Thursday, August 20, 2009

Not even engineering

A recently completed study from the National Research Council's National Academy of Engineering (NAE) characterizes the extent and nature of initiatives to teach engineering to K-12 students in the United States. That's great, but similar efforts should be addressed regarding computing.

From the article:

"And with this increased focus, some education experts say momentum is building for more recognition of the "T" and "E" in STEM--technology and engineering, two subjects often overlooked."

I see that engineering and technology may have a point, but at least they are in the acronym (i.e., there is no "C" in the acronym "STEM", though there is computing throughout STEM disciplines) -- perhaps we should come up with another acronym, like "CEMTS" that put computing into the name -- I am open to other suggestions.

Oh, and this make the "diversity through accessibility" blog due to another observation:

"
The National Science Foundation (NSF) estimates that although women earned more than 50 percent of all science and engineering bachelor's degrees in 2006, they earned only about 20 percent of degrees in engineering, computer science, and physics."