STEM & Empathy: What's the Promise

STEM & Empathy

Mark Basnage

@mbasnage @startempathy

#STEMandEmpathy #STEMplusplus

The Problem Space

>BrazilRussiaItalyIndiaCanada…

inside the economic engine

and yet…

STEM pipleline

STEM pipeline

what about K-16?

girls and underrepresented students

are kicked off the STEM path

Elementary School

exposure, access sense of wonder

freedom to explore teacher comfort/fluency

dead curricula… or none

Middle School

algebra engaging curricula

identity (“I’m not a math person”) “fast = smart”

High School

sorting/ tracking identity

Community College & University

“the first C” stereotype threat

non-cognitive issues

other issues• STEM programs as content only

• teacher isolation

• educational landscape fragmentation

• turnover

• STEM teachers/administrators not always guiltless

yet money is being spent

Let’s Change This

STEM++

enlarged approaches to STEM increases opportunities for underrepresented students

Promising Practices• ++ underrepresented students

• + empathy

• + innovation and entrepreneurship

• + arts and creativity

• + design thinking

Listen for…

• diversity of geography, types of setting (public, private, K-12/higher ed, etc)

• who plays a role — not always led by STEM faculty

• ways STEM & empathy connect

• inspiration, not prescription

community college

Rich K-8 grade programs and spaces that engage students and teachers in open ended exploration and challenges in • making • technology • design thinking • entrepreneurship and change making

High School students learn IT and CS while supporting the technology and innovation efforts in their own school.

+ Real-life work opportunities for older students and young alumni.

Susan Amrose

room for lots of good work to be done

People Need Maps

K-45-8 9-12 CC

Univ

CodeNow

CodeHS

CodeRacercode.org

CodeSchool

GirlsWhoCode

BlackGirlsCode

Coursera

Udacity

EdXCodea

She++

GrokLearning

HacketyHackGirlsTeachingGirlsToCode

Udemy

MIT AppInventor

CampSciGirl

Tequity

We need to talk to each other, build bridges

We need tools to know how to spot opportunities, how to try things. How to innovate.

We need to share what’s working, and how to spread and scale.

“Reclaim the role of the teacher so that s/he is an architect”

Taking a “team of teams approach”

~ 1,000,000 K-12 students in the Bay Area

If we can’t solve it here, then where?

by 2025…

by 2020, no 8th grader rules herself out of STEM

Next steps today

• roadmaps and toolkits

• stakeholder needs and opportunities

Save the date!

++EMST1510

10/10/2015

creating ecosystems of opportunity in education