Are we failing our STEM students?

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, China’s e-commerce giant, mentions at the World Economic Forum that the knowledge-based approach of “200 years ago”, would "fail our kids", who would never be able to compete with machines. Children should be taught “soft skills” like independent thinking, values and team-work, he said.

 "A teacher should learn all the time; a teacher should share all the time. Education is a big challenge now - if we do not change the way we teach thirty years later we will be in trouble.

With my current research on connecting STEM in school to Industry, we met an Architect, Mr. Obaid Hakim to understand how the concept of trigonometry, similarity, congruency and geometry lent itself to designing of buildings. 

Over a period of time trying to understand where each of us were coming from, we had mailed Mr. Hakim certain queries, namely:

Q. How to find the height of a building standing a certain distance from the building?
Q. How to ensure the measurements created for the designing of the buildings are exact and angles are precise?
Q. How do Architects design towers in particular area?
Q. How do Architects apply trigonometry ratios on spherical structure?
Q. How does an architect use trigonometry to examine land and determine its boundaries and size?
Q. How does an architect conduct survey before before designing structures?

Over a long discussion, we came to some truly hard hitting facts. 

1. The Architect had used trigonometry merely one or two times in the entire career. Nowhere was any concept of circles or the numerous theorems taught to understand circle principles in school were used.  

2. 90% of the time, form follows function. The project is designed and geometry is fitted in to fit the function. 

3. Everything is designed on the computer. The software helps You need to know basic geometry concepts like Pythagoras theorem, mensuration concepts like finding volume, surface area.

4. Having knowledge of Physics and Chemistry concepts like thermal physics, materials and their properties, exothermic reactions, latent heat is desired. 

5. Having knowledge of local Geography of the area is mandatory. To build the building, a local soil testing is needed to design the structural support desired. 

He in fact suggested that we study basic local structures in varied regions like desert, mountainous, temperate regions to get a holistic understanding of how STEM concepts help in designing structures. This was an eye opener for us as we realized that the quality of question we posed were so inadequate, mainly because we too had not experienced Industries and their working. The education system and the Industries seem so isolated from each other. 

He lamented that Architectural interns are the biggest liabilities in his office as one had to spend maximum time helping them unlearn, teaching and training them. 

This brings me once again to the fact that there is a huge gap between skills taught at school/college and desired at work. According to the UK Commission for Employment & Skills, 43pc of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) vacancies are hard to fill. This is mainly down to a shortage of applicants with the required skills and experience. The core root of this growing skills gap is education, from school through to university and workplace training.

How about if we taught the concepts of STEM through projects bringing it together instead of teaching in fragments. One such project being, 'Design your school within an area of 8500 square meters and a budget of 1 crore rupees ensuring you have kept the following parameters in mind:

1. The stability using the geographical understanding of your region

2. The materials to be used

3. The space allocation for classrooms/washrooms/multipurpose areas/staff-rooms/offices/library

4. Best utilization of natural resources

5. Budget allocation

6. Fire safety/ emergency exits'.

STEM subjects cannot be taught in isolation. Only when we see them harmonizing with each other using ARTS as a medium to communicate and express, will we see quality education touching every soul. 

If you feel as passionate as me to link STEM in school to Industry, then please connect and let us bring in a revolution.