PA State Education Hearing on Science, Technology,Engineering, Mathematics(STEM)Education

Velda V. Morris, Robotics Education Specialist, Co-Chair Urban STEM Strategy Group
Chairman Roebuck, Chairman Clymer and members of the Education Committee, I am
appreciative of this event to submit testimony to the committee on an issue of great
importance to our global competitiveness, STEM Education.
The Secondary Robotics Initiative (SRI) is the School District of Philadelphia's premier
instructional STEM vehicle utilized to educate all students in the region with a specific
focus on girls and underrepresented populations. SRI is one of the largest urban
research based robotics program in the United States. It is comprised of fifty middle
and high school schools with business, industry, and higher education partners. Yearly,
over 60 teachers and 750 students are involved in STEM related activities through
robotics providing access to national competitions and STEM experts in the following
ways:
Changing Expectations Career Tour --a group of professionals from industry and
business dedicate five months of their time to visit elementary schools to
enlighten, encourage and change the expectations of students to pursue STEM
fields.
Boosting Engineering Science &Technology (BEST) www.bestinc.org for middle
and high schools
Philadelphia FIRST LEG0 League (FLL) www.firstlegoleague.org for elementary
and middle schools
Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch Challenge
www.phila.kl2.pa.us/offices/ccawareness for middle schools thru college
Preparing Tomorrow Innovative Leaders: A Technology Symposium --for middle
through high schools
Additionally, programs like SRI need to bring cutting edge "smart technology" to
life in the form of project based learning.
Than mean formal and informal lessons must involve the following: Authentic "hands
on" learning activities that engage student' interest and motivation. Reflect on types of
learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom,
communication, presentation, time management, research, inquiry, self-assessment and
reflection.
The STEM Pipeline --at Risk?
More S&P SO0 CEO's obtained their undergraduate degrees in engineering than any
other major
About 1/3 of US students intending to major in engineering switch majors before
graduating
Undergraduate Degrees in Natural Science or Engineering.
Singapore 67% China 50% France 47%
South Korea 38% United States 15%
Global markets ignite the quest for new fast-paced transformations as new technologies
and whole industries emerge quarterly. President Barack Obama and Congress has
provided states stimulus funds to strengthen the workforce to conduct mandatory
technological, structural and safety improvements to our great land. It impels us to
realize that work paradigms are changing and we must get the education equation right
or else ........ Using robotics for workforce development and college prep leads to
intriguing pathways of "education, discovery and innovation".
"The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can
afford not to."
-Marian Wright Edelman
Projections indicate over the next decade for the need of over 2 million teachers, of
which 240,000 will be middle and high school mathematics and science specialists[l]
coordinated efforts must be made to recruit pre-service teachers to enter mathematics
and science studies, and gain certification.
Also, the retiring workforce of baby boomers in science, mathematics and engineering
over the next decade must be encouraged and offered pathways to enter teaching upon
retirement.
Studies show that many teachers leave the profession after 5 years or less, so we need
to provide beginning math and science teachers with induction programs for retention
and development - and make sure that is sustained support.
To attract and retain precollege science and mathematics teachers, we must provide
quality, sustained professional development experiences for all K-12 science and
mathematics teachers that will increase and deepen content knowledge, promote a
variety of pedagogical approaches and develop questioning strategies, which will
advance higher order thinking of all their students.
Encourage higher education leaders to strengthen K-8 teacher education programs to
provide a deeper understanding of the content knowledge necessary to teach
mathematics and science.
Invest in research on teaching and learning that will better inform development of
science and mathematics curricula and pedagogical approaches.
[I] National Center for Education Statistics, National Commission on Mathematics, and
Science Teaching for the 21st Century