For our country to remain competitive in this ever-changing global economy and rapidly evolving, technologically-driven world, we need to ensure that we are appropriately investing in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and talent that serve as the critical building blocks to support our foundation and our future. At the same time these STEM professionals have to be creative and able to communicate. As one scientist in the aeronautic field aptly put it, "I need engineers but I need engineers that can write. In this business, a misplaced comma can kill."
But how do we light a spark in our youth to inspire them to pursue these critical subjects and infuse them with the creativity and curiosity needed to solve our grandest challenges? Classroom learning is critical, but it's not enough. Another source of learning has to happen outside the classroom, where culture is the teacher.
But vying for space in the minds of our youth in the swirl of popular culture today requires unexpected approaches. And science and math are no competition for Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Or are they?
Time Warner Cable's (TWC) partnership with 826 National began at CGI America in 2011 with a basic question, "How do we make STEM more engaging, especially to low-income and under-resourced students?" Our CGI America Commitment to Action was built on TWC's five-year initiative to Connect a Million Minds to the wonders of STEM in informal and fun ways outside of the classroom and to infuse STEM principles into 826 National's proven creative writing model.
826 National is founded on the idea that writing and learning can be fun and creative. The organization already had STEM-themed writing curriculum (highlighted in its book Don't Forget to Write,) but there was no hands-on science involved. Time Warner Cable was able to leverage one of its partners, the Coalition for Science After School (CSAS,) to assist in developing the hands-on STEM components that could be incorporated into the curriculum.
The result was a four-week STEM and Creative Writing pilot program conducted in the summer of 2012 at 826 National chapters in Los Angeles and New York, where more than 60 kids engaged in hands on learning around a range of fun and inquiry-based topics including the science behind ice cream and deep space exploration. In one lesson, kids designed their own experiments to determine whether salt or sugar made ice melt faster. The resulting discussion around the properties of salt led to a creative writing exercise where students composed their own short story about a scientist that wakes up one morning in a world without salt.
We were pleased with the success of the program, which increased students' desire to study science (12% increase) and boosted confidence in doing well in science (10% increase). It also produced two student-authored STEM themed publications, Don't Forget a Rocket (826LA) and The Ballerina and The Hurricane (826NYC).
The partnership between Time Warner Cable and 826 National is a perfect example of how two very different entities--one built on technology and innovation and the other a catalyst for creativity--can combine forces to make a meaningful difference in fostering a generation of critical thinkers and problem solvers.
This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and the Clinton Global Initiative in recognition of the latter's third meeting of CGI America (June 13-14 in Chicago). CGI America convenes business, government, and civil society leaders each year to make commitments promoting domestic economic recovery and the long-term competitiveness of the United States. Since the meeting's launch, CGI America participants have made more than 200 new commitments, with an estimated value of more than $13.4 billion when fully funded and implemented. For more information, click here.