The Future Of Your Child From Connecting The Classrooms To Career Through Stem Education

Over the past few years, there has been a focus on math and science education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Since President Obama has been in office, it seems like almost everyone is jumping on the "how important math and science education is and/or we need our kids to help us create our future STEM workforce" bandwagon. It seems like more resources are being put into enhancing math and science education programs. However, with all this attention on math and science, people are really not paying attention to the how’s and whys we have gotten to this point in education and in our economy.

If you pay attention to economies of the world's wealthiest countries; they have a strong educational system where there kids excel academically in all or most disciplines. However, the current state of our educational system is that students aren't graduating with the skills for the jobs that are currently available in our economy. There are various reasons for this, however my main theory behind this is not enough kids or parents think about their future as it relates to connecting their education with their future careers.

We prepare our children to become a part of the future workforce in two ways; researching the industry trends in the US and global economy and encouraging them to achieve academically and enhance the classroom experience with extracurricular activities. In the United States and global economy it is true that jobs are disappearing as well as sectors, but there are sectors in the economy where there are plenty of jobs that go unfilled. The reasons why jobs in some sectors go unfilled is because there aren't individuals with the skills and knowledge to do the job. The world is moving towards an educated workforce; that means individuals in the future economy will need to have a particular skill set or knowledge base to be employable.

The second thing we need to do is have our children see the connection between what they do in the classroom today and their career options in the future. There are great benefits for students that achieve academically and participate in extracurricular activities. Classroom grades and standardized test scores are the tools that are utilized to measure student achievement. Students and parents shouldn't wait until high school to see the importance of grades and standardized test scores. There is public policy decisions for the society as a whole that are made based on the standardized test scores of third graders. In addition, your child's educational path will be determined by their teachers and principals based on the third grade test scores as well.

Children should participate in extracurricular activities that support their interests and strengths. Students that are interested in math and science should participate in math and science competitions and clubs. Students should also participate in summer and after-school programs in their area of interest. Finally students should participate in as many events as possible in their area of interest such as visiting museums, attending career fairs, etc.

The great thing about education is that is not only a tool to train and equip students with skills, but it opens one's eyes to see the possibilities. If we are going to have STEM Education For Kids workforce, we have to not only give our kids the skills to academically achieve in math and science, but allow them to see the possibility of having a career in those fields. The earlier our kids see this connection, the brighter their future becomes.

How Are School Field Trips Good For Kids?

It is a great way to apply classroom knowledge in a way that it becomes more useful for the kids and a great way to do it is by applying it in field trips. Taking the kids out on field trips provides with out of the ordinary opportunities that help them in learning, what exactly are the real world exposures all about.

Another fact is that planning a complete field trip can be a bit time consuming, detailed and challenging, given it has a kid involved in it, but it also eventually helps the kids in learning better and that comes as a reward. If you feel that you are working with an organization that isn’t very excited about taking kids on a school field trip, it is best to propose ideas that concentrate more on the betterment of their learning by incorporating some school work into the field trip.

You can make the kids write assignments on the field trip they have and take them to some place that is going to give them a good knowledge about the subject they are studying, the day for example museums are always a good idea. This will help them understand their history and environment better in so many ways and also add some fun to their work. 

Other than this, here are a few tips that you can follow for a successful school field trip;

I’ve learned some other things worth sharing, along the road with my students. Here are four points to keep in mind if you are newer to pairing academic tasks with field trips:

1. Start small. Even a very clear-cut project will assist the students in learning more about the field trip and have improved withholding and comprehension. Going for hunting programs can help them greatly in constructing new mental ideas and being more elastic.

2. It is important that before you take the class on their field trip, you brief them about it. Updating the students about the assignment post and pre the trip helps them in getting a better idea of what are they jumping into and what are they supposed to pool out of it.

3. Think of activities that can be done in groups. A lot of times these field trips turn out to be great in helping the students to bond with each other better by doing activities in groups, it increases conversations and also adds to the knowledge at the same time.

4. Explore the places to get all the information you can about the place like would the students be allowed to carry pencils, papers, cameras, or other supplies for them to make notes or else. Once you have figured out what can be carried and what not, forward the information to the students. If it has been clarified that the students will not be allowed to carry all these things with them, then the alternative is to make sure that once their school field trip is complete you give them time to take down whatever they have seen all through the trip and make all possible notes for later use.

These field trips can be of a great help in terms of academics and focus for the students and provide them with a frame through which they can comprehend the outer world in a far better way, so make sure you include these school field trips into the academics and make the learning experience better.