Why is STEM education important?
When you hear or say the word “science,” what’s your first association? Do you think of scientists like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie? Do you think of the coronavirus and eagerly await a vaccine? Or do you think something like: “Oh no, not those scientists again!” “Too complicated,” “It’s not for me,” “How boring, that science stuff.” Regardless of whether you like science or not, whether it feels close or distant, one fact remains: without the development of science and scientists, the world as we know it wouldn’t look the way it does today. Computers, smartphones, lighting, heating, televisions, refrigerators, airplanes, food preservation, medicines, skyscrapers – almost everything you see around you, created by humans, relies on scientific principles and formulas developed by scientists over centuries.
No matter how long and complex the development of all the benefits of today’s world was, it is almost unbelievable that every scientist on our planet, in any field, works in exactly the same way. More precisely, scientists have been using the same method for centuries: the experiment!
How does this method work? A scientist proposes a hypothesis and designs an experiment to prove it. The results obtained, if the same experiment is carried out under the same conditions, are the same in Zagreb, New York, Warsaw, Rome, or any other place in the world. This is how we arrive at facts, universal knowledge, and scientific concepts, which we then learn from textbooks at school.
In addition to knowledge in the given area, the scientific profession requires a critical mind (e.g., what assumptions should be reconsidered?), analytical skills (e.g., what is good, and what isn’t in this experiment, why are the results unexpected?), the ability to creatively solve problems (e.g., I don’t have that device, I need to find a different way), logical connections, and conclusions, so that a scientist can create their own original research and propose hypotheses that no one has yet proposed.
The scientific experiment represents the best method of objective reasoning that humans have developed so far because it is based on evidence we directly observe and measure. It is also a method that even preschool children can learn and apply in everyday life. From the above, it is clear that the scientific method isn’t only used by scientists. Through experimentation, we acquire certain theoretical and practical knowledge (which we may forget during our lives or choose a career in, for example, the arts), but the method we learned (seeking evidence for a given claim) is applicable in all aspects of our actions.
Children who conduct experiments notice the changes that occur during the experiment, observe with their own eyes what happens, and arrive at measurable results. In doing so, knowledge is not “given” to them; they arrive at the results and conclusions through their own work and effort. Children who master the core of the scientific method question, analyze, connect, and conclude, which strengthens and encourages them to find new solutions to (old) problems.
Such children grow up to be scientifically literate individuals who can recognize sensationalized information, find verified facts about topics that interest them, understand the difference between opinion and evidence, and can identify and analyze which media text or report, political program, or speech is superficial, which is evidence-based, and which is based on subjective thinking.
In the challenging times we live in, where knowledge and work are often devalued, and sensationalism and (dis)information spread, we are obligated to respond to these issues and provide adequate education to those who depend most on us and whom we trust the most: children!