- What Is STEM Education? STEM education uses an interdisciplinary approach to teaching that provides instruction on demanding academic precepts alongside real-world applications. The goal is to prepare students for the new world economy. The US needs to compete more in mathematics and science with the rest of the world.
- What Are the STEM Foundation Courses? The acronym "STEM" stands for science, technology, engineering, and math education. These are core concepts linked together in everyday life so linking them together in the educational process helps prepare students for the real world. Proponents of the STEM system say that students learn best when teachers focus on these courses together.
- STEM Promotes Math and Science Proficiency: Studies have shown that children immersed in the STEM core subjects from a young age perform better in math and science than those who are not exposed to STEM education. In addition, anecdotal evidence has shown that children immersed in STEM education graduate from high school in greater percentages and often go on to follow math or science in college and later in careers.
- Enrichment Programs and STEM: Enrichment programs that complement the STEM education method abound in summer camps, museums, classes, and other activities. These educational but fun opportunities can help your children understand the roles that science and math play in the real world. By extension, they will understand how important those skills are to their futures. Building rockets, robots and other imaginative devices encourages creative and critical thinking. Our country's future depends on our children being able to solve problems and to think outside the proverbial box.
- Learning to Speak Computer Languages: Early exposure to programming languages like Java and Phython teaches children how scientists make machines follow directions. We are also in the age of the Internet of Things. Our children will grow up with smart devices that will order our groceries and send health information to our doctors -- all without human hands touching them. Children must understand that smart devices in our homes and our offices will develop artificial intelligence to better meet our physical needs. Programming provides a basis for such understandings.
- Mixing Artistic Design with Robotics: For those of us brought up with printers that were little more than glorified copiers, it may take a bit of imagination to think of a printer as a synthesizer but that's what a 3D printer is: an industrial -- synthesizing -- robot. Some scientists think that 3D Printing is a forerunner of a third industrial revolution. In the future, workers will send a blueprint anywhere in the world to a 3D Printing robot that will combine and layer special inks to manufacture any type of three-dimensional object. Opening a child's mind to such possibilities is part of the critical thinking that we need to bring new world inventions to fruition.
- Engineering: Camps that teach engineering build upon the mathematics and science components of the STEM educational path. Legos 30 years ago were one step up from the building blocks of yesteryear. Today, Lego Robotics courses teach children to design robots using engineering concepts such as speed and torque. Engineering is also a part of the 3D Printing camps as children use computer aided design to make their designs come alive.
To talk more about STEM, or VisionTech's enrichment summer camps with engineering, robotics and programming components, or anything else, please contact us. We look forward to helping you prepare the children in your life for the challenges of their future.