Industry Participation in Informal Education to Move the STEM Agenda
From Rick McMaster
 Recent publications and articles have discussed the importance of informal education in moving our national STEM agenda forward. The Role of Informal Science in the State Education Agenda from the National Governors Association includes the recommendation “Explicitly include informal science education as a key part of an action agenda to improve STEM literacy and proficiency among the state’s youth.” Dr. John Durant of the MIT Museum believes in A Celebration of Science With a Popular Touch through the many science festivals nationally which he has brought to life. And as the World Resources Institute suggests, Get Out Of the Classroom: and Into Sustainable Enterprise!
So where can private industry help? Through its employees! I have been involved in informal education and technical outreach to students for over 15 years. Here are my 6Rs of outreach.
You make it REAL. In your job you are taking elements of STEM and applying them to real problems and finding real solutions to them. And it often involves all four plus others – computer science, entrepreneurship, arts… Show students how it works.
You can make it RELEVANT. There are plenty of challenges out there in the world that students want to help solve and you can help make apparent the relevance of STEM to finding the solutions. Take a look at the NAE’s Grand Challenges as a starting point, but ask students what they see as the critical problems that need to be solved.
You should RELATE STEM to what interests them. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math have so many connections to things that students touch everyday, from baseballs to books, from cars to cooking, from shoes to SmartPhones. Help them see the relationships so they understand why what they study is important.
You can be a ROLE model. Not all students have a scientist, engineer or other technical professional in their family; I didn’t. But students can see you and the success you’ve had as something they can also achieve. This is especially important for underrepresented minorities in STEM. They can help fill the technical positions in the future.
You can become a REALISTIC mentor. You have experiences that can help guide them in their choice of classes and studies that supports their career aspirations. As you become familiar with the students and their capabilities, you can set high but achievable goals and help them work toward those goals.
And finally, use the many RESOURCES available to you. If you are new to informal education, there are a lot of people who are happy to share materials that have worked well for them. Among my favorites is the wide range of materials available from PBSKids, from Sid the Science Kid, through Cyberchase, to Design Squad Nation. IBM has made available its volunteer activity kits including one on Watson. For those interested in mentoring, MentorNet is a great place to start. But don’t feel that you have to limit yourself to just these resources. There are many more out there and the list is growing every day.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and share your enthusiasm – your experiences – apply the 6Rs and encourage students in STEM and more. You will find it very rewarding.
Rick McMaster is the STEM Advocate at IBM’s University Programs Worldwide. You can follow Rick on Twitter: @drkold
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