STEM Education Dbq

864 Words4 Pages

The future of the Earth is dependent upon science and mathematics development, whether it’s traveling millions of miles away to other planets, creating microscopic circuitry to control military technology, or figuring out just why the sky is blue and the sun is yellow. STEM education, therefore, is the most important frontier to pursue for the evolution of mankind. Not only do the STEM fields need to be nurtured and funded by society, but STEM fields of research and work need to be emphasized at a young age and encouraged for women and people of color. As the world becomes increasingly dependent upon advances in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields of work, less and less funding and societal support is …show more content…

Children show great scientific insight, even if their inquiries seem odd and unintelligent. In Source D, Sagan explains the importance of these questions, saying, “Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole . . . Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move onto something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know?” The dismissal of curiosity due to embarrassment of not knowing or the thought that it is inherently immature is detrimental to the future of STEM. Through discouraging children to pursue scientific inquiries, the interest in going into a STEM field is destroyed for them. Source A enforces the importance of introducing STEM education to children as early on as possible, explaining, “kids need to get involved with science at the elementary school lever to innovate ways to reach Mars by the 2030’s,” meaning that the biggest frontier, space exploration, will be impossible without this generation being inspired to go into a STEM career. Without educating children in STEM materials, the progress of mankind will halt abruptly; society will not be able to advance unless it breaks out of the cycle and encourages the movement into STEM