Commentary: Inspiring more children to be professors, engineers, scientists

As children, how much time did we spend staring at the moon? Or stomping in rain puddles? Or building intricate tracks for toy cars? Or going to the bank with our parents?

When we did those things, we were exposed to STEM — an acronym for the study of science, technology, engineering and math. We were exposed to an intelligent, creative and complex way of looking at the world.

And for too many of us, we stopped.

Yes, we still stared at the moon, but we stopped the learning process in which the moon, the computer, the roads and the numbers could have inspired us to be greater than we thought we could be.

Too often a kid’s interest in STEM topics may fade because too few early teachers are trained to teach them.

Interest in these topics from a young age has been found to be a strong predictor of academic success. Research from UC Irvine found that students in kindergarten through fifth grade who have persistently low math skills are much less likely to graduate from high school or attend college.

The ripple effect of STEM education can be felt far beyond the classroom. In 2009, the U.S. Labor Department released a list of the 10 most desirable job candidates, and eight of those were people with training in STEM fields. Another U.S. Labor Department study predicted the 10 fastest-growing fields between now and 2018 — all of them were STEM fields.

We have a crisis in the U.S. and in California, specifically. There is a shortage of aspiring professionals in STEM fields. Today vacancies for STEM jobs remain unfilled, and the problem is expected to grow.

In order to get more professors, more engineers and more scientists, we need to inspire more kids. It’s all part of the same cycle.

With stats such as these, the importance of STEM education for our young learners can’t be ignored.

This month at the Hilton Hotel in Costa Mesa, the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, in collaboration with the Children’s Center at Caltech and THINK Together, and in partnership with the Orange County Department of Education, will host the Early Childhood Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (ECSTEM) Conference to promote and increase awareness of the importance of introducing STEM education in early childhood.

The focus of the event will be how to inspire and teach children from birth to 8 years old the joys of science, technology, engineering and math. The goal is to provide awareness and tools for early educators and parents that they can use to create an encouraging atmosphere that prompts young children to pursue STEM education through elementary, middle, high school and college — and beyond.

The conference, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, will bring together educators, community leaders, politicians, practitioners and researchers to address the opportunities and challenges of STEM instruction.

Guest speakers will represent UC Irvine, UCLA and the University of Illinois. And the early-childhood experts are associated with Readiness Learning Associates, the Growing Place and the Orange County STEM Initiative.

Attendees will spend time in a series of workshops designed to give early educators and home child-care providers practical tools and resources they can use to easily and effectively introduce STEM topics to their students.

The aim is to have them equipped and ready to inspire our youngest learners.

SANDRA PIERCE is a commissioner with the Children and Families Commission of Orange County and director of Little Friends Preschool in Yorba Linda.