The rising importance of STEAM / STEM and how schools can adapt

As humanity begins the journey with Industrial revolution 4.0 with emerging fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, and smart manufacturing while seeking solutions for climate change-induced challenges, there is an urgent need for STEM professionals in every facet of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is estimated that 3.5 million jobs requiring STEM skills (80% of all jobs) must be filled by 2025. However, the reality is that there are not enough skilled people who can do these jobs and hence the urgency for all countries is to focus on STEM skills. The future prosperity of any country depends on their population being skilled in STEM or STEAM.

So how does India fare?

India produces the second-highest number of STEAM professionals globally, and major tech companies are looking at India as the major start-up hub, but this figure comes with a caveat. While achieving parity and sometimes exceeding men and boys in undergraduate and postgraduate studies, girls and women are still underrepresented in STEM employment, especially in engineering and research. According to a 2020 United Nations report, Indian women scientists are only 14% of the 280,000 scientists, engineers and technologists employed in research institutions in the country.

But more than just job creation, it is really to develop our students as changemakers to solve the problems facing our societies and communities that we should focus on when developing STEM skills. Solutions to climate change and rising temperatures, as well as the 17 Sustainable development goals identified by the United Nations, are critical to ensure a more equal and equitable world.

Why is STEM /STEAM education so important, and how can all schools provide

opportunities for their students?

As outlined above, STEM skills underpin all job creation and innovation and will continue to be critically important in the years to come.

Today's world is full of technology; smartphones are everywhere with more computing power than the computers used by NASA for the moon landing expeditions, financial transactions, and social networking, all done with a click on the phone. Our life expectancy has increased manifold due to innovations in medical engineering and drug development. It is essential that we and our future generations have the skills to understand these technologies and scientific research to make informed choices about every aspect of their lives.

The A in STEAM also becomes crucial as the arts develop and encourage creativity, imagination and thinking out of the box. According to Forbes, these are the most in-demand soft skills to complement the STEAM skills for the next ten years Digital Literacy, Critical Thinking, Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, Collaboration, Flexibility, Leadership Skills and?Time Management.

It is no brainer, then we need to provide our students with opportunities to hone these skills, and therefore we need to rethink our educational models.

A method that has worked for me is to offer an integrated subject where student teams are set a problem or challenge that integrates STEM skills to engineer solutions following the design thinking methodology and producing well-researched and documented project documentation.

Using available resources, students can develop working prototypes and present their projects to local industry experts, thus inviting collaboration between schools and local industry, sometimes leading to enterprise developments. These networks can also be used to support access to technologies such as 3D designing and printing or small automation hardware and components.

Using global platforms like Coursera, Khan Academy, and TinkerCAD, students can upgrade their skills independently of schools relieving schools of these pressures to develop courses and curricula, especially for schools, especially in poorer communities.

Schools can avail of already existing opportunities too. Science exhibitions and other such competitions and grants to fund some resources are other opportunities that can support all schools.

The third suggestion I would like to give is to develop mini hubs for schools with local industry and possibly higher education institutions. This can help teachers and school staff deliver these programs and develop a network.

Also, having a leadership position for STEAM education with a special focus on integrating science and math to engineering a solution to problems with artistic creativity and through the use of technology, preferably headed by a women educator, would send an important message of importance and capability of women in these fields.