The pace of innovation has become increasingly rapid, with new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning constantly pushing the boundaries. The rapid pace of change makes it really important for everyone to constantly learn and upskill, becoming lifelong learners. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been identified as a driver of future innovation and STEM education has become a hot topic of discussion. A good STEM education can help kids become lifelong learners in more than just STEM fields. But what exactly does STEM education mean? How does it help your children? What can you do to support them?
STEM education is key to creating deep thinkers
STEM education is not just remembering the science or maths that you learnt in school. The philosophy and thought processes that STEM education provides are what’s important. STEM education helps children learn how to problem solve and apply logical scientific methods to real life problems.
A great example is how children learn basic engineering concepts, when building paper bridges. The bridge itself is not important, but the process of experimentation to build a better bridge – one that doesn’t collapse under the weight of toy cars. Is string suspension better than paper pillars? Will tubes or triangles keep it standing? How many toy cars is too many? The goal is for children to develop a deep understanding of the principles, and to experiment. You could even do baking experiments, the approach is the same!
While a lot of emphasis is put on what children do at school, what’s often neglected is the role that parents can play. Every why & how question is an opportunity for STEM learning and maybe even a little bit of experimentation at home!
STEM careers are growing fast
Experts think that at some point soon, most people will either work with an AI or encounter one in their daily lives. This drive towards a technological society is reflected in the facts. STEM employment has a projected growth of 17%, which is nearly double of non-STEM careers, which have a projected growth of 9%.
Even if your child doesn’t end up going into a STEM field, the prevalence of technology in many other fields, makes it important for any career. Employees are already expected to have a diverse skillset which includes STEM skills and knowledge. So how can you encourage your child to take an interest in STEM?
Making STEM interesting
Getting your child interested in STEM can be a fun and rewarding experience for the whole family. Here’s some suggestions on how to build an inquiring mind with STEM:
1. Do STEM projects at home
There a ton of fun and accessible STEM projects you can do no matter what age your child is. There are the more traditional science experiments, and there are also ones that include engineering and coding. You can also try projects that combine fields. For example, building Lego robots and programming them to do something – or building pencil-squiggle-drawing bots.
Teach them the scientific approach when you’re doing that fun science project. Teach them to record results and test theories. Ask them what they think will happen, what actually happened and why do they think that happened. Then do another experiment to see if they are correct. Maybe even ask them if they can come up with an experiment to test their ideas.
2. Read books that include STEM
There are loads of great children’s books that have characters building things, solving puzzles, researching or doing other STEM-type activities. Don’t focus on the problem at hand, but rather on the “How”, the journey of resolution and how fun it was. A good book can inspire children to learn and experiment themselves. Showing children that it’s ok to struggle with a project will build resilience, and give them something to relate to when they have tough projects. Developing the resolve to muddle through problems is a great start, as is knowing that it’s ok to ask for help.
3. Sports are great learning opportunities too
If sports are your thing, the technical and strategic elements to sports are a great way to teach STEM. Working out the stroke-play for the junior-golf course, and creating strategies is a great mental challenge. Analysing the successes and failures of various football passes & plays, or testing different skating jump/stop methods – is still experimentation and analysis! The same applies to eSports (aka gaming), even though we’d rather see the kids outside with their friends 😊
Help build a mind that thinks about the world
Even if your child doesn’t go into a STEM related career, providing them STEM education basics will help them problem solve and approach tasks in a systematic way. The process of investigation and experimentation develops children’s natural inquisitive mindset. Importantly STEM can be really fun, and there’s a huge crossover with home craft activities – so remember to have fun. STEM education starts at home, so start exploring, creating & experimenting!
