Abstract:

Making STEM more Innovative. Become less of an acronym and more an amalgamation. Considering strategies to encourage more inclusivity and creativity through redesign of gateways, leveraging design thinking strategies and encourage students to think outside the box, experiment with different approaches, and embrace failure as a learning opportunity. Seek to foster innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset for career ready students that have empathy and collaborative approaches to working within diverse teams.

Reimagining STEM higher education to generate a more diverse and proactive workforce in the United States. For years, disparities in STEM degree completion has been a topic of increasing concern among policy makers, educational leaders, and the scientific community at large. On a global scale, disparities in STEM educational achievement is a persistent and pressing issue, causing a myriad of education reform and intervention efforts to combat achievement gaps (Clark, 2014). At times when enrollment trends are seeing an increase in under-represented minorities (URM) in higher education, there is still a lack of representational parity across institutional distributions. In the United States a growing population of minority students and increasing racial disparities in STEM degree attainment have raised much concern over the country’s ability to maintain its prominence in the fields of technology and scientific innovations (Holdern & Lander, 2010; National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, 2019).

As we examine this challenge, it is important to reflect needs both for more pragmatic advice and deeper senses of connection and social meaning regarding the subject matter. Increasing minority participation in STEM programs in higher education requires a comprehensive approach that addresses various barriers and promotes inclusivity. We are adopting a multifaceted approach to both address the participation diversity and the shifting nature of education models to support industry 4.0. This requires a focus on developing the skills and knowledge that align with the demands of the rapidly changing technological landscape, increased collaborative approaches with diverse teams. Our goal is to develop key intervention strategies that will create a net upward force, to increase persistence, reduce attrition, and successfully increase diversity in the STEM pipeline and workforce, while simultaneously stimulate deeper investigations into future industries.

We examine approaches that addresses pipeline hurdles at entry into college including, realities of socio-economic backgrounds, an restructure of first year experiences, integration of the creative arts studio methodology, embracement of empathy and socio ecological problems, and interdisciplinary collaborative approaches.

References:
[1] Clark, J. V. (2014). “The Road to Excellence: Promoting Access and Equity to Close the Achievement gap Internationally,” in Closing the Achievement gap from an International Perspective (Dordrecht: Springer), 307–315. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4357-1_15
[2] National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2018). Science and Engineering Degrees, by Race and Ethnicity of Recipients. https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/degreerecipients/.

Keywords:

Active Learning, Broadening Participation, Communities of Practice, Convergence Education, Empathic Learning.