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12.09

By Russell Harrison

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education reform will be a priority in Washington next year.  Both Congress and the White House plan to focus on ways to improve the way that these vital subjects are taught in the nation’s elementary and secondary schools.

President Obama kicked off the campaign at a 23 November White House event involving leaders from the STEM community, including IEEE-USA President Gordon Day.  In his remarks, the President announced a bold new campaign, “Educate to Innovate,” to move American students from the middle to the top of the pack internationally — in terms of math and science achievement — over the next decade.

President Obama explained the initiative in these terms:

“The key to improving our health and well being, to harnessing clean energy, to protecting our security and succeeding in the global economy will be to reaffirm and strengthen America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation.  And that leadership tomorrow depends on how well we educate our students today, especially in the fields that hold the promise of producing future innovations and innovators.”

Among the specifics announced by the President were:

• Partnerships between private companies and community groups to get 1 million students involved in after-school robotics competitions,

• A National Lab Day to mobilize local volunteers and resources to improve laboratory and other discovery-based science spaces in local schools, and

• A science and engineering education festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., next October to celebrate and showcase innovative education ideas.

President Obama also highlighted his “Race to the Top” initiative. This program, passed in early 2009, will provide $4.35 billion to states that commit to improving their K-12 math and science programs. Much of this money will be spent in 2010 and the program will jumpstart efforts to reform K-12 STEM education.

In response to the President's announcement, IEEE-USA President Gordon Day praised the initiative, saying: "We agree that moving our students 'from the middle to the top,' internationally in STEM education, is essential in assuring the future prosperity of our country.  The investments in the Department of Education’s Race to the Top, coupled with the initiatives in Educate to Innovate are important steps.  As a profession, we share the President’s concerns and are committed to helping address them."

More information on Day’s response to President Obama is available here.

In the coming months, IEEE-USA will be calling on IEEE members to sign up to volunteer in classrooms across the country as a part of National Lab Day. Not limited to just one day, National Lab Day is a nationwide initiative to build local communities of support (hubs) that will foster ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students and educators. Volunteers — including university students, scientists, engineers, other STEM professionals and, more broadly, members of the community — will be asked to work together with educators and students to improve labs and discovery-based science experiences for students in grades 6-12. For IEEE members interested in participating, IEEE-USA will provide more details in future issues of Today's Engineer and in the IEEE-USA Today's Engineer E-mail Update, which is e-mailed to all U.S. IEEE members every month.

Members of Congress will also be highlighting science and engineering education in 2010.  In addition to reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Congress is expected to consider Draft legislation  that will provide incentives to states to  add the teaching of engineering design concepts and applications as a way to increase the effectiveness of math and science instruction in grades K-12 .

The Engineering Education for the Innovation Economy Act (or E2 for Innovation Act) will be introduced in mid-December and considered by Congress in 2010.

The Boston Museum of Science, with strong support from IEEE-USA and a coalition of other national engineering groups, is spearheading efforts to promote introduction of the bill.  IEEE-USA formally endorsed the draft bill in late November.

One of the weaknesses of America’s educational system has, for more than a decade, been the number of students who abandon math and the sciences well before college.  With an economy that is increasingly dependent on people with technical backgrounds, the United States must encourage more of its students to at least consider higher education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields.  But currently, only about 25 percent of American students take enough math and science pre-requisites in high-school to even qualify for most college science programs. 

We can’t convince more American students to go into engineering if they gave up on math after taking algebra in high school.

The E2 for Innovation Act seeks to address this problem by exposing more students to engineering much earlier in their academic careers than they do currently.  Some studies have shown that students are more likely to take upper-level science and math classes in high-school if they have taken engineering classes in middle-school.

More importantly, the bill will expose students to a field that is essential to our country’s economic vitality, but which few students know much about before they get to college.

Taken together, President Obama’s Educate to Innovate campaign and the E2 for Innovation Bill have the potential to significantly change how science, math and engineering are taught in the United States.  IEEE-USA is working closely with the White House, Congress and other association to ensure that this opportunity is not lost.

Russell T. Harrison is IEEE-USA's legislative representative for grassroots activities.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.