STEM is dead. Well, it’s actually on life-support, but most people don’t seem to care. As proof, I offer two stories that foretell the demise of our good friend, STEM. Real STEM that is!
This past weekend I was up at Cornell University watching our team, Bay Academy compete in the Science Olympiad (SciOly) tournament. Cornell SciOly is the gold standard of invitationals in the northeast (and beyond). For those of you who don’t know Science Olympiad, or SciOly (which includes roughly 99.9% of schools, administrators and science teachers), it is a fun and exciting competitive academic and engineering science tournament that takes place throughout the year running Invitationals, Regionals, States and if your team is very good, Nationals. It is also at the apex, when it comes to STEM for children. It is the peak, the pinnacle, of all competitive STEM activities. Science Olympiad runs 23 events at each tournament - 18 academic events (Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology, Epidemiology, and much more) along with 5 Engineering events (balsa wood construction for Towers, Bridges, Gliders as well as motorized vehicles and various robotic events). In other words, SCIOLY = STEM. There is much more, but you get the idea and so Science Olympiad will have its own post in the near future.
We have been attending the Cornell Division B (middle school) SciOly Invitational every year since 2018 (excluding Covid years). Our team has been to dozens of other invitationals, but given Cornell’s campus, tours, dining halls, and professionalism of the tournament organizers, Cornell is considered to be NY State’s #1 go to yearly competition. Most other schools feel the same way. Our middle school SciOly team has sent four (possibly five) of our competitors to Cornell as students! So have other Science Olympiad teams as they fell in love with the campus and the whole Cornell experience. Cornell is the best and this year was no exception. A fantastic experience but with one difference. There were fewer teams. Whereas in the past we would see upwards of 40-60 teams, this year’s tournament hosted 12 schools and 17 teams. Twelve schools competing in all of NY State! To say this was disappointing would be an understatement. It is a travesty for young people and for STEM, but I don’t blame the organizers. I blame the principals. Only principals have the power to open their doors and welcome Science Olympiad into their schools.
In NYC, we have about 450 middle schools, yet in spite of superintendents, principals, science teachers and parents begging for more STEM, this year’s NYC Regional tournament has registered only 18 teams… out of 450 schools! NY City will spend MILLIONS of dollars on cute neat little STEM boxes, apps, online animations, and the rest of the shiny pennies… but ZERO DOLLARS to promote a full Science Olympiad program for NY City. How do I know? I have written to both the past and current heads of STEM in NYC and have yet to receive even a “thanks, but no thanks”, response from either of them. NYC, the greatest city with the greatest kids in the country, yet those who dump millions for fun make believe STEM kits in schools are ignoring what is arguably the biggest and best STEM program internationally. Why? They either don’t know, don’t care or they are promulgating a sham. by feigning support for STEM, but consistently take the easy way out. “Let’s buy a thousand STEM kits for this or that district, and ‘Boom, Bob’s your uncle!’ We just did STEM!” No you didn’t. It is embarrassing as pre-packaged STEM kits are the lowest hanging fruit on the rung of the STEM learning ladder (if you even want to call it learning).
NY City has a STEM department, yet they don’t promote Science Olympiad. Why? The opportunity is staring them right in the face! In reality, they should have a representative devoted solely to getting more Science Olympiad into its schools in that STEM department. (NYC DOE, I’m retired and available if you are interested!)
So why am I so concerned about the low team turnout for the Cornell Invitational? Backroom scuttlebutt has it that the school is considering dropping the middle school (Division B) tournament all together given this year’s anemic showing and lack of interest in the program by participating schools. This would be a disaster! As Cornell goes, so goes the Science Olympiad.
Science Olympiad typically has two chemistry events, but due to the low turnout and the lack of funds collected, the organization was not able to cover necessary lab expenses to have these events qualify for the tournament. I believe this may be a first for the Cornell invitational. I steadfastly do not fault the organizers. They did a superb job of hosting all attending schools. In fact, they went above and beyond to make sure all bases were covered. So what was missing? Teams! Why were they missing? (And if you say COVID, I’ll scream!!!) I place the burden squarely on principals of all middle school across the state.
Just as politicians say they want a balanced budget, principals say they want STEM, but they don’t really mean it. Unfortunately, when it comes to STEM, there’s a lot of talk but no real action. Schools get tons of money for STEM. They buy lots of low-level inquiry STEM boxes, teachers pick them up in the office, take to their rooms, follow the prepared directions, and go home. “Yay, we did STEM!” STEM boxes are not STEM! Science Olympiad is the best STEM program out there. Principals have no problem funding their football, basketball, baseball and other athletic teams, but when it comes to funding a competitive academic team, they drop the ball. Why? Why doesn’t every school that has athletic teams have a Science Olympiad team?
