Overview
This activity prompts students to perform data-oriented research on STEM education in the US, and to develop their own claims about what might be causing the country’s ongoing deficit of STEM workers. Writer Malcolm Gladwell has argued that low success rates among would-be STEM should be understood as a psychological inevitable outcome rather than a failure on the part of STEM professors or their students.
But there are other theories, based on other kinds of data, that put forth different explanations of this problem. This activity shares one such theory with students, and then asks them to further explore data on STEM education and employment trends in order to craft their own claim to explain the problem in ways that counter Gladwell’s perspective. (Prior to beginning this activity, it will be helpful to have students watch and discuss Malcom Gladwell’s presentation about STEM education, titled “Elite Institution Cognitive Disorder,” which is also included in the “Telling Stories with Data” section of our website.)
Step 1: Read and Discuss
In small groups, ask students to read and discuss the brief reading “Five Questions with John D. Skrentny, author of “Wasted Education: How We Fail Our Graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.”
- After students have discussed the reading in groups, ask them to share the points they found most interesting, as well as how Skrentny’s assessment of STEM outcomes contrasts with Gladwell’s perspective.
- One key point of contrast to emphasize is Skrentny’s unique focus on STEM graduates once they enter the workforce. He notes that around seventy percent of them opt-out of STEM work at some point in their careers. Looking to such data on STEM employment trends, Skrentny argues that US doesn’t really suffer from a lack of STEM graduates; the bigger problem, in his view, concerns STEM employers and the inhospitable working environments created within STEM industries.
Step 2: Research and Synthesize
In the same small groups, ask students to browse the internet for additional data points relevant to Skrentny’s critical assessment of STEM workplaces. Students should aim to gather data that adds more specific evidence to Skrentny’s notion that STEM industry norms (such as a “churn and burn” culture, often accompanied by sexism and racism) are driving workers to leave STEM positions.
- Additionally, students should try to find recent, real-life examples of how these problematic STEM industry norms are showing up in specific workplaces today.
- Once students have gathered some relevant data and examples, ask them to share their findings and conclusions with the class.
Step 3: Reflect
As a class, wrap up the activity by asking students to reflect on the two narratives, Gladwell’s about STEM education and Skrentny’s about STEM workplaces.
- Which arguments do they find more salient and why?
- How does each narrative help us to better understand the other narrative?
- How do both narratives, taken together, change the way you thought about STEM?