STEM in the Real World: Taking Learning Outside the Classroom

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, March/April 2018 Issue

By Adam Stone

A survey by the National Association of Independent Schools found that 83 percent of high school students are sometimes or often bored in class. Todd Ablett has a simple solution: get them out of the classroom—and into the workshop.

As the chief robotics instructor at West Vancouver Secondary School, he enters a student team each year in the VEX Robotics World Championship. This year his kids finished fifth out of 15,000 competing teams. Through competition, “the kids get to become real experts at something. They take their programming and building to a very high level,” he says.

Across the K–12 spectrum, STEM educators are looking for ways to take science out of the classroom and make it come alive. In addition to robotics competitions, they are partnering with the industry, teaming with universities and seeking a range of other creative ways to make STEM more than just a textbook exercise.

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Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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Adam Stone
Adam Stone
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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