Science Week – Our Future Workforce
Last week all across the country in schools, communities, workplaces and on our TV’s we celebrated Science Week. Science Week is about engaging people of all ages to get involved in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). It is also fitting that Science Week falls just before Christmas, encouraging parents to invest in more practical STEAM friendly gifts for their children this year. With dominant jobs skills moving into STEAM related fields it is increasingly important for our young people to become more aware of the STEAM skills they need for the future
Most children across the world are more tech savvy than their adult parents, they have grown up with technology around them (mobile phones, smart TVs, laptops, the internet). Technology is also the fasting growing professional sector in the world, this means that people now have to up-skill and re-educate themselves to meet the demands of the future workplace. Getting children involved in STEAM isn’t about handing them a computer and expecting them to begin coding, it is however about opening up new career avenues than what they traditional were aware of.
Learning STEAM subjects should begin at a young age when children can acquire knowledge much easier, it should be incorporated into their everyday learning at home and at school. Our advice to parents this Christmas is buy STEAM friendly gifts this year. This doesn’t necessarily mean drones and VR headsets, it could be as simple as choosing a beginners experiment kits or planning a trip to a local science museum. Learning and getting involved in STEAM should be fun, as well as a necessary step to educating our future workforce on the skills they will need.
Check out Pinterest for lots of easy and fun STEAM activities to do with your kids this Christmas or plan a visit to one of Ireland’s many STEAM related attractions.
- Imaginosity (Dublin)
- Birr Castle Science Centre (Offaly)
- W5 (Belfast)
- Cool Planet Experience (Wicklow)
- Sea Synergy (Kerry)