While today's tweens are wrestling with the awkwardness of middle school, their parents, educators and even businesses are on a campaign to help them choose careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In NH, recruitment tools include robots made of LEGOs, contests for free field trips, hikes in the woods and lunchtime talks with geek-chic graduate students in STEM fields.
While the recruits are focused more on their popularity, sports and clothes, recruiters are determined. They know the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects for the next decade that 16 of the top 25 jobs that will have a 29 percent or faster job growth and the highest pay require math and science degrees. The national problem is that not enough students are choosing STEM fields. And educators say if a child's interest isn't piqued early it becomes more difficult to interest them by the time they reach high school.
Despite this challenge, the University System of NH and the Community College System of NH aim to increase STEM graduates from 1,500 in 2012 to at least 3,000 by 2025. That means developing a long-term recruitment strategy to interest K-12 kids in science and math, with more hands-on learning, mentoring and scholarships for those focusing on STEM. To that end, educators and employers are increasingly partnering to create the labor pool of the future.
It's Not About the Robots
Getting kids excited about science and technology is the central mission of FIRST, the Manchester-based organization created by Dean Kamen in 1989 that provides children ages 6 to 18 with a chance to investigate a scientific problem as part of a team using LEGO bricks and autonomous robots. The focus is to teach kids how to work as a team to solve complex problems.
Dean Kamen famously said it's not about the robots. We are not using the kids to build robots; we are using the robots to build kids, says Frank Merrick, acting director of FIRST Robotics Competition for grades 9 through 12. Merrick says FIRST prepares kids for all aspects of STEM careers, from teamwork and fundraising to entrepreneurship and marketing. Teams typically consist of 20 students and four to five mentors. They raise up to $80,000 for the design of their robots to travel to competitions, and for supplies and space to build robots. This season, 2,916 NH students are involved.
Each season, FIRST teams are presented with a challenge and charged with researching solutions, talking to experts, and building or programming a robot to address the challenge. Last year's challenge was food safety for the FIRST LEGO League (ages 9-14). One team designed a lunch box that kept food colder longer and Lands' End picked up the design. We are finding more and more children are in it because they like the project aspect of it. Everyone loves the robot, but we're finding kids like the idea that they made something and it made a difference in the world, says Kim Wierman, FIRST LEGO League interim director.
FIRST research shows that kids who participate in FIRST are twice as likely to major in math and science and three times more likely to major in engineering. Girls who participate are four times as likely to go into science and engineering, according to FIRST. The nationwide program has dozens of corporate sponsors, including Autodesk in Manchester and BAE in Nashua, which contribute money and have employees who serve as mentors.
FIRST was one of the first programs aimed at recruiting future scientists, but it now has plenty of company. S.W. Cole Engineering in NH and Maine was often approached for donations, and the company had trouble deciding what to fund.
In the end, the engineering firm created its own program-Dig into Science-inviting schools in NH and Maine to contribute a two-minute video about something in their lives that could be made better by science. The firm received 79 videos from kindergarten through high school classrooms. Topics included a wind-solar powered car and ways to grow food more efficiently. Seven winners received $1,000 for a STEM-related field trip, or to host a STEM program at their school. Schools were chosen near each of the firm's seven offices, with local employees presenting the awards.
Some of the ideas were pretty wild, but you want them thinking that way because who knows what they'll be when they become the scientists that replace us, says Dave Dunning, vice president of S.W. Cole, which has 85 employees. If you don't hit them early with some of this it may be too late when they get into high school to get all the courses they need, he says. Approved programs include the Mt. Washington Observatory in Bretton Woods and the Seacoast Science Center in Rye. Dunning says transportation costs alone can hinder field trips for rural schools, and this contest helps take away that barrier.
Citizen Scientists
Marshall Davenson meets monthly after school with about six AP environmental science students who travel from Keene High School to collect water quality and flow data from two sensors in nearby Beaver Brook. One sensor is in the water before it flows through Keene; the other, after. The students upload the data to Plymouth State University, where it is added to a database for LoVoTECS, a statewide project tracking water quality and flow.
Davenson is one of 10 teachers involved in the project, which includes 50 volunteers. The students import data into a spreadsheet, compare it to data from other sensors, create graphs, and research how water quality changes and why. The entire class visits the stream the first two times to download data, but after that students go after school for extra credit. Davenson says, I use it as a jumping off point for inquiry-based science. He says he encourages students to generate questions about the local environment and research them.
LoVoTECS, which is also a program of NH EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), focuses on the growth of STEM education and research through funding from the National Science Foundation. The goal is to bring the culture of researching and asking questions and answering questions more formally into high school and middle school settings so students are getting a sense of what it means to study science and how scientific knowledge is used, says Steve Hale, education and outreach coordinator for NH EPSCoR. This used to be relegated to college levels.
Place-based environmental education is also the focus of A Mountain Classroom, a program by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) that introduces 4,000 students a year, mostly from New England, to the science and geography of NH's mountains. The AMC designs programs to fit school curricula and offers multiple-night programs based out of its various lodges. The intent is simple: Connect students with the natural world so they understand and appreciate it.
