Our culture has evolved tremendously over the past few decades and the world has changed, as we know it. Today, our World War II-era grandparents are learning to use iPads and surf the internet to connect with family and friends in our interconnected world. Today, our children are learning to read and write, months before those grandparents mastered the skill of keeping their balance. Education has also seen drastic change in the ever-changing in which we live.
For my paradigm shift paper, I am interested in analyzing the development and infiltration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) into education and how this is changing the focus of the American public education system. While I love mathematics and hope to pursue a degree in this field at Penn State, I don’t understand why this acronym of STEM was born out of worry, just a decade ago and how it became incredibly powerful throughout that short period of time.