Unlike any other field of education that is taught around the world, STEM is one that stands out and is stressed widely.
In 1962, the world saw a new curriculum called IB introduced at a convention in Geneva because they found that students were passive learners who weren’t benefitting from just being spoken at and absorbing the information they were being taught by educators. This led a group of educators to think of a better, more effective way of teaching. 6 years later, in 1968, the IB Organisation was recognized, and now the IB program is being taught in more than 4,000 schools worldwide.
This story is extremely similar to STEM and how it was pioneered in the United States of America during the Golden Age of Innovation. Going back 60 years, during the Sputnik Era, the Russian Satellite was launched into orbit in the year 1957, and with that came the proposal of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is now widely known as NASA. That was the era when JFK and Dwight Eisenhower were in positions of leadership and empowered students to become leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
60 years on, STEM has grown in every regard, but while some nations are taking the lead, others are having a hard time keeping up. The lack of discussion on the declining interest in STEM education has led to a myriad of job positions being unfilled and a lot of lost opportunities. NASA might be ready to step foot on Mars in the next decade, and with self-driving cars having arrived, the future we were looking forward to is already here. This requires a workforce filled with innovators and inventors who emerge from the world of STEM. However, the interest of the youth seems to be shifting towards other professions and if it continues to do so, STEM’s impact will lessen.
Back in the 1950s, when referring to people whose work was mainly associated with thinking, the term ‘Knowledge Worker’ was used, which was coined by Peter Druker. While this productivity-based approach was widely used by various organizations back in the day, it is rapidly becoming obsolete. Google came up with the concept of ‘Smart Creatives’ which promotes the understanding of ideas in a broader context. They believe this is the only pathway toward innovative breakthroughs. This is best explained by the idea of ‘21st Century Skills.’
STEM education plays an extremely important role in the development of 21st-century skills. The hands-on learning and real-world applications help students attain literary and life skills. Such skills open up the student’s minds to new things and set them on a fast track toward innovation. As a result, the importance of enabling and influencing students to pursue education in STEM is rising rapidly because after all, they are the leaders of tomorrow.
Focusing on the technology aspect of STEM, we see digitalization in every part of our life, which is allowing the job market to rapidly grow as well. Microsoft, Apple, and Google, along with various other prominent brains in the industry always value an individual with unmatched technical knowledge, who is also an innovator. This is a model various organizations are implementing in their corporate culture as well, including GLOWSIMS.
At GLOWSIMS’ our mission is to empower every student in Pakistan to see the value education in STEM offers and how it benefits each individual in the longer run. We, being an IT-based company operating in the education sector, want to ensure the growth of every student in the best way possible and provide them with the platform they need to excel in their field.
