edSurge – Beverly E. Perdue
““I’m not good at math.” It’s routine to hear an adult utter these five innocent words while doing something as simple as calculating tip at a restaurant. It’s striking that self-doubting one’s ability to succeed in math has become par for the course for both adults and young people in our country. Science, technology, engineering and math are exactly the subjects where we need our students to succeed the most. We’ve all heard the research related to STEM: high-skill occupations in these fields are among the highest paying jobs, demand will increase in the next 20 years, and a strong STEM workforce is critical to global competitiveness for the U.S. But we’re coming up short on how to help more students succeed in STEM subjects. As a former teacher and a parent, I believe that we need to first address student confidence…When it comes to student achievement, non-cognitive skills like confidence, grit, and self-control can have a big impact.”(more)