It's not just the increase in jobs that's led area schools to increase the focus on teaching skills related to the STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering and math.
However, it is a powerful motivator, since over the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs was three times as fast as growth in non-STEM jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Traditionally, states and districts have kept these subjects separate in both instruction and assessment, but increasingly they recognize the value of the discipline and way of thinking the STEM approach provides students across all disciplines.
"It's more problem solving and problem finding," Bethel High School technology teacher John Ryan said. "It transcends passive learning when a teacher stood in front the classroom. The more actively engaged students are, the more it improves the way kids retain their learning."
Critical thinking, problem solving, being scientifically literate and being able to collaborate are skills that scientists have used for ages in their work, and area districts are adopting a STEM approach in a variety of ways.
Danbury Public Schools has a middle school STEM academy for 300 students that incorporates the model into all the curriculum.
Bethel has an Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences Program, a four-year program in which students receive a cross-discipline approach to academics, design, and innovation skills that are integrated with digital media and science and technology topics.
It's part of the 21st Century Skills Initiative started at Education Connection with money from a nationally competitive federal government grant.
New Fairfield and New Milford high schools also have aligned programs with the 21st Century Skills Initiative, which provides original curricula, training, and support for innovative courses in science, technology, and math.
Other area programs include Danbury schools middle school STEM program academy, which has 300 students, a summer science camp in collaboration with Western Connecticut State University and growing collaborations among department heads at the high school.
Danbury's K-12 STEM curriculum administrator Harry Rosvally said he hears about new STEM programs starting around the state each year.
"STEM's become elevated in everybody's view. More people are aware of the need to support STEM," Rosvally said. The thriving corporations in the area, like Praxair and Boehringer Ingelheim, underscore its value.
At Danbury High, teachers are collaborating in various ways with STEM subject areas, he said.
"We realize it's the right way to do things," he said. "We realize that if the kids have use of a 3D printer it's so engaging that now they have the hunger to know the physics and math that goes with it."
Brookfield started its own 21st Century Skills class at the high school and now it's been added to the middle school, where fifth- through seventh-graders take it as part of their special class rotations and eighth graders can take it as an elective.
Brookfield also has a middle school technology/engineering education course that teaches math, science and technology principles. Students can take it as a rotating course in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade and then as an elective in eighth grade.
"We have a very active science, math and technology program where department heads work very closely together planning and collaborating," Brookfield Assistant Superintendent Genie Slone said.
The goal is for educators to teach students logical, analytical, creative and critical thinking skills, said Frank LaBlanca, who leads the 21st Century Skills Initiative for Education Connection.
"A STEM approach helps certain students learn these skills better than in other ways though there is no one solution for all students," he said.
eileenf@newstimes.com; 203-731-3333
