Spread too thin
Schools don’t specialize in STEM subjects anything like enough. Instead, they try to cover as many subjects as possible. And while this ambition to create universally able students is laudable, it unfortunately means that schools are forced to spread already limited resources far too thinly. Consequently, when schools do come to teach STEM subjects, they are unable to do so in enough detail to actually engage students. Schools skim across a range of stem subjects – normally including IT, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Maths – without giving students sufficient time to develop a real interest in any of them.
Whenever possible then, schools should specialize in STEM subjects. But if this isn’t possible, it’s a good idea to widen the range of extracurricular activities available to students so that they cover a range of STEM interests.
All science is not the same
Remember: most students who are engaged with STEM subjects aren’t interested in all of them at once. They’re interested in astronomy, medicine, or electronics. No one would assume that someone who’s interested in history must also enjoy Spanish, because they like the humanities. But people do often make similar assumptions about scientists. So for after-school societies, go beyond putting on a generalist ‘Science Club’. A student interested in astrophysics should be able to attend an after-school group focused on space; someone who wants to be a doctor should be able to sign up to a Medical Society.
Really utilize the lab
Furthermore, there is too much emphasis placed on textbooks in classrooms. A degree of old fashioned book-learning is necessary in every discipline, and STEM is certainly no exception, but this approach is far too dominant in today’s classrooms. There’s no easier way to make a fascinating, mind-bending subject dull than to give students a textbook and talk at them. The lab is what turns disinterested science pupils into highly skilled science graduates: experiments and practical work are vital, and at the very core of the scientific method. Yet not enough of either is done in our schools.
At Bellerbys College, Cambridge, we’ve tried a different approach. There’s no neglected English Literature course or understaffed history department: our specialty is STEM subjects, and all of our resources are directed that way. Our courses aim for depth: rather than try to give students a broad overview of everything, we have enrichment in areas such as medicine, robots, and several other STEM subjects that many students wouldn’t get a chance to explore until university–when in most cases, it’s too late.
(Next page: Creating a “positivity of learning environment”)
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