RESEARCH
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Trends In Education
“We’ve tried to be proactive in order to shape the community
of the future,” he says. “For the last 12 or 14 years,
we put a lot of emphasis on the basic programs serving
agriculture, tourism and construction, which were our major
industries. But in the late 1980s, we were seeing articles about
where the jobs would be in the future, and we realized it
would be in science, technology, engineering and math even
before the acronym STEM was invented.”
The school’s master plan began to emphasize buildings
that would enhance the teaching of STEM program courses,
starting with the Science Center in 1992, the same year that
the St. Lucie West campus opened.
Four more buildings followed on the main campus, and
then the STEM Center was built in 21/2 years at the St. Lucie
West campus, opening for classes on Jan. 7.
“They dedicated the STEM Center on Feb. 26, the same day
that the Science Center on the main campus was opened 20
years ago,” says provost Arnold.
“In 2009 I attended the STEM Florida conference in Orlando
with representatives from education and industry from
all over the state,” Arnold says. “We were so excited because
out of all of the people there, we were the only ones planning
to build a STEM center. It was an eye-opener in terms of how
high the demand was from industry leaders about the need
for people with that skill set. Dr. Massey is a true visionary.”
In 2007, the college went to the state Department of Education
for permission to begin offering four-year degrees. The
first bachelor degree classes began in January 2008, and the
school’s name changed from community college to state college
in July of that year.
Massey says the college is seeing significant success in
attracting students to careers in science, engineering, technology
and math. “Our science classes have quadrupled in size,”
he says. “But we have not forgotten the trades, agriculture,
the core programs that are important to this area. We have
not reduced our interests and education in these areas at all.”
Math, which keeps many bright students out of the sciences,
technology and engineering, “is getting a tremendous
amount of attention from us,” Massey says. “We are trying to
diagnose where the problems are in math; identify them and
then identify teaching styles where students can learn more.”
The college is taking it on as a research project.
Students are using the STEM center for courses leading to a
bachelor’s degree in nursing, as are students in health science
programs who are taking anatomy, physiology and chemistry.
Engineering and ecology students and students seeking
a bachelor’s degree in education programs to teach math and
science in high schools and middle schools also take courses
there. Students in many types of Associate in Arts programs
take biology, chemistry, pre-medicine and pre-veterinary
courses there as well.
HONING SKILLS
For Spencer Marshall, 29, from Fort Pierce , the STEM center
is a place to hone the skills that will lead to a degree
in biology with a specialization in molecular biology and
biotechnology. Now a senior, he loves the fluorescence
microscopes, he says. They allow him to see the tiny parts of
cells called organelles with individual organelle such as the
mitochondria which produce the energy the cell needs to do
its work illuminated with a fluorescent dye that “sticks” to
only certain parts of the cell. >>
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