Beyond STEM: Discussing Today’s Problems
From Richard C. Larson
 Think of our usual academic silos: math, biology, physics, chemistry, robotics, computer programming. And these are only the STEM silos. Experts in these subjects probably wrote the textbook for each course, and to be an expert, one needs to have spent lots of time in his/her own silo! Then at the secondary school level, we have teachers silo’ed—as teachers of algebra, biology, chemistry, etc. Silo’ed educational ‘materials’ are neatly arranged, scaffolded and presented—some of it centuries old. And tests, including high-stakes standardized tests, focus on silo’ed content. Students slave to understand and repeat back what they have learned, but often without much motivation. Their learning occurs in silos.
 As we all know, the real world does not operate in silos. In this issue of STEM Pals, Professor Megan Rokop has an inspiring article on Ebola. Approached from a biology perspective, she describes the human element in undertaking urgent research, where researchers place their lives at risk to learn how to save the lives of others. In contrast to a staid textbook approach to biology, this story shows that research is alive and well, constantly pushing boundaries and conducted by brave living human beings. Lessons in ethics and social science arise from this case, perhaps even more than the biology research achievements.
Here is my suggestion: Every once in a while in a STEM class, engage in an open-ended class conversation about an important topic currently in the news. Explore how the silo’ed topic of that class meshes with broader societal concerns. Discuss the need to bring into the analysis other silos, especially ones that are not STEM related. STEM may be a necessary ingredient in the discussion, but it is not sufficient to cover all relevant factors, to come up with a reasoned and balanced strategy to frame and tackle the problem.
About five years ago I started doing this in an MIT class with pandemic influenza, motivated by the then-new virus called H1N1. The class (MIT ESD.86: “Models, Data and Inference for Socio-Technical Systems”) is primarily mathematical, covering applied probability, statistics and decision analysis. But we found in our class discussions and in on-going CDC-funded flu research, that the equations in the “flu math” were driven by human behavior. “Social distancing,” improved “hygienic behavior,” and other ‘Non- Pharmaceutical Interventions” (NPI’s) were human control mechanisms that provided individuals, families and friends with the ability to reduce significantly their chances of getting the flu. The math of infection propagation was in their hands, almost literally (frequent soap-and-hot-water hand washing!) As a result of these discussions and the students’ interests, we were able to bring in aspects of social science (for human behavior) and even management (for the health care system’s response to the flu). In that way the students learned the need to add and incorporate non-STEM thinking in with their STEM analyses. It also provided them with a huge motivation to learn the math, as they now saw its relevance and importance in addressing a significant societal problem.
Reaching outside the classroom, beyond the textbook, to today’s important issues—showing how math, science and engineering relate to today’s problems—that is one major way to motivate students and broaden their thinking at the same time. Today that important topic in the life sciences is Ebola. Hopefully this humanitarian crisis will be wrestled to the ground within the near future, with innovative STEM thinking integrated with appropriate social science and management. Five years from now, undoubtedly there will be another crisis to bring to the class. And the students will benefit from these discussions.
Richard Larson is the Mitsui Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT. He is also the Director of MIT LINC and the Principal Investigator of MIT BLOSSOMS.
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