Industry can increase the authenticity of STEM initiatives within schools which leads to greater purpose and engagement for students when working to solve real-world problems.
Industry support for STEM education in schools can take a range of forms, including:
- presenting a real-world problem for students to solve as an authentic client
- mentoring students through the design thinking or engineering process as they work produce solutions to problems
- demonstrating authentic real-world skills, techniques and process that students can apply to their own project work
- providing an authentic feedback audience for student solutions as a client or a critical friend
- a source of STEM career case studies to help student contextualise their STEM work and its relevance to their own world
- being an aspiration role model, especially for underrepresented groups and areas of economic need
- providing worksite tours to improve students? knowledge and understanding of the world around them.