Adding to the cool factor
Last week, at NI Week in Austin, one panel discussion focused on ways to increase children’s involvement in math and science.
Panelists all agreed once they figured out a way to show kids the math and science track was “cool,” they would get more involvement.
Now, there is one more weapon to add in the arsenal to gain the attention of kids thinking about a career in math or science. Regardless of what job they end up with, earning a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering appears to serve the recipient well in the workforce, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF) survey.
Not only that, people who have earned a science or engineering bachelor’s degree generally report that science and engineering knowledge is important to their job, according to the survey.
That holds even if the graduate ends up doing non-technical work. Among those workers whose only degree was a science or engineering bachelor’s, 27% had science or engineering occupations. Sixty-three percent working in non-technical fields still said their jobs related to their degree.
Even if you decide to go into sales, 400,000 sales workers reported their job related to their science or engineering bachelor’s degree. And a majority of science or engineering bachelor’s degree holders employed as artists, editors, or writers reported their degree related somewhat to their job.
Still think math and science is uncool? I don’t think so.
Talk to me.
Panelists all agreed once they figured out a way to show kids the math and science track was “cool,” they would get more involvement.
Now, there is one more weapon to add in the arsenal to gain the attention of kids thinking about a career in math or science. Regardless of what job they end up with, earning a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering appears to serve the recipient well in the workforce, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF) survey.
Not only that, people who have earned a science or engineering bachelor’s degree generally report that science and engineering knowledge is important to their job, according to the survey.
That holds even if the graduate ends up doing non-technical work. Among those workers whose only degree was a science or engineering bachelor’s, 27% had science or engineering occupations. Sixty-three percent working in non-technical fields still said their jobs related to their degree.
Even if you decide to go into sales, 400,000 sales workers reported their job related to their science or engineering bachelor’s degree. And a majority of science or engineering bachelor’s degree holders employed as artists, editors, or writers reported their degree related somewhat to their job.
Still think math and science is uncool? I don’t think so.
Talk to me.
2 Comments:
And then there are degrees like mine. I'm an artist/marketing writer in industrial automation with a BA and MA in history.
History is in everything we do... and it's cool...
More than anything else, cool is an attitude... The problem seems to be, when it comes to the subjects of math and science, students do not consider them cool -- and that is wrong...
Math and science are cool and the word has to get out that being smart in those subjects is the way to go.
GH
Post a Comment
<< Home