The Buzzword is A'Changin'...

[Stosh]

$urpri$e$ you? Really?

 

Well, first, Explorers never went away. We have a couple posts here, one in a major hospital ... another in law enforcement.

I'm sure that's the case elsewhere. But, there has been real money fronted by grants and foundations with the goal of startnig successful STEM programs. The bottom line is that everyone from janitor to soldier will have to be more tech savvy then ever before to reach economic goals and fend off our sworn enemies. Parents who've had to get retrained multiple times for their jobs know this, and are guiding their kids accordingly.

 

What does scouting have to offer? Well, a broad-based ethical baseline from which to proceed. And, a culture of mobilizing youth in small groups. And, an understanding of outdoor opportunities that inspire youth.

 

So, this is not so much a matter of BSA adopting new teaching goals as it is folks with national objectives adopting BSA to meet those goals.

 

The old Exploring program (pre-1998ish) did not go away it was folded into the Learning for Life program.  All the career posts went to Learning for Life and the rest went Venturing.

[Bingo]

   I love the arts and sciences, in fact I listen to classical music. I have 2 daughters with Ms degrees amd a daughter and a wife with BS degrees. My son on the other hand was never very good with the scholastic stuff. Real smart kid with a good head on his shoulders but not much good with the scholastic stuff.  When budget cuts hit the schools, to many times one of the first things that gets cut is the vo techs. and shop. At least that is the way it was around here. 

Now the demarcates are talking about free college. I personally like the fact that many of the merit badges are still about basic mechanical aptitude skills. Electricity, plumbing, home repair, painting ,auto repair....  More kids need to learn this stuff, even the ones going to college. That's what I call a well rounded education!

  Maybe the "T" should stand for TRADES.

 

IMO we need to spend more time on the basics and trades. Give some of these kids a more basic and practical (trade) education and in a few years watch the crime rate fall.

BTW, My Son is now a union carpenter.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Bingo

[CalicoPenn]

Turning STEM into STEAM is an idea that RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) developed back in 2012.  They are really trying to tap in to the non-scientific zeitgeist of inspiration and imagination that is just as important and the hard sciences to innovation and technology - whether that inspiration and imagination is internal to scientists or whether it comes from outside influences, especially certain disciplines of the arts like film.

 

How much more exciting and inspiring to youth were the space launches with Walter Cronkite's play-by-play announcing.  It's a shame that after the first few launches of the space shuttle, it became so routine that they were shown - if they were shown - as direct NASA feeds without someone enthusing about the launch or even explaining what's going on.

 

On one level, you have the arts directly involved - in design for instance.  Without design, would the i-Pod have been as iconic and sold as well as it did or would it have just been a a plain little box?   

 

On another level, you have media inspiring people to become scientists.  Neil deGrasse Tyson became inspired to become an astrophysicist by watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos.  How many youngsters are being inspired to become scientists by Neil deGrasse Tyson's version of Cosmos (and would there be a Neil deGrasse Tyson version without a filmmaker/actor like Seth McFarlane pushing for it)?.  You have Mae C. Jemison, the first African American female astronaut inspired by Nichelle Nichols and her character Uhura on Star Trek.  How many people are being inspired to become scientists and engineers by The Big Bang Theory??

 

On yet another level, you have scientists and engineers being inspired by things they've seen in film and television.  Cell Phones - Star Trek Communicators.  i-Pads = Star Trek Pads.  There are advancements being made in medical equipment such as nascent diagnostic beds that are inspired by Star Trek.  There are even some specialty diagnostic equipment being used by different industries that could be said to be inspired by the Star Trek tricorder.  There are people working on developing matter transporters and surely someone is trying to develop a working light saber (Star Wars) or a working hoverboard (Back to the Future).

 

That's a little more to the point for A - it's not really about the fine arts, or music, or craft.

[qwazse]

So, calico, "design" is just "art" in disguise for the tech world?

[CalicoPenn]

So, calico, "design" is just "art" in disguise for the tech world?

 

More and more art museums are showcasing product design (as well as crafts) as art. 

[blw2]

And without the english majors, the script writers couldn't have come up with the inspiration that was star wars, star trek, and so on....

 

So how is it they are left out of the steam?

 

i wish I knew how to emed youtube....

https://youtu.be/V946uL0xMTA

 

 

[Stosh]

More and more art museums are showcasing product design (as well as crafts) as art. 

