You got a degree in STEM and now what? - An overview of STEM career pathways

A degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) can offer a gateway to many great careers.

The poster below outlines possible career pathways for STEM graduates:

Download the poster as a high-resolution PDF here. 

 Source: http://findingada.com/resources/resources-for-schools/posters/

Gender stereotypes and the lack of women in STEM careers

Role models and encouragement can make a big difference when it comes to education program and career choices. Currently, less than 25% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in the US are held by women.

Recent research (*) suggests that boys and girls have similar psychological traits and cognitive abilities, thus gender is not the determining factor for careers in STEM.

One contributor could be repeated (but often concealed) encouragements that reinforce gender stereotypes (see video below). Women need more role models, opportunities to experience, and encouragement towards careers in STEM.



(*) Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (2006). Gender similarities in mathematics and science. Science, 314(5799), 599-600

Kidzania - a vocation education theme park

KidZania firemen roleplay
[Picture source: www.kidzania.com.sg]

KidZania model city
[Picture source: http://sentimentalfreak.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/kidzania-comes-in-manila-2014/]

KidZania is a Mexican owned company who runs a series of vocation-based theme parks around the world.

Each KidZania location features an indoor scaled-down (2/3 of full size) model city in which children can experience different professions through role-play (following the instructions of animators). Around 60 different establishments (including a hospital, fire station, beauty salon, bank, radio station, supermarket, television station, pizzeria, and theater) offer nearly 100 different role-playing activities.

To simulate the real world, KizdZania teaches capitalist-consumerist values of earning and spending money. The role-play gets rewarded with KidZania's own currency, kidZos, which can be spent within KidZania for goods and services provided by other children working in that profession.

Each Kidzania role-play activity is heavily and directly sponsored by multi-national or local brands (what they call "integrated marketing partnership"). For example, aviation professions are sponsored by American Airlines, bank professions are sponsored by HSBC, hospitality professions are sponsored by Coca Cola, Domino's pizza, Nestle, Kellogg's and Danone, Engineering professions are sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors and Honda, and so on.



Currently, the Kidzania franchise has locations in Mexico City, Monterrey (Mexico), Tokyo, Jakarta, Osaka, Lisbon, Dubai, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Santiago, Bangkok, Kuwait, Mumbai, Cairo, and Istanbul (with several new locations in planning).

Read another blog entry on KidZania here.

Inspirational future of learning video

What will the future of learning look like? GOOD magazine created a video that discusses technology-oriented visions from Whole-in-the-Wall and Khan academy to serious gaming. The video features education innovators like Dr. Sugata Mitra, visiting professor at MIT; Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy; and Dr. Catherine Lucey, Vice Dean of Education at UCSF.

The video suggests that the current school system is still based on Victorian-age ideals (such as submission) and industrial age skills (such as arithmetic . People featured in the video suggest that education needs to prepare students for the post-industrial world. Basic arithmetic skills are now less relevant than reading comprehension, information search and retrieval skills, and critical evaluation skills.

How Facebook affects Romance

According to a poll in Seventeen Magazine among 10,000 guys and girls ages 16 to 21, Facebook plays an important part in how teenagers make romantic connections.

Within one week of meeting a new person, 79 percent of people add the other person as a friend; and after adding a new friend, 60 percent of people stalk their crush's profile once a day (40 percent check in on their would-be soulmate several times a day).

Moreover, contrary to beliefs that social networking is erroding interpersonal communication, 72 percent of those surveyed said that talking to someone online brings you closer to them in-real-life.

Facebook is also used to end romantic relationships: 21% of respondents said they would break up with someone via changing their status message. Surprisingly, 73 percent of people keep their exes in the friends list. I'd like to see some stats on how many of those 73 percent stalk said ex after the breakup.

CNN: Boy Meets Girl: How Facebook functions in modern romace

Creative Student Quiz Answers

Here is a list of creative alternative answers found in students' tests: Creative Student Answers