Benefits of STEM Student Planners
STEM student planners bring together the helpfulness of a standard student planner with STEM-related facts, questions and career information to encourage an interest in STEM fields. These fields need passionate, skilled professionals to enter them, and that passion can begin at an early age. Help tomorrow's STEM leaders discover their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with STEM planners for elementary, middle and high school students.
What Is STEM Education?
STEM education includes the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Though traditional math and science courses are part of the STEM family of subjects, combined STEM curriculum takes a more integrated approach to teaching students how these subjects work together in real-world applications.
For elementary students, STEM curriculum lays foundations of critical thinking and problem solving and is aimed at getting young children interested in STEM fields. In middle school, STEM curriculum becomes more academically rigorous. In addition to stirring kids' interest in STEM, at this level, educators begin to help students explore various STEM-related career paths. In high school, students begin to apply their knowledge in more advanced ways and may choose to prepare for their post-secondary education and employment in a STEM field.
Benefits of STEM Education
STEM education is critical if we want to prepare students with an aptitude for STEM subjects for fulfilling careers in STEM fields. The next generation's scientists, innovators, engineers and mathematicians need educators to expose them to STEM subjects and inspire an interest in these fields. There is currently a shortage of STEM professionals in the U.S., and experts estimate there will be nearly 3.5 million STEM jobs that need to be staffed by 2025.
Fostering an interest in STEM fields for all children and youths, regardless of factors like ethnicity and gender, is an important way to help bring more diversity into these fields. In some STEM fields, men and women are represented at roughly the same level, while in other fields — namely, physics, engineering and computer science — the ratio of men to women is roughly 4-to-1.
When it comes to ethnic diversity, Black and Hispanic Americans, who together comprise 27% of the U.S. workforce as of 2016, only account for 16% of employees in STEM fields. STEM professionals cite a lack of access to quality education and a lack of encouragement to pursue STEM at a young age as major reasons for this racial disparity. According to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, African American youth are less likely than any other racial group to enter technology fields.
While it's important that students feel they have the option of pursuing a STEM career if they are so inclined, even students who would rather pursue other careers or areas of study can still experience some valuable benefits of STEM in the classroom.
1. Technological Literacy
Technological literacy is an important form of literacy in our modern world. Students can gain a greater understanding of how technology works and how to wield it for various applications. Through STEM education, students will be better prepared to use current technology and future forms of technology to record data, compose documents, design products, give presentations and much more. Regardless of what career field a student ends up pursuing, technology will almost assuredly be a part of it in some way, especially as the world becomes increasingly tech-centric.
2. Curiosity and Love for Learning
An important part of STEM education is encouraging students to question how the world around them works. As students tap into their natural curiosity, they will discover topics that hold great interest for them and develop a stronger love of learning overall. If a student questions why something is the way it is, they will experience a drive to learn more. There is no substitute for a genuine interest in learning. When students feel plugged in and enjoy learning, the sky is the limit.
3. Problem-Solving Skills
STEM emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and gives students opportunities to hone their critical thinking skills. Students should begin to look at real-world problems and consider how these problems might be solved. As students think through and test out possible solutions, they will learn that failure is a natural part of the process. Teaching students to view failure as a means to learning rather than as a roadblock or a knock to their confidence is crucial to helping them succeed in any subject area and in their personal lives.
4. Collaboration and Communication
While independent learning is an important component of STEM education, so is collaborative learning. Students will learn to work with their peers, putting their heads together to learn core concepts and solve problems. An important part of the scientific process — whether developing research questions, hypotheses or experiments or sharing data and solutions — is communicating with others. Students will learn how to work together and how to communicate their ideas and findings with others, both verbally and through writing.
5. Creativity and Innovation
Across all fields and in students' personal lives, believing in their own creativity can help them make their mark and achieve great things. STEM curriculum encourages young people to think outside the box. Innovation is at the very core of STEM fields. None of the technology that has shaped the modern world would be possible without innovators who believed in their own creativity. Encouraging today's students to think this way will help them continue to shape the world with new ideas, whether in STEM or other fields.
Why Choose a STEM Student Planner?
The benefits of STEM education for students is clear, but what about the benefits of STEM planners? First, consider the benefits of student planners more broadly. Planners can help students learn valuable skills, which are important in STEM fields and in life:
- Independence: Giving students planners can help them take ownership of their own education. This is especially critical for high school students so they do not experience a shock when they enter college or a career and are suddenly expected to keep track of their own schedule.
- Organization and time management: Planners also help students learn important organizational and time-management skills. Being able to plan ahead and complete tasks on time can save students from the stress of missed appointments or classes and forgotten deadlines.
