Starting out with STEM - Georgia Science Teachers … STEM...Starting Early What the research says •To increase interest in STEM, students need positive STEM experiences at a young

Starting out with STEM

Carolyn Cutts

GA Educational Consultant

404-308-2174

[email protected]

STEM by the Numbers

Falling Behind

Number of scientists and engineers 55 or older up

32%

Those under 35 fell to 1%

Share of workers in scientific fields shrank to 4.9% in 2010.

Decline was the first recorded in labor force since 1950.

By 2018, eight million U.S. jobs will relate to science, technology, engineering and math.

The next generation of American employees will be largely unprepared for STEM jobs.

To be considered ready for college, a student must score 24 on the science ACT exam and 22 in math.

In 2015, Georgia’s average Science score was 20.9. Georgia’s average Math score was 20.5.

Starting Early

What the research says

• To increase interest in STEM, students need positive

STEM experiences at a young age.

• As early as second grade, students start stereotyping

math as a boy’s subject.

• Research shows that by the time students reach fourth

grade, a third of them have lost interest

in science.

Grade K

Interest

Lostinterest

Grade 4

Interest

Lostinterest

Grade 8

Interest

Lostinterest

Want to hear something

SCARY?In elementary

classrooms today, 38 percent of teachers lack full confidence in their qualifications to teach science.National Science Board. 2014. Science and Engineering Indicators 2014. Arlington VA: National Science Foundation (NSB 14-01).

Almost as many say they rely more on what they learned in high school science than on what they learned in their teacher preparation courses in college.

Bayer Facts of Science Education X (2004). Are the Nation’s Colleges and

Universities Adequately Preparing Elementary Schoolteachers of Tomorrow to Teach Science?

A New Direction

Hands-On Standards® STEM in Action

• Hands-on activities teach children real-world problem solving and critical thinking skills.

• Approachable, teacher-friendly modules address national and state standards in Science, Math, and ELA.

• Developed with Texas A&M and Purdue Universities to bring STEM to life and establish a lifelong love of learning

for students.

• The series strikes the perfectbalance of rigor and ease of use.

PreK–Grade 5

Modular Classroom Kits

PreK–Grade 5

Plan Solutions

Teacher Planning page from Muddy Mats (grade 2) Exploration

Teacher Support

Rubric

Online videos, IWB activities, and resources

Start out with STEM with

ETA hand2mind!

Carolyn Cutts

GA Educational Consultant

404-308-2174

[email protected]

@CarolynCutts @ETAhand2mind