Math Wiz & STEM Education
Click the pictures to access different educational websites to strengthen your skills in mathematics.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics—STEM, and therefore, STEM education—are vital to our future—the future of our country, the future of our region and the future of our children. Besides, STEM is everywhere; it shapes our everyday experiences.
Have you considered how often we experience STEM in our lives? Science is our natural world— sun, moon and stars…lands and oceans…weather, natural disasters, the diversity of nature, animals (large, small, microbial)…plants and food…the fuel that heats our homes and powers transportation…The list is almost endless. In today’s world, technology means computers and smartphones, but it goes back to television, radio, microscopes, telegraph, telescopes, the compass, and even the first wheel. Yes,engineering designs buildings, roads, and bridges, but it also tackles today’s challenges of transportation, global warming and environment-friendly machines, appliances and systems. We only have to look around to see what improvements to our lives and our homes have been engineered in the last decade alone. We encounter mathematics at the grocery store, the bank, on tax forms, in dealing with investments and the family budget. Every other STEM field depends on mathematics. STEM is important, because it pervades every aspect of our lives.
Let’s consider how STEM effects what is closest and dearest to us—our children. STEM is their future—the technological age in which they live, their best career options, and their key to wise decisions. In 2009, the United States Department of Labor listed the ten most wanted employees. Eight of those employees were ones with degrees in the STEM fields: accounting, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, information sciences and systems, computer engineering, civil engineering, and economics and finance. According to the U. S. Department of Commerce, STEM occupations are growing at 17%, while others are growing at 9.8%. Health care workers with associate degrees to doctors of medicine will average 20% more in life time earnings than peers with similar degrees in non-health care. A glance at 2010 starting salaries for engineers with $47,145 for civil engineers to $60,054 for chemical engineers is strong evidence that STEM related jobs can be financially rewarding careers for our children.
Likewise, according to the U. S. Labor Department, the 10 fastest growing occupations) from 2008-2018, and their median wages are
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Biomedical engineers, $77,400
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Network systems and data communications analysts, $71,100
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Home health aides, $20,460
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Personal and home care aides, $19,180
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Financial examiners, $70,930
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Medical scientists, except epidemiologists, $72,590
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Physician assistants, $81,230
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Skin care specialists, $28,730
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Biochemists and biophysicists, $82,840
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Athletic trainers, $39,640