Our students are growing up in a time where all the information in the world is at their fingertips. They can answer any question they want with their phones, so why exactly are we doing these math problems everyday?
As a STEM teacher, the content serves as an opportunity for our students to engage in and practice thinking strategies that they would not usually exercise outside of the classroom. The more our students get use to these thinking strategies, the better thinkers they become. The better thinkers they become, the better problem solvers.
In a world with so many problems, we need nothing but problem solvers coming out of our schools. This is what it means to me to be a STEM Teacher. We are cultivating problem solvers who will tackle these real world issues with reasoning and evidence.