The “grand challenges” of our time—such as providing clean water, controlling carbon emissions, designing new medicines, and securing cyberspace—all require STEM-based solutions - (National Academy of Engineering, 2016). Yet, the majority of badging programs and STEM learning spaces target middle and high schoolers, and most funding for STEM education is tied to “workforce development” and the latter years of schooling. (Donohue & Schomburg, 2017).
Hands-on science gets neglected in high-poverty elementary schools. Students in these schools are much less likely than their peers in wealthier schools to experience hands-on activities in science. More than half miss out on these critical opportunities to build early interest and mastery.
Teachers in high-poverty elementary schools are also most likely to say that they lack the materials they need to teach. Only 44 percent of fourth-graders in the highest-poverty schools, compared with 61 percent of their peers in the lowest-poverty schools, have teachers who report having “all” or “most” of the resources they need to teach STEM.
