Don’t just teach a kid to fish
Kari Webb says:
If you give a kid a fish, she’ll eat for a day. If you teach a kid to fish, she’ll eat for a lifetime.
But… if you let that kid investigate a local fish population, working alongside regional experts in fish management and the aquatic environment – she may develop a love of STEM which will launch a career in sustainable resource management, with the goal of feeding the whole planet.
I am increasingly convinced that an essential component of STEM education is the inclusion of locally-relevant problem solving. . . [T]his is the hook which will capture the minds and the hearts of our youngest problem solvers. We need to match STEM-mentors with teachers and students, and then encourage everyone to jump into the deeper waters of collaborative, student-centered, problem-based learning.
STEM challenges are real, and real challenges often involve failure, messiness, and unexpected complications (anyone who has ever gone camping knows the truth of this statement). The role of the STEM professional is to help students press through the set-backs, ultimately establishing precisely the sort of tenacity (e.g., grit) that Iowa’s future demands. . .
Iowa should cast the STEM-net in deep water, looking for a catch that includes STEM business partners, non-formal educators, and teachers and learners from just about every discipline.