America Needs 1 Million Scientists and Engineers by 2022 says a new report to the President…
If the U.S. does not graduate one million scientists and engineers by 2022, America’s world standing in innovation and scientific achievement will slide, allowing competing countries to claim leadership in those fields.
That’s the bottom line of what the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) told the president in their latest economic analysis. Every day 10,000 Baby Boomers reach the age of 65. According to the Pew Research Center this workforce drain will continue for the next 19 years.
“That graduation rate is not an unobtainable goal,” said Kelly Carnes of TechVision21. “But it is one that few employers and educators focus on as America’s workforce ages and retires.”
Concluding that the goal can be accomplished by retaining more STEM majors, a conclusion echoed by President Obama in recent weeks, PCAST provides a strategy with five overarching recommendations and action items to accomplish them.
The five recommendations are:
- Catalyze widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices.
- Advocate and provide support for replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses.
- Launch a national experiment in postsecondary mathematics education to address the math preparation gap.
- Encourage partnerships among stakeholders to diversify pathways to STEM careers.
- Create a Presidential Council on STEM Education with leadership from the academic and business communities to provide strategic leadership for transformative and sustainable change in STEM undergraduate education.
Data indicates that less than 40% of students who choose STEM majors actually graduate in STEM fields; just by increasing retention in the STEM major from 40% to 50%, ¾ of the 1 million additional STEM graduates we will need in the coming decade would be realized. Currently the U.S. graduates 300,000 bachelor and associate STEM students each year.
High-performing students indicate that uninspiring introductory courses are a factor in changing major. Low-performers cited difficulty in understanding math is an issue. Improving the first two years of undergraduate STEM coursework, helping all students succeed and creating different pathways to STEM degrees will help the US reach the million additional graduates goal.
1. Catalyze widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices.
Active engagement is a key to student success. STEM faculty should adopt evidence-based teaching methods. The federal government’s role in this should be to help train faculty members in evidence-based teaching methods. Metrics would measure progress and provide tools for stakeholders to use in designing innovative programs. Offering competitive grants as incentives- enacting WIDER (Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidenced-Based Reforms) will encourage institutions to innovate. Asking the National Academies to develop metrics to evaluate STEM education will make it possible to evaluate progress.
2. Advocate and provide support for replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses.
It is important to engage students in early, authentic STEM experiences. The NSF should provide funding to schools to scale-up and replicate model courses. This could be done with proposed TUES (Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM) or STEP (STEM Talent Expansion Program). Expanding opportunities for student research and design in faculty research labs would open up opportunities for students.
3. Launch a national experiment in postsecondary mathematics education to address the math preparation gap.
The math preparation gap must be addressed. Math is the gateway to STEM fields and too many students do not have the skills necessary to succeed in post-secondary institutions.
The NSF and Department of Education should work together to address the math bottleneck.
Funds for these experiments could be derived from:
- Department of Education’s proposed First in the World Initiative
- Department of Labor’s Career Pathways Innovation Fund
- Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative
- NSF’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM (TUES) program
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP)
4. Encourage partnerships among stakeholders to diversify pathways to STEM careers.
Non-traditional students, adult students, high school students, part time students should all be considered when developing alternate STEM pathways. Summer learning programs, expansion of the Department of Labor’s programs, and public/private partnerships in support of STEM should be explored.
5. Create a Presidential Council on STEM Education with leadership from the academic and business communities to provide strategic leadership for transformative and sustainable change in STEM undergraduate education.