Internet-based clearinghouse will serve K-12 students and educators

An innovative partnership representing the educational, business, and scientific and engineering professional communities of East Tennessee is creating a resource for area scientists and engineers to participate in educational outreach in K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities. The internet-based resource will serve as a clearinghouse of opportunities and resources for educators, students, and prospective volunteers about past, present, and upcoming K-12 STEM programs, competitions, and projects. These include programs like Future Cities, MathCounts, Lego League, FIRST, Bridge-building, Engineer’s Week, Science Fairs, JETS, and Science Bowl.

Current partners of Vols4STEM include the Knoxville chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE), the Knoxville Chamber, Knox County Schools and the Great Schools Partnership. The leaders of all these organizations recognize the importance of STEM-related education to our local and national economies.

Area engineers and scientists and the local sections of engineering and scientific societies are the key to Vols4STEM. The website allows prospective volunteers to sign up, provides information about ongoing and proposed STEM activities, helps locate other scientists and engineers interested in participating in STEM programs, and provides contact information for area schools, clubs, churches, neighborhoods, or other settings interested in hosting such activities.

The site is located at www.Vols4STEM.org.

The Knoxville chapter of TSPE is hosting a meeting with leaders and other interested members of area science and engineering professional societies at 7:30 AM on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at Rothchild’s in West Knoxville. This meeting will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about Vols4STEM, its value to all its stakeholders, provide feedback, and become more actively involved. For more information about this meeting, please contact Joe Carson, PE, Educational Committee Chair of TSPE, at jpcarson@tds.net.

“Everyone can benefit from Vols4STEM,” explains Carson. “Engineering Professional Societies need to recruit and educate their future members, so they encourage their members to get involved in the STEM outreach activities, many of which they sponsor at the national level. Vols4STEM will facilitate more area engineers and scientists connecting with opportunities to contribute to area youth in these activities. The site is also designed to encourage young people to explore, create, and have fun, while developing interests and skills for their futures. Vols4STEM will make other stakeholders – including educators, parents, students, and businesses – more aware and involved with these programs.”

“Vols4STEM can be a great resource to area educators and administrators,” according to Becky Ashe, Science Supervisor for Knox County Schools. “When these educators are trying to locate a special guest lecturer in a STEM subject, solicit volunteers to help start and run a science club or a Lego league team, or obtain information about upcoming training for their own development, Vols4STEM will be a resource.”

Cheryl Kershaw, the Executive Director of the Great Schools Partnership, agrees that support from STEM professionals will help teachers better relate what they are teaching to the real world of work. “If we are to accept the challenge to prepare our students for the future's global workforce, we must look beyond traditional resources to develop rigorous, relevant, and 'real world’ learning opportunities,” says Kershaw. “We also believe that exposing students to volunteers in STEM careers will encourage students, especially those who may not have been aware of the wide range of academic and technical workforce options in these fields, to begin setting goals to pursue them,” Kershaw adds. Vols4STEM is a model for aligning the workforce and education.”

“The high concentration of working and retired engineers and scientists in this area – the ‘Vols’ in Vols4STEM - reflect the technical nature of many area businesses,” adds Jennifer Evans, Manager of Workforce Development at the Knoxville Chamber. “We trust that these businesses, for the sake of their future workforce, will support Vols4STEM, particularly the efforts of their scientists and engineers to be mentors, role models, and recruiters for the next generation of engineers and scientists in East Tennessee.”

Vols4STEM will be officially launched at part of Engineer’s Week, in mid-February 2008, but the site is already live. It is stimulating interest and soliciting feedback from the business, educational, and professional communities of East Tennessee.