The Importance of Introducing STEM to Elementary Students

Steve Adubato sits down with Paul Winslow, PhD, President & Co-Founder, Students 2 Science, Inc., to talk about the importance of introducing STEM concepts to students as early as elementary school and the need to serve underserved populations in order to grow the future of innovation and technology in New Jersey.

9/14/19 #112

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome to Think Tank. I'm Steve Adubato. Coming to you from the Agnes Varis NJTV Studio. We're welcoming... we're pleased to welcome Doctor Paul Winslow, President and Co-Founder of an organization called Students 2 Science, which is? Students 2 Science is a non-for-profit that focuses on inspiring, motivating, and educating elementary, middle, and high school students. Good stuff. By the way, this entire edition of Think Tank focuses on young people. What do we need to do to help them be the best they can be? It's also part of our innovation series. So I'm curious about this. Why is teaching STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math so important for really young kids? Well I think it's so important for... Excuse me. It's so important for everybody. Scientific literacy, especially today, in our society, where we're such a technology-advanced, or technology-driven, society. So... but when you talk about kids and improving their scientific literacy, it's important to start them at an early age in the educational process. Because, unlike many other careers, science has to build on something. It has to build on the basics. It has to build on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Okay? And so there has to be this certain amount of educational rigor, and introducing it young and building on it is the most effective way to do that. How does that help the nation? How does that help the nation is that we, you know, it's the only way we'll be able to compete globally in this economy. Break that down. What does teaching young people more about science, having them be more literate, if you will, with science... science literate, as you said, technologically savvy? And I don't just mean being able to mess around with it with a pad. Why does it help the...? How does that actually help our country and our society? As we all know, and as it... you know, there's a deficiency in scientists to fuel the economy that we have currently. Especially here in the state. New Jersey is a technologically advanced state, home to just about every type of technology belief. You know, starting with pharmaceuticals, all the way to, you know, computer programming, and electronics, and communications. And so it's important for us to be able to provide a pipeline, or a pathway to those needed careers. That's where the jobs are? That's where the jobs are. Let's do this folks. As we're talking to Doctor Winslow, I'm gonna do this. Ask our team to put up this Twitter, feed, if you will, their Twitter account, my Twitter account, I'll tell you why. One of the things about Think Tank that's particularly exciting to all..."