Center for Digital Education: Digital STEM learning and the High School Student

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that tomorrow’s workforce will be dominated by science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations. However, U.S. students lag behind their peers internationally in these subject areas. As a result, schools need to ensure that the last few years of a student’s K-12 experience are filled with intensive STEM education.

Integrate technology and digital tools in the high school curriculum to create classrooms and environments that entice student interest. The use of technology in the classroom can stimulate and promote the kind of project-based, collaborative investigations in which students make observations, synthesize data, draw hypotheses and present findings.

Unlike traditional, teacher-centric learning, STEM-focused learning focuses on:

• Hands-on experiments, lab rotations
• Backyard experiential learning
• Team-based collaborative gaming
• STEM competitions to motivate students
• STEM mentors to augment teacher knowledge

Pueblo District No. 70 High School has created a list of how digital tools, particularly laptops, have transformed ordinary curriculum to technology-rich lessons:

• Easy and efficient access to Web-based content for both the teacher and the student
• Web-based research
• Real-time information
• Online collaboration
• Virtual classrooms that enable students to manage and communicate information
• Self-directed learning
• Distance and distributed learning that expands the classroom
• Individualized learning with opportunities for problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills