David L. Blustein Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology

1. David L. Blustein Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology LYNCH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION BOSTON COLLEGE STEM Education and Career Development

2. Goals for the Presentation • To consider the rationale for linking career exploration and STEM (science, math, and technology) education • To consider how educators and school counselors can work together in this effort

3. The Workforce of the 21st Century • The United States is underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers globally, with minorities and women especially underrepresented • STEM fields function as a gateway to high paying, challenging, and abundant job options

4. The Challenge: An American Imperative • From the Business/Higher Education Forum • “While the U.S. economy today is robust, productive, and remarkably innovative, it faces important competitive challenges. American business and educational leaders know that to remain competitive at home and abroad. • It is essential not only to transform the way we work—but also the way we educate and prepare future generations of Americans, especially those students who come from poor and historically disadvantaged backgrounds.

5. An American Imperative • “From our perspectives in business and higher education, we are deeply concerned by the shortfalls we see in America’s ability to remain competitive in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM. • These areas are cornerstones, fundamental to our ability to develop the skill sets and knowledge that will keep the United States intellectually vibrant and economically competitive. • In particular, we believe that there is more that we can do—and that we must do—to transform teaching with the goal of improving student learning”

6. Why the focus on STEM? • Moral issue: • Skills in STEM, even outside of STEM careers, are associated with greater access to career opportunities and rewarding work lives. • STEM skills are increasingly underscoring differences between those with privilege and those without. • Educational and career access is associated with STEM knowledge.

7. STEM Knowledge and Social Justice • Poor and working class students without adequate STEM skills are preparing for 20th century jobs. • Consider the current workforce: • How many jobs are left that do not require a good education? • What are these jobs like?

8. STEM Knowledge and Social Justice • Achievement gaps also exist among U.S. students based on race and ethnicity, and the gaps are even more dramatic when gender is added. • Hispanic and black students lag behind white students on practically every measure of science and math proficiency. • On the mathematics portion of the SAT college entrance exam, Asian-American and white students’ scores are much higher and are increasing more rapidly than those of black and Hispanic students. • Boys significantly outperform girls across all four race/ethnicity categories. • Cited from ACTE report

9. Why the focus on STEM? • The Economic Competitive Issue • The US is no longer even close to leading in research and development. • Our capacity to create wealth is becoming compromised by the decline in the quality of our workforce.

10. Why the focus on STEM? • STEM skills are important in all field. • Skill sets enhanced by STEM include: • Analyzing problems • Quantitative skills • Critical thinking • Scientific method • Logic • Creativity based on existing knowledge

11. Are we talking about only Ph.D.s? • Demand for STEM professionals with education and training above a high school diploma but below a bachelor’s degree is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. • For example, veterinary technicians, nursing assistants, pharmacy technicians, forensic-science technicians and dental hygienists are all among the fastest-growing occupations projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

12. The STEM Crisis:ACTE report • While some of the deficit in STEM professionals can be attributed to lack of interest, there is growing concern that students are not gaining the foundational skills necessary to be successful in STEM career areas even if they choose that path. • To what extent will students consider paths in which they do not feel competent?

13. The Skills Gap • Low student performance is evidenced on the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). • Math scores for 17-year-olds were essentially unchanged from 2004 to 2008, despite the fact that students are taking more and higher-level math courses in high school. • In fact, test results showed that 41 percent of those students did not even have an understanding of moderately complex math procedures and reasoning, such asfinding averages and making decisions based on graphs. • Cited from ACTE report

14. What is Globalization? • Relentless and unpredictable change • Cultural interchanges • Victory of free market capitalism • Product of human innovation and technology • Redistribution of wealth and resources internationally (although not always equitably) • All of the above???

15. History of Globalization • Began when one tribe of humans exchanged ideas and goods with other tribes. • Culminates in this very moment—NCDA Conference: 2007 • Questioning old boundaries • Exchanging ideas and products. • Ideally, we are poised to grow from this exchange

16. Three Stages of Globalization • 1492-1800: Period of exploration and conquest • 1800 to roughly 2000: • Multinational companies weaving together the economies of different countries • 2000-present • The world is flat… • Individuals can compete and collaborate globally. • Greater involvement of non-western and non-white communities and workers

17. Contemporary Manifestations of Globalization • Fall of the Berlin Wall • Outsourcing of jobs to nations that we had thought of as “third world”. • Call centers in India, South America • Shifts in national and regional economies • Whither… “Made in the USA” • Increasingly, knowledge will be what we export…

18. A Human Voice • The message we're getting now is that the company doesn't owe you anything. Consultants have told us that the company is not there for your emotional support, that they don't owe you raises or job security, just honesty. And that a day's pay for a day's work is honest. Everyone is shocked. The drones are panicking and looking for someone to tell them what to do. The better ones are looking for opportunity. (Kahn, 1996, p. 160)

19. Implications of Globalization:Career Development • Development of the boundaryless career • Movement from career counseling to career coaching and career management • Loss of the career contract • Shift in the grand career narrative of the 20th century

20. Implications of Globalization:Education • World class education is needed for everyone, not just the elites. • Interpersonal skills have become increasingly important • Multicultural communities and cultural competencies thrive in the global economy

21. The Crossroad: Stagnation vs. Inclusiveness • We are at a crossroads wherein our world is changing rapidly. • We have multiple options here:

22. A New Synthesis • This crisis has called for a new integration of science education and career/school counseling. • The UEI program represents an exemplar of this synthesis

23. Problem • How to motivate young people to develop and sustain interest in science and technology? • How to help students become all that they can be in school and work?

