Editorial; Building a solid foundation of STEM proficiency, interest

That Sherry Douglas, profiled Monday in the Daily Herald's Top Teachers series, is a great classroom instructor, there seems little doubt, and the consensus from her colleagues and bosses surely played a role in her recognition as Kane County Educator the Year. But it's also important to recognize not just how she teaches but what she teaches. Science.

In a subject area whose acronym - STEM - may be doing as much to get it attention as the outcry from employers bemoaning shortages of well-trained graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, the suburbs are actually gaining some ground, thanks to committed leaders like Douglas, of Streamwood, a science teacher at Westfield Community School in Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300.

At Oakton College, Gloria Liu, head of the school's Center for Promoting STEM, was named one of the nation's 100 Most Inspiring Women in STEM by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. And, Palatine Elementary District 15 recently completed its weeklong summer program Camp Invention, part of a nationally recognized program aimed at exciting kids about careers in science.

In addition to building awareness of the need for and value of STEM skills among students, one of the striking things about many of these developments is their demonstration that careers steeped in STEM backgrounds aren't just practical ways to make a living; they're also fun.

That, of course, is a prime directive of the national Camp Invention summer program, which this year involved elementary-school students in, among other things, designing video games. But it also is evident in the factors that drive Douglas's interest in science. Her approach to scientific curiosity stems not from staid introspection about the nature of how things work, but from hands-on experience with making them work.

As staff writer Madhu Krishnamurthy described, Douglas took her inspiration growing up from explorations with her father, studying lizards, dragonflies and the flora and fauna around her hometown of Orlando, Fla. Now, she infuses her class projects with that same sense of creative discovery.

For instance, when she gave her students a pet rock, it wasn't just a revival of a kitschy fad from the '70s but an exercise in responsibility. "They carried their little pet rock that they created through all the different stages of the rock cycle, being eroded or melting and turning into magma and then reforming. Then they had to write a cartoon about it afterward," she said.

The U.S. Department of Education says only 16 percent of American high school students are proficient in STEM subjects. Yet, jobs in STEM fields are multiplying - expected to increase overall by 14 percent, in fact. With American students lagging behind other industrial nations in these skills, both in interest and expertise, it's a matter of no small significance. So, efforts like those of Liu, Camp Invention and Douglas play a material role in the future success of the nation. It may seem a bit odd to contemplate, but those "little pet rocks" are a foundation on which we have a lot to build.