System Analysis for STEM
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<strong>System</strong>s <strong>Analysis</strong> in Education?<br />
Page 6-1<br />
Engineers have long understood the value of subjecting an activity to a systems analysis. One aspect of the systems<br />
analysis is developing a flow diagram that recognizes the necessary centers of actions and the flows that connect them.<br />
Inherently, there are feedback loops that must exist to ensure the coordination of actions that makes the system succeed.<br />
⇒A <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong>⇐ applies a flow diagram that shows the principal stakeholders and the flow of personnel among the<br />
stakeholders. Taking the high school stakeholder as referring to classroom activities that engage all students, the flow<br />
diagram <strong>for</strong> early 21 st century <strong>STEM</strong> education (Figure 6-1) indicates no effective feedback loop between the science-rich<br />
and the high school. (Note that most of the very valuable <strong>STEM</strong> activities sponsored by the science-rich accommodate a<br />
small subset of high school students as described elsewhere.)<br />
Failure in a feedback loop or its lack of existence may have catastrophic results. Early in the Industrial Revolution, a New<br />
England valley became home to many companies making machine-tools, the foundation devices <strong>for</strong> mechanical industrial<br />
production. For a century, the education community in that valley supplied a continuing source of very trainable new<br />
employees to the industry. By coincidence, a severe hiring slowdown and a school improvement program occurred<br />
simultaneously over a spread of several years. Lacking the feedback loop to the industry, school personnel decided that<br />
their vocational programs and shop courses were no longer needed. Demand <strong>for</strong> the highly individualized products of the<br />
industry returned, but the now purely academic school programs were not developing personnel with skills needed <strong>for</strong> the<br />
industry. Unable to find suitable entry-level employees, many companies moved their operations and employment abroad<br />
and the economy of the valley became severely depressed. All young people were leaving the area to find office and<br />
business jobs that did not exist in the valley. The negative economic development was reversed only when the necessary<br />
feedback loop became re-established when the CEO of one company considering moving offshore decided to find out why<br />
they could no longer find the previously available personnel by meeting with a school principal. Soon, appropriate school<br />
programs and courses reappeared, students became potential employees, and companies started returning. The economy<br />
of the valley recovered.
Page 6-2<br />
Brief History of Applying the Complete <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong> to Seminal Education Events<br />
The complete <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong> (Figure 6-3) does not appear to have been used during the past century to in<strong>for</strong>m significantly<br />
the decision-making process <strong>for</strong> addressing high school <strong>STEM</strong> education. Throughout the century, committees developing<br />
recommendations <strong>for</strong> high school <strong>STEM</strong> courses of year-long courses of biology, chemistry and physics appear to have used<br />
the <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong> flow diagram shown as Figure 6-2. At the beginning of the 20 th century, biology was just starting to be<br />
recognized as a unifier of a variety of fields such as botany and zoology; identification of cell organelles was still a halfcentury<br />
in the future. Chemists were just beginning to recognize the organizing value of the Periodic Table developed about<br />
a half-century earlier. Physicists were discovering subatomic particles and had not settled on the general structure of the<br />
atom; discovery of the neutron was many years in the future. Industry was working on the assembly line principle of<br />
subdividing work to reduce training and improve efficiency; chemical engineering was just starting to be<br />
recognized as a field of engineering. Developing a <strong>STEM</strong> course structure that served <strong>for</strong> more than a century was a<br />
remarkable accomplishment at this time.<br />
A look at major events seeking to improve high school <strong>STEM</strong> education over the past century suggests that some<br />
major stakeholders have been ignored consistently. The “Science-Rich” box at the top of Figure 6-3<br />
represents the 70% of <strong>STEM</strong>-trained personnel that work <strong>for</strong> industry, the 10% that work <strong>for</strong> government<br />
agencies, and the 10% that work <strong>for</strong> non-profit organizations and independent research organizations, including the<br />
professoriate that has research as its first priority. A review of the personnel engaged in decision-making<br />
events shows that very few representatives of the science-rich were engaged in the seminal education events. Modeler<br />
observed directly at many education meetings that the one or two representatives of the science-rich community typically<br />
were (usually unintentionally) ignored by the expertly articulate educators as science education improvements were<br />
designed and implemented.