I recently approached over 30 NYC middle school principals to persuade them register a single SciOly team and the #1 response I got for not starting a team is that, “Teachers won’t want to put in the time because there will be no per-session pay available.” Really? Unfortunately this is true. There is no after-school per-session available and teachers will not put in 1 hour/week overtime unless they get paid to do it - no matter the positive benefits to students.
Millions available for STEM kits, but nothing for per-session for Science Olympiad? Principals can fund all their sports teams as well as SEL, DEI and buy their STEM boxes, but not Science Olympiad? No money to fund a competitively academic team that would reap incredible rewards and completely change the culture of a department and thus the culture of a school? Don’t believe school cultures can be changed? Stop by Bay Academy in Brooklyn. In 8 years they have become the #1 Science Olympiad team in NY City and was the first NYC Div B team ever to go to Nationals! In addition to great teachers, the SciOly program helped change the culture of Bay Academy! So principals, please stop asking each other, “How can I change my school culture?” Science Olympiad is your answer!
And STEM death doesn’t stop at the principal’s doorstep. It is knocking on the teachers’ doors as well. I have spoken with teachers who complain that since there is no pre-session pay they will not get involved. Well, is it possible to get 5 (just five!) of top students and bring them to their room on their lunch periods? Have them download a manual and get them studying any of the 18 academic events? There is your Science Olympiad team! Living and breathing STEM! It won’t cost a dime and per-session is not needed, just a teacher interested in getting students excited about science!
Parents? Don’t think I am forgetting you! STEM death is knocking on your door as well! Many of the top teams we compete against - Springhouse, Community and others are completely 100% parent-run. The teams meet at school or parents’ homes (depending on their area of science understanding - they need not be an expert) to prepare for the competitions. Transportation? No bus needed. Since these parents are engaged with the teams, many of these parents drive the competitors to the venues.
My second tale of STEM death involves a Facebook principal’s group that I belong to. It has approximately 250,000 members and is a positive and very active group. Recently, a group of Nigerian engineers, Engineers without Borders, posted that they were looking to engage with science teachers to learn how they were doing STEM in their classrooms and schools. It is popular knowledge that Nigeria produces top engineers so I jumped at the change to engage with them. I told them about the Science Olympiad program and would love to explain how I incorporate it into my classroom. We set up a schedule of 4 Saturdays to discuss STEM, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Last weekend was our first meeting (Biology) and I expected the Zoom meeting to be bursting with participants. I got into the meeting and it was the Nigerian engineers/teachers and me. Over 250,000 people in the Facebook principal’s group and I was the only participant. How is this possible?? Principals, what is the problem? Where were you (out of 250,000 group members)? Not one of you had the time, nor inclination, to take part in this meeting? Or to have one of your science teachers or supervisors participate?
So you know, it was wonderful! I met with people, like myself and other SciOly coaches, who are excited about doing real STEM and getting students to love it as well.
So is STEM really dead? Not quite yet, but unless we address what STEM really is, “STEM” will just become another insignificant educational acronym that does nothing but eat up student dollars with no return on the investment. Some of the problems with today’s STEM are:
STEM kits are not STEM - Companies put a box of puzzle pieces together and call it STEM: motors, wheels, gears, switches are all fun and good, but they are not STEM. They are demonstrations, they are experiments (and not good ones at that), but they are not STEM.
Schools are not interested in doing real STEM because of perceived costs involved (such as setting aside teacher time and per-session time to begin either a Science Olympiad team, or start an elective Science Olympiad course). You’ve got to spend money to make money, but the Return on Investment (ROI) for a Science Olympiad team is fantastic.
Benefit of SciOly program ÷ Cost of SciOly program → Positive STEM R.O.I.!!!
Administrators (even former science teachers) have very little understanding of what STEM should look like, so they buy the kits.
So how do we breathe life back into STEM? Principals, teachers and parents must push to have Science Olympiad brought into their schools. Science Olympiad is the best STEM program out there. Students will thank you and you will begin to see an immediate change in student culture (once the student body hears about it!) and it will spread like wildfire!
National Science Olympiad website - https://www.soinc.org/
Dr. Cubbin
Website - schoolgoalswork.com
Substack articles (like this one!) - schoolgoalswork.substack.com