 

That's because the "talent" we have today in the art world can't compete with the true masters. 

 

Synthesized music is not the same as played music.

 

My grandfather and his generation actually played musical instruments.  So does my generation.  Most of the kids today just play their iPad "tunes".

 

Classical art is not paint splashed on a canvas by an elephant.

 

A photo-shopped picture can't compete with Ansel Adams.

 

Need I go on?

[SouthPoleScout]

I'm all for promoting education - in a WELL BALANCED mix of fields...

 

But I'll tell ya what - they have STEMed and STEAMed the kids so much over the past few years that most of the ones I know are sick to death of it.  If an event even mentions STEM their interest plummets.  A recent fun class on model rockets has a lot of interest .... that is until the flyer came out proclaiming the STEM focus.  Wound up having 1 (out of 30) kids decide to go.

[qwazse]

I'm all for promoting education - in a WELL BALANCED mix of fields...

 

But I'll tell ya what - they have STEMed and STEAMed the kids so much over the past few years that most of the ones I know are sick to death of it.  If an event even mentions STEM their interest plummets.  A recent fun class on model rockets has a lot of interest .... that is until the flyer came out proclaiming the STEM focus.  Wound up having 1 (out of 30) kids decide to go.

I never had a STEM day with rockets. I had a build day, a paint day, and a launch/recovery day.

 

Not once would I use the word science (although I might talk about what we know and can learn from reading reports and trying things ourselves), technology (although I might mention how certain paints go together and how some decals get printed), engineering (although I might discuss how you figure the right voltage for the launch pad, the choice of engines, the pad configuration, and the switch sequence), or math (although we learn how to triangulate altitude, calculate speed, estimate winds aloft, and predict recovery location).

[Sentinel947]

That's because the "talent" we have today in the art world can't compete with the true masters.

 

Synthesized music is not the same as played music.

 

My grandfather and his generation actually played musical instruments. So does my generation. Most of the kids today just play their iPad "tunes".

 

Need I go on?

What do you think goes on in every school band room in America?

 

Just because Kanye West and others are the most popular type of music does not mean that the old classics and skills have been lost. Just from my former high school band, at least 5 of them have graduated and become music educators in the public schools.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Sentinel947

[perdidochas]

You knew it as STEM.

Science

Technology

Engineering

Mathematics

 

 

Well, the buzzword is changing.  Caught this from a professor of physics at Marian University, Indianapolis, today.  She caught it from The Planetary Society:

 

We're Building the STEAM Team

 

Science

Technology

Engineering

Arts

Mathematics

 

I don't know how long it will be before Scouting catches up, but the day is coming...

Catholic schools are flirting with an idea called STREAM.

Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics.

[SSScout]

Awwww, preserved overly salted fatty prepared meat product (bologna).

 

Everyone knows the basis of all knowledge is Mathematics, hence the proper acronymic mnemonic is

 

MAST

 

Math, Arts, Science, Technology (includes Engineering. The APPLIED ARTS, which come from applying the Math, Science in an Artistic way)

 

"Form Follows Function"    Buckminster Fuller,  Robert Loewy,  Henry Dreyfuss,   et al....

[Chadamus]

That's because the "talent" we have today in the art world can't compete with the true masters. 

 

 

...says the gentleman 'borrowing' the Rockwell artwork. 

 

(Whom I like!)

 

We have more artists working in more mediums covering more subjects today than we did at any time in the past. Due to population growth, that will only continue. A dismissal all of those creative people who came and will come after the 'masters' as inferior is unfortunate.

[Tampa Turtle]

*sigh*

 

For a while everything in my boy's school was "SMATH" (Science and Math--get it it). Teaching the War of 1812? Work in some cannon ball physics--it's not boring history--it's SMATH! Literature--work in some SMATH! Now we got STEM, STEAM, and probably PRESSURE is coming soon. Recently a new ASM just back from Roundtable was talking up a STEM event and the older boys started groaning. But I am sure there are funding opportunities for National to pursue. My sons love, love, love science but not at scouts. They are in school all day.

[Chadamus]

I'll speak for the boys on the other side of the fence. The first two merit badges my son chose to complete were Space Exploration and Digital Technology. Some Scouts can't get enough no matter the setting.