Page 6-3<br />
Science-rich<br />
Industry<br />
Government Mission Agencies<br />
Post-secondary Research and Support Labs<br />
Research Organizations<br />
Local Businesses & Services<br />
Representatives<br />
0 4-5<br />
2-4 2 of 40<br />
Early 1900s<br />
Silos<br />
Institutionalized<br />
Biology<br />
Chemistry<br />
Physics<br />
Total control<br />
by educators<br />
Late 1950s &<br />
Early 1960s<br />
Post-Sputnik<br />
Projects<br />
1990s<br />
First Science<br />
Educ. Stds.<br />
Late 2000s &<br />
Early 2010s<br />
NGSS<br />
Today<br />
Silos<br />
Continued with<br />
Biology<br />
Chemistry<br />
Physics<br />
NAS, E & M Add Engineering<br />
Figure 6-3
Page 6-4<br />
As displayed in Figure 6-3, only about 10 to 20 persons represented vast numbers of <strong>STEM</strong> specialists (records showing<br />
employers of committee and task <strong>for</strong>ce members sometimes are ambiguous) <strong>for</strong> some of the most important and directionchanging<br />
events <strong>for</strong> high school <strong>STEM</strong> courses in the past century. Examination of the personnel flow in the <strong>STEM</strong> system as<br />
shown by Figure 6-2 also suggests that science-rich communities had little participation in decision-making processes to help<br />
educators determine the “right” things to teach in the limited time available, to facilitate bringing up-to-date <strong>STEM</strong><br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation into the classroom, and to provide students current in<strong>for</strong>mation about preparing <strong>for</strong> and working in <strong>STEM</strong> fields.<br />
Current <strong>STEM</strong> activities sponsored and/or operated by the science-rich tend to be episodic and often available only to<br />
students already interested sufficiently in <strong>STEM</strong> to invest extracurricular time <strong>for</strong> participation. ⇒A <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong>⇐<br />
(Figure 6-1) suggests only one of many possible ways to engage <strong>STEM</strong> specialists meaningfully in <strong>STEM</strong> classrooms at low total<br />
cost to all concerned.
Pre-Secondary<br />
H.S. Implementation<br />
University<br />
Biology Dept.<br />
Chemistry Dept.<br />
Physics Dept.<br />
Engineering Depts.<br />
⇒A <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong>⇐<br />
Military<br />
General Employment<br />
Unemployed<br />
Community College<br />
and<br />
Specialty Schools<br />
Page 6-5<br />
Student Flow<br />
Teacher Flow<br />
<strong>STEM</strong> Specialist Flow<br />
Science-Rich Community<br />
Industry<br />
Government Mission Agencies<br />
Post-secondary Institutions<br />
Research Organizations<br />
Local Businesses<br />
Services<br />
Education Dept.<br />
Figure 6-2
Teaching<br />
Team<br />
Pre-Secondary<br />
H.S. Implementation<br />
University<br />
Biology Dept.<br />
Chemistry Dept.<br />
Physics Dept.<br />
Engineering Depts.<br />
⇒A <strong>STEM</strong> <strong>System</strong>⇐<br />
Military<br />
General Employment<br />
Unemployed<br />
<strong>STEM</strong> Catalysts and<br />
Dynamos Associations<br />
National<br />
State Organizations<br />
Community College<br />
and<br />
Specialty Schools<br />
<strong>STEM</strong> Education Courses<br />
Feedback Loop<br />
Page 6-6<br />
Student Flow<br />
Teacher Flow<br />
<strong>STEM</strong> Specialist Flow<br />
Science-Rich Community<br />
Industry<br />
Government Mission Agencies<br />
Post-secondary Institutions<br />
Research Organizations<br />
Local Businesses<br />
Services<br />
Education Dept.<br />
<strong>STEM</strong> Education Courses<br />
Figure 6-1