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Day of STEM: Inspiring the next generation of Australian students Across Australia, teachers and industry members are working together to help inspire students to develop a love for STEM subjects. International Innovation’s Rosemary Peters introduces the LifeJourney online platform, which offers students the opportunity to test drive hundreds of STEM careers What do you want to be when you grow up? For many people, this is not an easy question to answer. However, in Australia it seems that a new article comes out every few months answering the question of what its students do NOT want to be: scientists or mathematicians.

Studies are showing that students across the country are opting out of studying science and mathematics in record numbers. Science and maths are dropping off of girls’ workloads like flies and the total number of students studying physics is plummeting – it caved by seven percentage points between 1992 and 2012.

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INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

While perhaps not yet a crisis, these trends are definitely what John Kennedy, Dr Terry Lyons and Frances Quinn – authors of The Continuous Decline of Science and Mathematics Enrolments in Australian High Schools – call a ‘serious cause for concern’. They are especially concerning as they fly in the face of the fact that the pool of students is getting larger – the total number of students has increased by 16 per cent since 1992.

To reverse the downward trend in the number of individuals taking STEM subjects, Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is working with a US company called LifeJourney to extend

its online platform to the region under the umbrella of the Day of STEM initiative.

Day of STEM and LifeJourney The purpose of the new Day of STEM initiative is simple – to inspire in students a love of STEM that helps them answer the question of what they want to be when they grow up in the affirmative: “I want to be a scientist”. The initiative is doing this by introducing students to a range of STEM careers they may never have considered before.

“Day of STEM enables students to test drive their future by living a day in the life of Australian STEM leaders. As a result, students are able to connect what they are learning in the classroom to their possible future. By providing them ‘line of sight’ to a career, students will be more prepared to make decisions for their future,” remarks Rick Geritz CEO of LifeJourney. It is his company’s online and mobile career simulator that Australians up and down the continent will be using to introduce students to STEM professions.

Instead of relying on traditional approaches, such as asking students to take an arduous quiz and then providing a list of occupations they might want to consider, LifeJourney uses responsivity, dynamism and interactivity to empower students to find their dream careers.

Companies working with Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and LifeJourney to deliver the Day of STEM include: La Trobe University, Telstra, Westpac, Twitter, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Deloitte, Cisco and SAS

From the LifeJourney landing page, students immediately have the opportunity to ‘window shop’ real STEM careers.

Each ‘journey’ presents students with a range of options to help them discover what a day in the life might be like in that particular occupation. It achieves this by giving students access to videos, interviews and activities that rely on and share the stories of real-life people working in Australian firms ranging from innovative start-ups to established companies.

LifeJourney also gives students an interactive dashboard. This dashboard keeps track of their progress and helps them gain more insight into and reflect upon their personal career preferences and inclinations. Once these preferences become more defined, the dashboard also provides guidance on what types of educational activities (eg. degrees and certifications) and skills they will need to foster in order to fulfill their STEM career aspirations.

In addition to guided activities with tangible, real-world value – such as those provided by Collingwood Football Club during which students will use maths to create the Club’s salary strategy – industry mentors act as a sounding board for their mentees. These mentors are able to provide advice and support up to 10,000 students at a time.

Deloitte is one company that is excited at the opportunity to share its expertise with young Australians through the LifeJourney program in the hope of helping them develop a love of science. As one of the ‘Big Four’ professional services networks, Deloitte will be offering its mentees the ability to learn from mentors working in cyber security and technology consulting, providing students with the chance to understand how their passion might align with the skills businesses will need in the future.

“Deloitte is passionate about driving the nation’s STEM IQ and inspiring students through mentorship in cyber and STEM subjects. We are well positioned to play a leadership role in driving Australia’s STEM transformation. Deloitte experts will share their own stories and experiences as well as highlight the real-life opportunities available in a professional services firm like Deloitte,” says Rob Hillard, Deloitte Consulting Managing Partner and advocate of the Day of STEM programme.

Deloitte has conducted extensive research confirming the critical role STEM education is playing in Australia’s ability to innovate, expand and remain a competitive force globally and validating the obvious need to develop its future knowledge economy workforce, which has significantly declined since the early 2000s. “Only 18 per cent of the Australian workforce has STEM qualifications – and 81 per cent are male. There is an enormous opportunity and need for students, in particular women, to develop STEM skills,” says Hillard.

The future is looking bright Day of STEM is officially kick starting its activities today. After several months of taking pre-registration requests, users across the nation are now able to use the login details that they received in their confirmation email when they first signed up, and students can now begin finding out for themselves what they want to be when they grow up.

“STEM is critical to boosting Australia’s international competitiveness and national wellbeing. STEM knowledge and skills lead to new products, more efficient services, and a more diverse, resilient and sustainable economy,” said Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science upon announcing the launch of the Day of STEM initiative late last year. “As a nation, a better understanding of science and maths will help us address national challenges and ensure that Australians can continue to enjoy good jobs, quality health care, a sustainable environment and the opportunities and services they deserve.”

The value of a mentor One aspect of the LifeJourney software that makes it unique and powerful is the fact that it gives students someone to turn to when trying to decide what career is the best fit for them.

“Australia’s Criterion Conference states that ‘75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations will require STEM related skills and experience’.

Unfortunately there has been a significant decline in STEM participation in recent years in Australia,” Geritz noted when he announced that LifeJourney was opening up its international headquarters in Australia.

“In order to avoid reaching crisis point, business, government and academia need to work together to increase engagement with students, teachers and parents to make STEM appealing.”

Therefore, in tandem with discovering what types of STEM careers interest them, LifeJourney enables students to interact with people working in those careers using the program’s vast database of industry mentors.

Find out more about how you can get involved in the Day of STEM initiative by visiting: www.dayofstem.com.au

www.internationalinnovation.com

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