In Massachusetts, jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are plentiful—but the number of Boston students on track to enter these occupations is not keeping pace.
The National Science Foundation, researchers from Tufts, UMass Boston, and the Boston Public Schools Science Department have partnered with the MBTA to create “ConnecTions in the Making,” a program designed to interest elementary school students in STEM fields and align the BPS curriculum with the 2016 math, science, technology, and engineering standards.
Led by Dr. Kristen Wendell of Tufts and Dr. Tej Dalvi of UMass Boston, the minds behind ConnecTions began by re-working curriculums for third and fifth graders into units that better connected science and engineering.
“Because engineering is now a bigger part of the standards of learning for K-12 science, we wanted to connect science and engineering in a way that showed students how that was relevant for their everyday lives in the communities where they live, and to also show students that they have resources from their everyday lives that they could bring to their science and engineering work in school,” Wendell said.