American students rank 21st out of 30 developed nations in science literacy and 25th in math literacy. To boost performance in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the White House has launched an “Educate to Innovate” campaign, and it even held the first White House Science Fair. In this series on STEM education in America, With Good Reason is asking national policy experts, educators, and innovators why STEM matters and why women and minorities are being targeted. We talk with Linda Rosen (Change the Equation) about changing how we teach, Robert Tai (University of Virginia) about the origins of the acronym S-T-E-M, Leanna Giancarlo (University of Mary Washington) about the “mad scientist” stereotype, and Sevan Terzian (University of Florida), who says it all begins with—what else?—Sputnik.
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Your attention to this most important subject is much appreciated. Among those that need to be better informed on STEM careers are Middle/Intermediate school counselors. Eighth grade students who must make decisions about HIgh School programs are not being helped much by school counselors who really don’t know much about college majors or jobs that require STEM literacy. Please keep up this effort to educate us all on STEM and its impacts.