Technology & Learning - October 2007 - (Page 24)

A Boost for STEM A National Focus Though steps taken by individual employers such as Pratt & Whitney have helped draw attention to workforce-preparedness issues, concern about the overall domestic health of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields has been increasingly on the national radar. Recognizing that STEM fields are pivotal to the country’s infrastructure and continued global leadership, a range of political and industry leaders and groups have undertaken initiatives to reverse the declining enrollment rate in engineering college programs. In “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” a 2007 study issued by the National Academies (of science, engineering, and medicine), the authors warn that “U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode.” They predict “a disturbing mosaic” of a diminished economy eclipsed by China and threatened by other advancing nations by 2050 if we don’t reverse domestic trends. (See graphic, page 26.) The study goes on to say that though reports vary, “One estimate is that in 2004, China graduated 350,000 engineers, computer scientists, and information technologists with four-year degrees, while the U.S. graduated about 140,000.” PTLW has the power to affect our nation’s STEM in the long term. Data collected from programs across the country show a growing interest in college and various engineering fields. results showing that even the besteducated university graduates are deficient in the applied skills necessary for the workplace. And a 2003 evaluation of 15-year-olds by the Program for International Student Assessment showed U.S. students ranking a dismal 24th out of 40 countries in the ability to apply mathematical concepts to real-world problems. For CTE teachers, the concept of learning through application is a no-brainer. Says Connecticut’s Kane, “I watched a student use trigonometry to graph trajectories while building a catapult that launched a ping pong ball to land in an 8-ounce cup. His teacher had told me he couldn’t add two numbers together.” Pamela Phillips, a Dearborn, Michigan, high school business teacher and advisor for Business Professionals of America, is not surprised by findings that show U.S. students are weak in applied skills. She cites a lack of educator experience. “Students are deficient in applied skills as a result of the fact that the overwhelming majority of core area teachers went 24 | www.techlearning.com straight from college into teaching and have no real-world business experience,” she says. “Business teachers, on the other hand, are vocationally certified with strong business backgrounds.” Companies Shoulder Training As schools fail to prepare students for real-world vocations, companies find they are increasingly shouldering the responsibility for training. Cisco, for example, conducts extensive training of all its new hires as a matter of course. “Companies we regularly deal with say they have to ‘start from scratch’ training most new grads,” says Gene Longo, a Cisco Network Academy senior manager. Some of them outsource this training to stores like Best Buy, where students learn both IT skills and customer-relation “soft skills” as part of the store’s Geek Squad. Other businesses are rewarding hires willing to undergo additional training, usually at community colleges. “Companies like [jet manufacturer] Pratt & Whitney are bringing ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARTY BUMANN in academy-trained technicians and giving them $10,000 in stock as an incentive to go back to school so they’ll have the skills to move up the chain into management,” reports Kane. “These companies are looking for strong communication skills. But, beyond that, an in-depth understanding of science and math are crucial to enable employees to perform statistical quality-control operations and similar key analytical functions.” http://www.techlearning.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - October 2007

Technology & Learning - October 2007 Editor’s Desk News & Trends Product Guide Reviews How Fast Is Fast Enough? Cover Story: Career Education in the Digital Age Getting It Wrong Higher Ed Point of View How To Bottom Line What’s New Emerging Tech

Technology & Learning - October 2007

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