenance of electrical equipments or plumbing, etc., science to question and understand certain procedures, etc.

If STEM skills are developed among the children from a young age, they will be helpful to them in many ways throughout their lives.

Future of Jobs

We are fast outpacing the STEM related jobs to the availability of STEM skilled graduates. In future most jobs will be requiring the skills related to either Science or Math.

Out of the total engineers who pass out every year almost 80 percent are not fit for any job in employable economy.

Reason lack of practical skills.

A survey suggests that only 4.6 % of the engineers have ‘good coding skills’. The other candidates are not apt at writing good codes which is the first necessity of their job.

What is the reason for such abysmal figures?

The engineering being taught in Indian colleges is mainly theory based. The students do not take their internships seriously. Only 40 % of the students complete their internships properly and only 36% work upon internships which are beyond their coursework.

So the point is that the approach to practical education is lacking right from the school level up to the engineering college level.

Hence there is a dire need of practical education being implemented in schools. The seed has to be sown here for innovations to start happening in India.

STEM inculcates Creativity

Creativity is not merely limited to Humanities and Arts. It plays a major part in Science, Engineering and Math also. If it is to create or repair, it requires imagination and then creativity.

STEM totally works upon thinking creatively. The child is given material and the liberty to create.

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.”-Wiliam Plomer

The child will try to connect the unconnected and in the process will be creative to a great extent.

It adopts a Problem Based Approach

It is my firm belief that if we give a problem to the child, he will look for a solution.

Today’s education is all about providing problems to the children and in return seeking solutions from them. From the classroom to the environment there are many aspects which require innovative solutions. Brainstorming with the children helps them to come up with ideas.

In my experience when we put a problem before them the children come up with wonderful and practical solutions.

STEM provides this approach to the children. The different DIY and other aspects of this education provides the child with the problem. Then it gently prods so that the child tries to look for a solution.

In the process their logical and analytical skills are challenged. They question, ask, find out and research in order to find an answer for the given problem in front of them.

Resilient Kids

Resilience simply means pulling yourself up after every failure. The child learns to face failures, and then to deal with it. Not every experiment or engineering technique will be successful. They will fail but they learn to rebuild what they could not build at one go.

The process of facing failure is important in a child’s life. Failures give important lessons. Life does not involve only successes. Hence facing failure and learning to overcome it is an integral part of STEM education.

Conclusion:

Very few children in high school show an inclination and good skills in Science and Math. The future jobs will involve STEM skills. It is important to give an exposure to the children at school. Maximum students should be comfortable with these skills.

REMEMBER: Innovators will evolve with STEM EDUCATION!