A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education

By imparting expectations and behavioral norms for effective cooperation and teaming, effective study habits and by serving as role models of success-oriented behaviors it is our challenge to position the upcoming generation to preserve and further the gains of science and technology toward solving the challenges facing humanity. Many traditional paradigms exist such as apprenticeships, tutoring, job shadowing, internships and even 'externships' which bring teachers to industry for a summer of 'on-the-job' training. Even with the many successful efforts and paradigms which exist today, experts predict a shortfall in the future STEM workforce: the demand will not be met. Recognizing themselves as stakeholders, industries which employ and depend on a STEM-literate workforce have taken action --developing models and initiating efforts to enhance and augment the existing STEM-education infrastructure. This paper will discuss two programs which have resulted from the collaboration between Raytheon Company -a leader in technology and innovation-- and the New England Patriots - a world class sports organization. This seemingly unlikely partnership has proven successful in advancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the middle and high school age groups. The first program titled "Science-of-Sports" uses a science fair model and includes a third partner: the Boys & Girls Clubs of New England. The guidelines, operation and success-enablers will be described for those who may be interested in trying this model. The second program is an engineering design challenge titled: "Power-to-Hear". "Power-to-Hear" is an engineering design competition structured to represent the challenges faced by industry teams when designing and manufacturing devices for today's highly competitive global marketplace. The reasons for two programs will be explained and examples of students' results will be shown. Metrics for the growth and sustainability of these programs will be presented. Lastly, the paper provides an example of how the students' work maps to a set of standards used by the state of Massachusetts for the comprehensive assessment of student learning for grades six through twelve. One example will be provided in the body of the paper. A larger mapping is included as an appendix. It is our belief that these programs are adaptable for use by others interested in advancing STEM education and developing the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs-those who share our view --the view summarized by this year's theme: "Engineering Education: Frankly, We Do Give a D*mn".