使STEM教育更具吸引力的3种方法

With Millennials still experiencing unemployment levelsas high as 15 percent,这是令人费解的,越来越多的年轻人并不pursuing majors in STEM subjects, with projections saying there will be over 2.4 million STEM job openings in five years. According to a survey of more than a million American high school students, almost 90 percent said they aren’t interested in a careerora college major involving STEM.
This is supported by the fact that only13 percent of college freshmandeclare STEM majors. Students are becoming less interested in STEM because the curriculum hasn’t been updated and students aren’t being exposed to technological advancements like虚拟实验室to make these subjects more interesting. Here are three ways students and teachers alike can make STEM subject come alive in and out of the classroom.

1. Link students with STEM employers.学生s are commonly told that there are plenty STEM jobs out there, but schools need to go a step further andshowstudents what kinds of opportunities are out there by partnering with companies looking for STEM graduates. A collaboration between New York City public schools, City University of New York, and IBMhas produced P-Tech，，，，a high school in Brooklyn that pairs students with IBM mentors. Raisbeck Aviation High School in Seattlehas paired with Boeingto mentor students in their engineering curriculum for the purpose of getting them excited about their STEM courses. With these partnerships, students are able to see not only how their education helps solve real-world problems, but also lays out a clear path to getting a good job after graduation.
2. Start following celebrity scientists.STEM subjects can instantly become more interesting by following scientists that make STEM entertaining and have crossed over into pop culture. In fact, a study last year found that 37 percent of the student participants became more interested in STEM subjects after watching programs presented physicist布莱恩·考克斯（Bryan Cox）。内布拉斯加州大学已经开始了Sci Pop Talks！，这是围绕科学与流行文化交集中心的演讲者系列。本月，他们的演讲为“为了生存僵尸启示录的化学反应”，这比我能想到的任何化学讲座都更有趣。学生也可以看待科学名人比尔·奈，，，，Neil Degrasse Tyson，，，，Emily Graslie ofThe Brain Scoop，，，，or勘探国家。
3. Use technology that makes STEM fun and relevant.A common question for students that are taking calculus or chemistry is, “When will this matter in my life?” By using resources that show students how to solve real world problems today, the value of STEM becomes instantly clear. For example, Catherine L. Drennan, a professor of biology and chemistry at MIT, partnered with Howard Hughes Medical Institute to create aseries of short videos现代化学家解释了他们在职业生涯中解决的问题。德伦南says of the video series，“我们发现这些视频对化学事业的兴趣产生了巨大影响。特别是，对女性产生了非常巨大的影响 - 她们更有能力将自己视为化学家。”

学生s that are bored with STEM textbooks and lectures can now check out new content created by popular scientists or完成虚拟实验室每当他们想要的时候。在线学生比以往任何时候都有更多有趣的资源，因此无需等待他们的课堂课程来赶上。