24. A Two-Pronged Plan • We need to enhance the quality and quantity of students in the STEM pipeline. • In order to accomplish this goal, we need to improve the quality and quantity of science teachers.

25. Career Education Help motivate students to internalize the connection between school and future work opportunities Builds sense of relevance, motivation for both content and work habits

26. Challenge and opportunity: • To develop coherent ways of infusing transferable skills with STEM career exploration into high school curriculums to encourage more young Americans to pursue STEM careers • Help counselors and educators to increase understanding of STEM skills and STEM careers, knowledge of the impact of globalization and the potential opportunity for students

27. Transferable skills • Core elements of knowledge and capacity that emerge in education and training • Premise: teachers and counselors can enhance the impact of STEM education by focusing on the transferable skills that are gained in the science and math curricula

28. Efficacy as obstacle • Some students are dissuaded to explore careers in science and technology because they do not realize their own competence and potential to succeed • Premise: Being made aware that those jobs require the same skills they have already shown competence in may help students feel encouraged

29. Components of student intervention • Identify and emphasize connections between skills learned during lessons and science and technology careers and daily life. • Explore careers in science and technology that use these skills • Identify internal and external barriers to advancement in science and technology and resources to overcome those barriers • Develop a career map with specific steps for reaching a goal

30. Biacoustics example: Transferable skills  Interpreting qualitative data  Observational skills  Making predictions/Hypothesizing  Inferring  Communication skills  Draw meaningful conclusions

31. Biacoustics example: Transferable skills  Interpret qualitative data  Observational skills  Make predictions/Hypothesizing  Making inferences  Communication skills  Draw meaningful conclusions

32. Identify Related jobs at varied levels of education • Broadcast and sound engineering technicians and radio operators: Set up, operate, and maintain a wide variety of electrical and electronic equipment involved in almost any radio or television broadcast, concert, play, musical recording, television show, or movie. • Education: Technical school or community college • Salary: $30,000 • Job outlook: Fairly good

33. Physicians and surgeons serve a fundamental role in our society and have an effect upon all our lives. They diagnose illnesses and prescribe and administer treatment for people suffering from injury or disease. Education: College and Medical school Salary: Large variation $150,000-300,000 Job outlook: Very good

34. Other activities Connecting skills to career activity: Students are asked to think about what types of skills individuals use while working in a common job which is not limited to science. Examples include jobs such as zoologist, lawyer, athlete, chemist, or musician. Students are asked to refer to the transferable skills glossary which contains skills they are presently using in class.

35. Research a scientist: This is a lesson where students use the internet (students involved with the present project have laptops in the classroom) to search for information about a minority or woman scientist chosen from a list we provide of important historical and contemporary scientists. • Students gather some of the following types of information: individuals’ contribution to science, type of science(s) they used, obstacles and barriers they had to overcome.

36. Transferable Skills: A Collaboration of Teachers and Counselors • Each lesson in STEM can be evaluated for transferable skills • The skill set should be presented in a generic way. • Once the skills are identified, teachers can list them and discuss how they will be learned

37. Transferable Skills: A Collaboration of Teachers and Counselors • The transferable skills can then be applied to a wide range of occupations. • Teachers can discuss how students can explore these careers.

38. Exploration and Relevance • The goals of the transferable skills process are as follows: • Engender exploration • Enhance relevance of STEM courses

39. Exploration • Self exploration • Who am I? • Identify attributes, interests, skills, and values • Exploration of school and work • How do we apply our self-knowledge to the world of work? • The O*net • Counseling • Guidance curriculum

40. Self-knowledge: Coat of Arms

41. Connecting self and career • Interest inventory assessment • Career exploration paper: Focuses on a field of interest or a specific occupation of interest • Integration of self-knowledge with information about careers and occupations. • We are promoting the ideal of having choice on one’s work life.

42. Connecting self and career • Interest inventory assessment • Career exploration paper: Focuses on a field of interest or a specific occupation of interest • Integration of self-knowledge with information about careers and occupations. • We are promoting the ideal of having choice on one’s work life.

43. Steps to the Future: Goal Maps

44. Final Points • Career development is essential in helping to enhance the relevance of an improved STEM curriculum. • Let’s review the following issue… • To what extent are we promoting self-determination in encouraging STEM career exploration?