- Goal setting: Planners can also encourage students to set personal goals and work to achieve them. Goal setting is an important means for enhancing a student's sense of determination and self-confidence. Look for planners that include a place for students to write down their goals.
Printed planners in particular offer some unique benefits compared to digital planner tools since they engage students haptically and physically. These are just a few of the key benefits students can gain when they are given their own planner.
STEM student planners deliver these benefits and more for students, as they turn an ordinary planner into an educational source of fun, interesting and useful information about STEM subjects and careers. The best STEM student planners are designed specifically with different age groups in mind, so the benefits they deliver will be age-appropriate.
Benefits of Primary and Elementary STEM Student Planners
In primary and elementary school, a STEM planner can engage students by fueling their curiosity and teaching them fun facts about how the world works. Students will look forward to opening up their planner to learn new things. Many children will be eager to share these fun facts with their family and friends and to look into subjects further that especially grab their interest.
Benefits of Middle School / Junior High STEM Student Planners
In middle school or junior high, STEM planners can continue to teach STEM concepts, but now those concepts will be more advanced. Kids can learn about groundbreaking innovations and begin to learn about different STEM career fields. Even at this young age, students can begin to consider career paths and plan their high school studies accordingly.
Benefits of High School STEM Student Planners
High school STEM planners cover even more advanced topics and get more detailed about STEM career options. This is the time when students need to learn about the benefits of various career paths and what is needed to pursue each path. This information is vital for helping high schoolers prepare for higher education.
Some students enter college not knowing what they want to study, and of the students who declare a particular major, about 30% end up switching to a different major at least once within three years. If high school students are interested in STEM fields, a STEM planner can help them explore various career options and learn which majors they should consider studying in college so they can be ready to enter those fields.
STEM Planners From Success by Design
For decades, Success by Design has been creating quality planners that help students learn valuable skills, including independence, organization, time management and goal setting. Our STEM student planners add the advantages of STEM education to these key benefits. We offer four different STEM student planners, each tailored to a certain age group. Students can use our planners all the way through their educational journey and discover a passion for science, technology, engineering and math.
Our Primary Planner
Our primary STEM student planner is designed with students from kindergarten through second grade in mind. Young children are naturally curious. They are in information-gathering mode to help them better understand the world around them.
Our primary planner capitalizes on this thirst for knowledge by sharing interesting explanations of everyday phenomena and general STEM-related concepts with children. Each month, students' planners will focus on a particular STEM-related theme and share information related to this theme. All themes are chosen to introduce students to concepts they can understand at their age and that will enhance their studies.
Our Elementary Planner
Our elementary planners are recommended for students in third through fifth grade. These planners are also organized by monthly STEM topics. Our planners use a question and answer model to help students develop their skills of inquiry and research. Each week, there is a Question of the Week to get students thinking about a particular topic.
In response to that question, students will find educational information, both in short STEMazing facts and in more in-depth forms. They will also learn which STEM fields are involved in a particular topic and where they can learn more. This is an important way of encouraging students to conduct their own independent studies.
Our Middle School / Jr. High Planner
Our middle/junior high STEM student planner was created to help sixth- through eighth-graders learn more about STEM topics and begin to investigate STEM-related career fields. They'll learn about important STEM innovations that have impacted the world, such as certain types of technology. Our planners also share intriguing facts to get students more interested in a variety of STEM topics. Again, students will be directed to sources online where they can learn more.
A new feature of these planners compared to ones designed for younger grades is that they also begin to incorporate information on STEM careers. Our "Just the Facts" sections share statistical information about careers, such as education requirements, projected job growth and median salary information.
Our High School Planner
Our high school STEM student planner was created to serve students in grades 9-12. Students may even want to use this planner during their initial years in postsecondary education programs. In this planner, we cover 48 different STEM-related careers and give students critical information on how to pursue these careers if they're interested.
Our high school planners focus more intently on career information than any previous planners, offering students information they can use right then on what sorts of classes they should take or college programs they should pursue. Job descriptions along with information regarding career outlook, degree requirements and salary can all help students weigh various career options. Students will also receive recommendations for websites they can visit to learn more about STEM career paths.
Order Your Planner Now
STEM student planners can get students excited about STEM fields and can help them begin taking early steps toward a rewarding STEM career. Even for students who choose to pursue other valuable career paths, a STEM planner can help these students develop a greater appreciation for those who have brought about incredible advancements in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics — advancements that affect all of our daily lives.
If you're interested in learning more about these unique, educational student planners or the other high-quality, specialized planners Success by Design offers, contact us today. You can also start shopping for planners on our online store where you can get a glimpse inside of each planner and choose the best fit for you or your students. You'll notice that our planners are affordable, making them an accessible and valuable teaching tool for teachers and students of all ages.
- SBD, Inc.