Everyone’s talking about the importance of STEM education these days. How can you know if your child is getting the learning opportunities they need to succeed in the job market of the future? Talk with your child’s teacher or principal about STEM — science, technology, engineering, and math — at your child’s school. Let them know you think STEM education should be a top priority. Here are six questions to start the conversation.

  1. How are they teaching STEM at school?
  2. Do science and math lessons overlap? Are there coding classes? Are students encouraged to compete in any STEM competitions, such as Science Olympiad? Or Technovation?
  3. Are there after-school STEM programs?
  4. What training do teachers receive for teaching STEM subjects? A growing number of resources support teachers to help them cover STEM subjects more effectively. Courses like Connecting Kids to Mathematics and Science give teachers hands-on instruction in integrating math, science, and technology into their lesson plans.
  5. If your child is in high school, is there a mentorship or internship program that matches interested kids with STEM professionals? Pathways to Science is a resource for STEM internship programs for students.
  6. Does the PTA have plans to fund additional STEM programs?

Learn more about how to make change happen at your child’s school.