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STEM Awareness Starts at the Elementary and Middle Schools

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Conference

2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Conference

Location

Washington, District of Columbia

Publication Date

April 6, 2018

Start Date

April 6, 2018

End Date

April 7, 2018

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--29491

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/29491

Download Count

398

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Paper Authors

biography

Rajarajan Subramanian Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, The Capital College

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Rajarajan Subramanian is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. Previously, he worked for four years as Transportation Engineer at Maryland State Highway Administration. He earned his Ph.D. and master’s degree in engineering from the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering, University of Florida. He has 25 years of experience in government, academia, and industry. He was a Senior Lecturer at Annamalai University, India, teaching civil engineering for about 10 years. He also worked in Linton Institute of Technology as a Senior Lecturer in Ipoh, Malaysia, for three years.

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Abstract

STEM Awareness Starts at the Elementary and Middle Schools Rajarajan Subramanian1 1 Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg

Abstract Is there a shortage of talented workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in America? Yes is the answer to this question when various statistics of data are considered from different authentic government sources. Then the next question is how do we increase the STEM skills among the young Americans who pursue their K-12 education? Policymakers and School administrators across the nation have embraced the slogan “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) but there is a lot of confusion as to where to start the K-12 academic curriculum.

This paper explores the different case studies and literature data available up to date to figure out how the importance of STEM education can be instilled in the young minds of the K-12 school system. The author strongly feels that the STEM education should be started at the Elementary or Middle School level covering the first to eighth-grade students based on the fact the young minds can be easily groomed at the very early age matching their educational interests. This paper will explore the details of how the different methods, technologies that can be used for enhancing the knowledge of STEM in Elementary and Middle School students. Also, this paper will explore the possibility of introducing STEM courses at Elementary and Middle School levels.

Subramanian, R. (2018, April), STEM Awareness Starts at the Elementary and Middle Schools Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--29491

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