As national statistics show, some of the largest predictive job gains are in STEM-related fields. However, few students are prepared for or even interested in such careers, experts say.
To help entice students, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has announced a new fellowship for high school teachers to learn new ways to integrate science, technology, engineering and math into classroom instruction.
Ten high school teachers will have the opportunity to participate in the new Hudson Valley STEM Teaching Fellowship this summer to learn new ways to enrich students”™ classroom experience and increase their interest in science.
About 69 percent of all high school students in the United States aren”™t prepared for college-level science courses, according to the National Math and Science Initiative.
Though Regeneron will fund the fellowship, the program is in collaboration with NASA; Teachers College, Columbia University; and the STEM Education Leadership Center in Rye.
Murray Goldburg, Regeneron senior vice president, announced the initiative April 3 at the biopharmaceutical company”™s headquarters in Tarrytown.
“We take pride in the work we do,” Goldburg said. “But we don”™t just believe science is important in our labs. … We believe it”™s important in our community, too, (so students) can be the scientists of tomorrow.”
The program will run from this summer to next and will include three core aspects. First, fellows will complete an online, nine-credit graduate certificate in STEM education from Columbia University, in partnership with the NASA Endeavor program at Teachers College. Second, participants will complete a Regeneron research mentorship. And lastly, the fellows will take part in an informal STEM classroom internship with the STEM Education Leadership Center.
The teaching fellowship builds upon Regeneron”™s previous STEM community-engagement efforts, including the Westchester STEM Initiative, which launched its pilot program in Mount Vernon last year.
The Westchester STEM Initiative is a partnership among Regeneron, the Westchester County Youth Bureau and Westchester Jewish Community Services”™ “Off the Street” program, which aims to interest under-represented youths in science and engineering. The program builds on the classic scientific classroom experiment through the use of iPads and games to provide a “100 percent engagement” learning model.
Showing a photo of three ecstatic children sharing an iPad, Lawrence Perretto, executive director of the STEM Education Leadership Center, laughed as he said the photo was not posed.
“It”™s remarkable to see their eyes light up as you give them the tools of learning,” Perretto said, referring primarily to incorporating iPads into the classroom. “Now students argue over who is going to enter the data. It”™s really rewarding as a teacher.
“Students are deeply motivated to get to the next step,” he added.
By focusing on programs for both students and teachers, Regeneron officials said they hoped to significantly increase students”™ interest and awareness of pursuing a career in STEM.
“Regeneron is all about using cutting-edge science to understand biology and develop new drugs,” said George D. Yancopoulos, Regeneron”™s chief scientific officer, in a written statement. “We believe it is important to raise the level of science education in our communities to graduate students who are scientifically literate, as from this soil will spring the science of tomorrow.”
