STEM education is alive and well in Fountain Hills Unified School District, with multiple classes, clubs and on-campus activities stressing the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

While local STEM initiatives began several years ago, high school educator Dr. Paul McElligott said that the push for these types of programs got rolling nationwide about a decade ago.

Put simply, STEM education focuses on the four overarching subjects listed above, usually integrating multiple disciplines into single projects and frequently offering real-world, hands-on experiences for students.

Among other reasons, STEM has gained popularity nationally due to additional federal funding, as well as a bigger push from the National Science Foundation.

According to McElligott, however, the continuation of STEM programs is still in question.

“Washington is still arguing about it,” McElligott said.

“I got emails just yesterday talking about the fact that Congress is trying to decide whether to fund STEM initiatives.”

As an educator, McElligott said the answer to that question is pretty obvious.

“What I’m learning more and more is that students have pulled away, almost exclusively, from traditional textbooks and written materials,” he said.

“They’re very, very interactive. So the classrooms that are going to really be successful now and in the future need to be totally hands-on and interactive to give them a focused learning experience in whatever topic you’re looking at.”

McElligott said that these types of learning environments encourage students to take what they’ve been given and learn with it on their own, analyze it and “get their hands dirty” by experimenting.

“If funding for STEM were to drop, it would show that we’re being really shortsighted with how education has changed in the last decade or two,” he added.

“Teachers must reverse a lot of their thinking. We can’t just pump out a lot of examples and have the kids worksheet it to death. That ain’t going to happen anymore.

“The kids want more interaction, more fundamental stuff to experiment with and more hands-on projects to make the whole thing alive to them.”

As for why resistance to this evolution of education remains, McElligott said that traditionalists and an older generation of educators may be partially to blame.

“I hate to rat my own guys out, but the vast majority of educators in this country…are on the track to retirement,” McElligott said.

“That’s why there’s such a critical need for teachers in the near future. Many of us are on the way out and, because education is funded so poorly with salaries, it’s not exactly an attractive workplace from a financial standpoint.”

As for those retiring teachers, adopting a new way of thinking when it comes to education is likely not the most appealing scenario.

“Teachers are loaded with so much additional materials these days, it’s hard to get them to break away from the amount of work they already have and go above and beyond to mentor or head up programs like these,” McElligott added.

Local STEM

Here in Fountain Hills, McElligott has been the main driving force behind STEM integration, introducing more and more programs starting about five years ago.

“I started basically looking at what kinds of programs were successful and which ones the kids would want to correlate to,” he said. “The biggest groups wanted lots of hands-on stuff, so that’s what I went after first.”

McElligott said he decided to start with something students were already into, robotics, which has evolved into a huge success for the local high school.

Other STEM initiatives have included an on-campus observatory, 3D printing, the study of local javelina migration, fuel-efficient cars and automotive days where local collectors show off and discuss their cars on campus, to name a few.

“I’ve found that the kids love to learn about cars,” McElligott said.

“They want to drive them but they don’t know anything about them.”

No matter the area of study, though, McElligott said that the objective remains the same.

“They have a lot of questions and they just need the right environment to get their answers,” he added.

Looking ahead

Looking to the future, McElligott said there are several areas he would like to see receive a greater focus in Fountain Hills schools, beginning with computer programming.

“If there’s any one topic for our kids to get a first-rate education and make a six-figure salary, programming is it,” he said.

“I’d love to see some type of a program involving closer interactions with automotives, too, where the kids could learn more hands-on stuff with machines and how they interact and operate.

“A more comprehensive engineering program is probably the next area I would like to focus on, or see someone else in the school focus on.”

Over the years, McElligott said he’s seen a strong uptake of students showing interest and staying involved with these types of programs.

“I even get a strong following of kids wanting to come back after they graduate to continue to work on projects or even coach younger kids in stuff like robotics,” he said.

“I’m finding students are very interested. The programs are evolving nicely.”

McElligott said he’s received many updates from students who have continued their education and gone on to work in STEM-related fields.

More than anything, he said it’s those stories that are telling of the success of such initiatives and their ability to capture a student’s imagination.

Pitching in

Along with what federal funding is currently provided, McElligott funds many of the local STEM projects by successfully earning various grants.

No matter the project, McElligott said monetary donations are always appreciated, as well as assistance through mentoring or working hand-in-hand with students on their various projects.

“Fountain Hills is blessed with a lot of people who are retired technical individuals,” McElligott added.

“We’ve had a lot of people get involved and, if we can get more, we’d love to drag them in.

“I think some people get used to that retired type of environment, but they get re-energized when they come in, see what we’re doing and decide to get involved. Whether it’s to be a speaker for one of my engineering classes or to offer support with something like the robotics club, we could always use the help.”

Anyone with questions or interested in learning more about getting involved are asked to contact Dr. McElligott at pmcelligott@fhusd.org.