The U.S. NEWS published an article yesterday that reports high school students are giving up on STEM careers. Though interest has been increasing in the past decade (1 in 4 students report an interest in a STEM major or career) and they begin high school with the interest in engineering and other sciences, it is argued that not enough is being done to maintain an interest in STEM.
A suggestion to remedy the situation is to improve student achievement by implementing new k-12 education standards in science in math and to fill them with an interest in STEM before high school. Some states have begun specialized STEM high schools, but it is also suggested that schools must partner with other educators and businesses in the STEM fields. Otherwise, the increasing jobs in the field will continue to go unfilled.
And that’s exactly what Engineering for Kids is trying to do: create an interest early and maintain it through the future.