I was going to write a piece on some comments for STEM and STE[A]M education, but rather than my opinion it is much more interesting to look at a real program.
When I was a kid I did a bit of rocket building. At first it involved little Estes-class rockets. I'd buy some small commercial motors and reasonably foolproof kits, but this was followed by a progression to homemade airframes using the same engines and finally to homebrew motors (something I can't recommend to anyone but real experts and I was far from being an expert) and airframes. The learning was a bit haphazard, but there was a lot of self motivation and it was fun. In the end my skill at building stuff improved and I saw a real need for learning a bit of math - specifically differential and partial differential equations.
Recently KQED did a piece on high power rocketry that featured the Maverick Civilian Space Program and their Explorer's program for high school kids - take a look.1 The kid's program begins around the seven minute mark, although I strongly encourage you to watch the entire clip, full screen and at the high definition setting.
The Explorer's are similar in nature to the fine work Dean Kamen does with his First organization, but is a bit deeper and not as scaleable. It depends on some very talented mentors and rather heavy funding, but not at impossible levels.
I've had some discussions with a Maverick member about their Explorer's program. It is a very intensive boot camp for the kids, and only those with serious motivation need apply, but these are kids who will do very well at places like CMU and MIT. I suspect SATs and similar metrics are silly formalities when these kids apply and my guess is they will be serious contributors after college. The costs are non-trivial, but are probably less than most high schools spend on a basketball team. The problem is finding fantastic mentors if you wanted to scale this.
Dean's program and the Mavericks are great programs, but my personal interest is more on the science side and I think this can be less expensive, but there is still the mentor problem. Perhaps this would be an excellent way to use retired scientists and engineers ... but the fact that it would cost money is an issue. Better yet would be something to attack science literacy at earlier ages when most kids lose their interest in science. They need to know science is a way of thinking rather than a body of knowledge.
I'm also impressed by the need for what RISD calls STE[A]M education STEM plus the arts. Apple is an excellent example of a company that leverages STEAM types and you see it in some of the entertainment industry - particularly movie firms that do CG work - Pixar, Dreamworks, Disney Animation, as well as innovators like James Cameron. I believe conventional engineering and business approaches are going to be increasingly less important in the future as people who can connect the dots become more valuable. Off-line discussions are most welcome.2
Back to education - we're seeing a lot of web based initiatives along with cost cutting approaches. My gut tells me many of these aren't attacking the deeper issues of relevant and real education. I'm much more impressed with places like Finland, which seems to have developed a very balanced and effective approach and manage to pull it off in a generation's time. Perhaps it makes sense to dive into this in future posts, but my bias shows and it is much more interesting as a debate among folks who think deeply about this and have some experience.
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1 Model rocketry, probably 99.99% or more of civilian rocketry, involves very small commercial motors and either kits or homebrew airframes. There is very little potential for serious damage as the motors are small and the airframes have very little momentum under power. High power rocketry is the next step up. The motors are much larger and the activity requires certification of the participants. We are now getting into the area where accidents could be lethal, so this is a good thing. Of course a teen in a car can be lethal, so perspective is necessary. Amateur rocketry is a step beyond and often involves homebrew motors. When I was a kid high power didn't exist, so I just went into the amateur step on my own - not a great idea. Some of the amateurs build serious liquid fuel rockets these days, but high power is a much larger and more active area. Some of the hobbyists spend in the tens of thousands on it.
2 I've spent some time in NSF groups working on creativity enabling tools as well as science education in secondary schools and can bring a bit of background. I'm also fascinated with approaches for teaching and incorporating the arts along with critical thinking in general.
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recipe for the post. A very "meaty" vegetarian stock. Simple to make. I consider a pressure cooker essential for tasks like this. For the record I use a Kuhn Rikon and love it. It will probably outlast me.
Mushroom based vegetable stock
Ingredients
° 1 kg (4-1/2 cups) water
° 500g (18 oz) button mushrooms, cleaned quartered
° 1 medium onion, sliced
° 140g rich sherry (oloroso for example)
° 120g soy sauce (I have good luck with plain old Kikoman)
° 1 head of garlic, pealed and separted into cloves
Technique
° Put everything into a pressure cooker, crank the heat and cook for 15 minutes at 15psi when you it comes to pressure. Take off the heat and let the pressure come down naturally
° Strain stock through a mesh strainer lined with a damp cheesecloth. Use or chill for later use. It freezes well. The leftover mushrooms have some taste and you may find some use for them in the kitchen.
and beyond
° Make an incredible mushroom soup by sautéeing some mushrooms in butter and the stock and a bit of heavy cream at the end. wow!
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