President Obama, in a press conference yesterday, announced an expansion to last year’s Educate to Innovate campaign. If you’re not familiar with Educate to Innovate, you’ve probably heard about STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math that became popular with the launch of this program. The goal of the program is to improve our nation’s ranking in STEM literacy compared to other nations and to create graduates who are ready to lead in 21st century jobs.
The expansion, dubbed Change the Equation, is a partnership between public schools and private businesses to create new STEM education initiatives in 100 schools and communities identified as high-need. These programs will allow students to participate in after-school activities such as robotics competitions, provide additional training for math and science teachers and create new ways parents can get involved with their child’s education in science. This hands on learning can help to make theoretical ideas tangible and help to inspire kids to learn more on their own.