Which role did STEM education play in society and why schools must opt for STEM education in India?

Which role did STEM education play in society and why schools must opt for STEM education in India?

STEM education can be a revolution if it gets the tools and system which is needed for encouragement to the students. STEM is the representation of the words Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and STEM learning promotes quality learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork among students so they can use those skills for the development of the country.

The role of STEM in the current education system is enormous if it is applied accurately. Schools need to promote a STEM education system and make the relevant tools available for the students so that they can enroll with the STEM tools from an early age for the overall development of the child.

What are the benefits of promoting STEM education by schools in India?

• STEM education focuses on the explanation to the students about the problem-solving by using the knowledge they have got from STEM education.
• It teaches different innovative skills to the students, such as computer science, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making, etc.
• STEM education system focuses on the experimental studies for building self-confidence for the overall development of the students.
• The focus of STEM education is for making a better understanding of teamwork so that they can value the concept of team management and can understand their role in the team.
• The STEM education system makes an understanding of the concept to solve the problems in real life.
• STEM education is beneficial for the average students for understanding the concepts with ease.
• The activities are performed in such a way that every student can understand the topics and also sparks interest in STEM subjects so that the kids can pursue their careers in the STEM industries.
• The core of STEM education is on the science subjects and their experimental studies so the students can solve the particular problems with alternate solutions.
• The focus of STEM education is not for the grades, but it focuses on the experimental studies for the concepts. So the knowledge from the STEM education system stays longer as compared to the traditional ways of studies.
• STEM education creates good learning that helps to evolve the mindset of students with the observations of learning at their own pace.
• STEM education transforms the students from being a crammer to a better learner so that they part in the development of the country.

How can Schools take part in promoting STEM education in India?

Schools and other educational institutions can integrate the K-12 system with STEM, which will produce explicit connections between the four subjects. The Indian government can promote STEM by providing all the necessary tools for STEM education to the schools. The need for labs, e-learning tools, smart classes, etc. is necessary for making the students take an interest in innovative learning for their best evolution in society. Teachers can develop the interest of STEM subjects in the students by promoting creative learning among them which will frame the mind of students in such a way will make them a good thinker and can dive deeper to understand the methodology of all the disciplines. The schools can make their students a better leader, a tech person, and a professional in the various genres by introducing STEM education in their curriculum. The experiment-based toys on STEM learning can be introduced by the institutions so that younger children can take an interest in STEM education and their mind can start developing itself at an early age. There are robot-based STEM learning toys that help the students to learn necessary coding and programming and develop the interest. These types of STEM learning toys are the initial things which can enhance the intelligence of the children from childhood and can be a benchmark for schools to get included in promoting STEM education. 

What are the challenges faced by schools to promote STEM education in India?

 Institutions can face specific challenges for the promotion of STEM education in schools. Some of them are:

• It is a common myth among educators that promoting STEM education in schools can divert students from their academic curriculum and their focus from the regular studies can diverge. But the truth of STEM education is just the opposite of the myth because it enables learning ability in students which can be essential for the overall curriculum.
• For a STEM teacher, the government hasn’t provided any guidelines for STEM education, which makes any non-professional to introduce himself as the STEM teacher, which can be a negative part. Hiring a well-experienced teacher in their respective domain can be a mark for the educational institution to introduce STEM learning effectively.
• The introduction of the STEM courses starts from primary schooling because if it gets started in middle school, it might be hard for many students to find it effective for their learning. The schools can find a way to make the students comfortable for learning new things.
• The main objective of STEM programs is to work for every student and make them capable of solving tasks. However, it is still noticed that if the teacher underestimates the average student and only focuses on the naturally motivated student, the average student will stop learning STEM and think it’s a futile system for them. If a student understands the concepts at a slow pace, then it is the responsibility of the teacher to make him understand the concept with proper guidance.

 To sum up

With such benefits, the STEM education system is a little bit challenging for competing with the current education system, which is still focusing on grades over knowledge. STEM education should be implied in schools from the primary level so that it can be beneficial for the overall performance of students. STEM education and learning hold a deep relationship for letting the students think without cramming the concept, which is crucial for industry-level studies. If the students get the learning environment from the primary age, it will help them to engage with the understanding of concepts in their future which can be a mark for making the innovators of the future.