Has 'The Simpsons' predicted the future of STEM education?

Early last week, I found myself off work, ill, wrapped up on the sofa, watching tv. In a nostalgic fashion, I chose to watch #thesimpsons , and strangely, an episode focussed on #STEM education appeared on my screen, so of course i needed to write about it. Given I have just been on #NasStars podcast discussing this exact subject, it made sense to write a follow up. What does and should the future hold for STEM education?

I won't go into the detail of the episode as it begins with pirates and treasure, but the main storyline focusses on the creation of a new STEM academy, which teaches students the 'jobs of the future'.

They used virtual reality and a gaming scoring system where you could unlock achievements... utilising current gaming features to drive real life education success.

As you can imagine, even the more challenging children enjoyed the ability to unlock avatar skins and level up against their classmates, showing that all students were able to thrive in a school environment and enjoy learning. A positive outlook but not necessarily how this scenario would play out in real life.

The Simpsons has been recognised and discussed many times for its 'future predictions' becoming reality, so the predictions around STEM education is an interesting topic. It may not be something high profile to many people in the world, but to the STEM communities, this topic is becoming something we can't ignore, especially within the Tech industry.

Is the current UK curriculum fit for purpose? I think we can all agree that it isn't... and do our schools provide education that is tailored to every student? Again... no.

The Government recognises that in less than 10 years we will have, in particular, a tech skill shortage, yet are we seeing any changes at school level to resolve this? Not really.

I am fortunate to have worked with many schools through the #STEMambassador programme, and seen some amazing, passionate teachers going above and beyond their day jobs to provide their students with the best opportunity to explore careers, tech skills and open their eyes to new interests. Without these individuals, students suffer and their exposure to real world jobs, becomes limited.

What we really need is some change within the Government. Firstly, we have a shortage on teachers, so these STEM activities are being driven solely by passionate individuals who are giving up their own time in many instances. Secondly, the curriculum is not fit for purpose. The Government recognises the digital skills gap we are facing, yet we have a Minister for Tech and an Education Secretary, both it seems are not working together to understand how this can be resolved.

Would it not make sense to have a Tech steering board, made up of a number of key Tech companies, who work with the Government to mould the tech curriculum and upskill our teachers so that this gap we are predicting, is smaller in the future? Yes... yes it would. Eventually, I think the curriculum will be amended to face these challenges, but not in the time scales we would like.

Going back to the episode in discussion, first addressing the method of teaching. Although there was some traditional teaching involved, Virtual Reality played a big part in showing a diverse number of future jobs focussing a lot on the 'gig economy', but in principle, the method of teaching using VR is likely to be used eventually. We are already using Augmented Reality in many professions to give employees guidance on the task in hand, and some companies are now looking to incorporate VR into work training. In theory, it makes sense that this would eventually make it's way into the education system.

There are many benefits to this method but there are cons as well. It allows learning to be fun and engaging, which I think is one of the biggest complaints among students and parents when it comes to the educational system. Individuals learn in different ways and therefore, education can be unengaging for students who learn more by doing, than by reading. The benefits speak for themselves, but it is expensive and if overused, can reduce human connection which our children need during their childhood years. More so as many children are becoming less engaged in their home environment, due to the use of Tech and gaming. If used in balance, VR can be used to compliment traditional teaching methods, engaging more students and increasing educational satisfaction and scoring. There are of course some hurdles to overcome for this to become the norm within our schools, but I have no doubt this will eventually be incorporated.

In terms of what the school is teaching in the episode, I think there is some truth this being in the curriculum in the future, alongside subjects that have been identified by Tech companies. Within the time frame we need it though, unlikely.

In the Tech industry, we need immediate change so we can begin to see the benefits of these amendments in the younger individuals joining our industry in 10 years time. If we incorporated the subjects and skills highlighted in the episode, alongside coding and key tech skills identified by the industry, we would have a good start to then expose students to the different tech careers.

My final thoughts:

Has 'The Simpsons' predicted the future of STEM education? In part yes. I truly believe VR will become part of the education system, assuming funding is made available. It makes sense to use VR to upskill our future workforce for jobs that are relevant. It will almost give them some sort of work experience ahead of entering the real world, and also gives them the ability to be exposed to a wider amount of careers. Students will be able to shadow employees within companies and therefore the students will be exposed to a wider range of available jobs outside of those schools typically share with students.

As for the content of the education, for the nature of the episode, The Simpsons have 'dumbed down' the content, but it holds some relevance for the future alongside some other key skills.

One thing is for sure, we need to be doing more.

Companies and Governments need to be building the skills of our younger generations so they can be entering into STEM subjects, especially tech given the digital skill gaps we are starting to see.

Can you and your company be doing more to build the future of skilling in your industry?