Teaching STEM with a view towards Social Justice

The growing obsession with STEM has pushed the arts and humanities out of the room. But are we only teaching STEM to prepare kids for the workplace? And if so, and STEM is now the dominant focus, then what does this say about education? What about the bigger picture, the need to prepare kids to take responsibility for self, and work with others to form a better, more just, society?

Perhaps it's time we picked up another lens by which to view STEM. Perhaps we should teach STEM subjects from the point of view of social justice? For example, a recent research shows that Latinos and Blacks living in poverty are more exposed to household carcinogens than individuals not living in poverty (read more).  We know that children in the inner cities are exposed to higher amounts of lead (here), and that this likely has an effect on brain development (here), and perhaps even increases in violent behavior (here).

So,  what does this mean for the classroom? I'd suggest having civics teachers and scientists co-teach. Let's have kids investigate their home and neighborhood environments. Let's have them discover what they're exposed to. Let's use STEM to energize youth to stand up against the greed and idiocy that has been destroying lives for decades.

See also:

Neuroscience for Kids - here
Public Health and Social Justice - here