My raison de'tre for STEM advocacy.
My name is Johnnie Jiao. I have recently graduated as my high school's first ever STEM Captain, a role which manages the extracurricular activites for students at my school in terms of all things STEM. Here, I want to talk about why I want to promote STEM education, and why it is so important.
STEM encapsulates four different fields of knowledge: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It is often thought to be a parallel to language and literature, and people tend to view it that way.
During my time at school, I openly expressed my interest in STEM, but as I reached my time as a senior, it became noticable that a lot of students was not interested in these topics, or even outwardly expressed their dislike for STEM in advocacy for literature or non-academic fields like sports.
Why did students show such a dislike to discussing STEM? I decided to investigate.
After asking the middle-years students (year/grade 7 to 9 Australian) their opinions on STEM, I concluded that students can feel certain stigma when discussing topics of STEM, as for them it may not seem "cool" or "popular." This leads to the later occurence of disliking STEM in general.
With the advancements in the fields of STEM now, there is steadily more need for individuals to understand with more depth how each field can impact our life.
Ultimately, I became my school's first ever STEM Captain, significantly impacting the school's STEM landscape. Being the STEM Captain not only required me to organize programs and tutor peers, but also to become the foundation for the inspiration and education of STEM beyond my year.
Here at PromoSTEM, I wish for everyone to be able to understand the core behind entertaining and engaging STEM activities, whilst being able to take away any potential resources or ideas to allow your own community to develop an interest in STEM, developing their critical thinking and imaginative skills.