Thursday, February 09, 2012

Invitation to Engineering & Architecture Field

Last Friday I attended a STEM education summit and wrote a summary titled War on Poverty. Today I'm doing some follow up and reviewing my notes before I file them in one of my binders. Here's a couple of quotes/comments that I want to share.

"We need to develop habits of minds, persistence and problem solving."

"If we knew what it was we are doing, it would not be cause research."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge (Einstein quote). We want students to imagine a better world!"

"Engineering team works with scientists to develop a concept, then custom design and build the technology to implement the idea."

I wrote this while Dr. Ross Powell,a professor at NIU was describing the work done to develop the scientific research tools being used in a project to predict climate changes and future behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The graphic I used in this article was created for me by an intern from IIT who goes to college in Korea. Imagine what type of blueprint, tools and strategies we might innovate if volunteers from STEM industries were working with us to "develop a concept" and "design and build" the programs and services needed to reach more of the kids who are not being reached with STEM mentoring and education opportunities.

I've been reaching out to STEM firms and volunteers for almost 20 years with an invitation to take on this role. I've been pointing to work done in the field with links in our library.

If you run a high school or college service learning/STEM education project, why not connect with me and let the ideas I've collected over the past 35 years support work young people and workplace volunteers do to design and build "a better operating system" for helping youth living in high poverty areas move through school and into STEM and other careers.

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