STEM education – learning challenges you face as a high school student
November 27, 2020
Have you noticed the rapid change in the education landscape worldwide? E-learning seems to have taken over the entire US and Canada, and is heading for the rest of the world. As a high school student, you must have heard casually about STEM education from your seniors or peers. However, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, particularly Technology and Engineering, is a whole new ballgame. This is because technical subjects are indeed difficult to grasp by high-schoolers whose minds are still untrained to handle technical learning. Next, we commence our discussion about our main topic of this blog article; STEM e-learning, where STEM education is delivered over the Internet. Before we start discussing STEM e-learning, the challenges it encounters, and their best possible solutions, let’s dwell on all the benefits STEM education provides for.
Benefits of STEM education
Here is a summary of the benefits of learning STEM at the high school level.
See this reference:
- Improved scientific literacy.
- A well-informed STEM capable workforce.
- A step towards providing STEM training in post-secondary levels, leading to STEM field careers.
Whether you are a year away from graduation or busy trying to finish your high school curriculum, investing in STEM is always a good idea. It helps you secure leverage by bringing you a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Challenges for your high school in delivering STEM subjects
Even though the best place to acquire STEM education is your high school, unfortunately, most high schools don’t give STEM education the due focus. The ones that do, focus more on Science and Mathematics, whereas Technology and Engineering go neglected. There are only a limited number of high schools that offer a few of the Technology (T) and Engineering (E) courses.
Here are some examples of the limited STEM topics that you may find in the high schools across California:
- Building an AI (artificial intelligence) Mindset
- AI Robots as Educational Tools
- Developing Science and Innovation Literacy
- Mastering Coding Languages
There could be several reasons why your high school is offering limited or no STEM Education. It could be due to a lack of well-suited and well-trained faculty members. In some cases, it’s the sheer ignorance towards the significance that STEM education holds. Sometimes the reason could be financial constraints, as STEM requires hands-on exposure to technical subjects. These technical tools are often costly and available only in a laboratory set up, on a field trip to the science museum, or at a science camp.
What is at stake?
Whatever the reason may be, the affectees are always students like you. It is rather unfortunate not to be well-equipped with the required knowledge while entering the practical phase of life. However, it is still not too late.
STEM education is synonymous with employability. Lack of STEM education keeps you from becoming competitive in the emerging job market. Unlike in the past decades, today’s job market requires that you upgrade yourself regularly. It also requires that you keep yourself informed about emerging trends, especially about the technology fields. Therefore, STEM education plays a significant role in providing you the leverage over the other applicants. It enables you to have a competitive advantage in the ever-emerging job market.
Turning attention to STEM e-learning
You can opt for online STEM education and get yourself prepared for your post high school career!
Following are the two alternatively effective approaches that can be taken:
- You and your parents can contact the school administration and insist that your school (via school board) offer online STEM courses that are reliable and appropriate for high school students.
- You can find STEM online courses that are affordable and available outside of your school.
Many of you must be thinking that instead of opting for a paid e-learning course, why not go for a free YouTube tutorial. Well, as much as it is helpful to probe the Internet for research and knowledge, it lacks structure and organization. This makes it casually beneficial but not sufficient, as students might and often do lose direction. Therefore, a properly designed online STEM course is what you should be opting for at the high school level; (see the solution we offer).
Before you enroll in an online course, you must know that lack of a physical classroom will require adjustments on your part. Therefore, you must be ready to commit. You must keep yourself motivated, set goals, manage your time, and actively engage in the course for its timely and successful completion.
Factors that help an online STEM education platform excel for effective learning
Learning technical subjects online requires discipline and focused attention on digital content. To develop digital content for technical topics, developers of such a platform must use graphics, illustrations, and animations. Well, animated content, in addition to being intrigued, may even partly substitute a hands-on training or laboratory experiment for a T or E-learning content.
Moreover, these courses must have a modular structure. Breaking down the course into digestible chunks of content such as multiple-choice questions and self-tests for evaluation and assessment facilitates easy learning and internalization.
The STEM online courses should also provide the right mix of theory and practical lessons. The course contents should not comprise hours of video lectures. In fact, it should be concise, fun, and effective content that keeps the students like you attentive and engaged.
Therefore, if your school does not provide STEM education, seek other appropriate resources, i.e., e-learning [see our e-learning portal], to equip yourself with the STEM knowledge. Make sure your chosen e-learning platform offers you the content containing all the features mentioned above. Most importantly, do not hold back on giving yourself a chance to gain a competitive advantage in the future job marketplace.