It's really relevant to kids. It's where they live. And it's very, very hands on, says Andrea Muller, North Country youth education director for the AMC. The programs include hiking, water ecology, map reading and other skills, and align closely with the AMC's mission. It is really important for young people to have experience in the outdoors, both recreational, educational and conservation oriented. For kids to care about the natural world is very important from a conservation standpoint when it comes to the future.
Overcoming Stereotypes
Getting more students psyched to pursue science careers requires overcoming stereotypes. That stereotypical Einstein--wild-haired white man in a laboratory coat-saying, Eureka,' it really does influence young people. They think scientists work alone. They don't necessarily know what kind of real problems scientists are solving, says Nancy Serrell, director of science and technology outreach at Dartmouth College, which focuses on middle school.
Dartmouth sends graduate students to middle school classrooms once a week for the school year, and has graduate students visit lunchrooms in pairs, a program called Science Cafes, to talk about math and science careers. Putting graduate students who are scientists in the classroom changes their ideas of who does science, Serrell says. Suddenly they see that girl with two earrings in one ear and the boy who looks like they play basketball against the garage with their big brother.
Vicki May, a professor at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, says these programs are especially important for girls. We target middle school because that is when we see kids get turned off, especially girls, May says.
An outreach program by The Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Keene also targets middle school students. The organization, working with its partner the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, raised $10,000 to create a video and pamphlets about the well-paid high tech manufacturing jobs that exist in the Monadnock Region. Our theory is if you target middle schoolers and younger high schoolers, you target everybody. If you can make it pizzazzy enough for them, everyone will be interested, says Susan Newcomer, workforce development coordinator for the Keene chamber. Newcomer says the videos will go on YouTube and be presented to guidance counselors, business groups and schools so everybody understands high-tech manufacturing is a clean, well-paid profession.
The Community College System of NH plays a vital role in the workforce pipeline as well. About 20 percent of the state's 1,500 STEM degrees are earned at community colleges, says Ross Gittell, chancellor of the Community College System of NH. Nationally, he says, 50 percent of bachelor's degree graduates in STEM fields started at community college. And that raises another stereotype: Math and science are important in many careers, not just to rocket scientists and surgeons.
That is a message Brian Hooper, vice president of MSI Mechanical, a mechanical contractor and facilities service provider based in Salem, spreads to high school students. Hooper partnered with Gilbane Building Company in Bedford to launch a NH chapter of ACE Mentor Program, which showcases opportunities in architecture, construction and engineering. This fall, the two companies will pick a school and run a year long after-school program giving practical lessons about land surveying and construction to demonstrate what is involved in constructing buildings.
Hooper also visits five different schools for career days, and has done so for the last eight years, explaining that HVAC contractors like him offer good paying jobs and real careers, and that math is needed to do them well. In many cases, Hooper says, the jobs require a certificate and a license, but the math is important.
Everything is computerized. You have to understand fractions and decimals and how to get the right answer. If you don't, you can lose millions [of dollars] on a job or build a building that isn't correct, he says. When I say, you can lose millions of bucks,' their eyes light up.
Funding STEM
Applied science learning is more engaging for students, but it also takes more time and money, resources many school don't have. Students also face financial challenges when paying for college, regardless of where they are going.
These funding challenges are especially hard in underserved communities where school budgets are tighter. Yet without an ample number of kids taking STEM courses, there won't be enough scientists and engineers to meet future needs. It's not just a moral imperative, says Kevin Gardner, associate director of NH EPSCoR. It's a practical imperative. If we leave out [people of low] socioeconomic status, then we can't graduate the numbers we need to serve the state.
One person facing the challenge head on is Ali Rafieymehr, dean of the University of NH at Manchester. A computer scientist by trade, he is on a mission to get kids interested in math and science. With Leadership NH, he created a program that brings 18 fifth-graders from Beech Street School in Manchester to the UNH Manchester's Emerging Technology Center for a six-week program (two hours a week) to learn about computers and technology. Businesses pitched in to cover transportation costs.
The NH Charitable Foundation is doing its part with a $500,000 scholarship fund to provide grants between $3,500 and $5,000 a year to students majoring in STEM fields. It is targeting students attending community colleges, but scholarships can also be used for certificate programs and four-year degrees focused on math and science. We are focusing a lot on students not choosing four-year college degrees partly because we feel we can make a real difference for a person going to a two-year degree program, says Judy Burrows, director of program operations and student aid.
Strengthening the Core
There are also changes in how such programs are delivered. New Hampshire is transitioning from the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) to the Common Core Standards. Set to be implemented in 2015, the state will require students to meet more rigorous math standards with a stronger focus on conceptual understanding and applied knowledge.
At the same time, there is a national movement to develop Next Generation Science Standards, a new set of standards developed with input from multiple states and led by the National Research Council and Achieve, a national organization focused on college and career readiness.
We want all students to learn the critical thinking and culture of how scientific research is used and how important science is and how it will eventually lead to more opportunities and higher paying jobs. The old way of doing things works for a very small number of people,
says Hale.