Empowering the Next Generation of Code Warriors
How the revolutionary martial art of aikido can be a game-changer for STEM education.
It’s no secret that technology skills play a powerful role in our society and many great organizations are equipping kids from every socio-economic and ethnic background with STEM skills.
We’re making big investments in STEM education, and rightly so. Building technical literacy creates economic and social mobility for kids as they transition into adulthood and develops skilled engineers and scientists who keep our country at the leading edge of innovation. Many large companies support STEM education organizations, like the amazing nonprofit, Girls Who Code - both as a way to do social good, and pragmatically, to create a pipeline future of engineers.
But tech skills are not enough. Of the 16 skills identified in a World Economic Forum report as most important for the 21st century, 12 are social and emotional skills. —including competency in approaching challenges, emotional intelligence, capacity to collaborate, and character qualities. None of Google’s top 7 characteristics of success at the company are technical skills. They include things such as human perception, empathy, and having the courage to fail. (via CASEL)
Teaching STEM skills to our youth is a critically important endeavor, but could there be a method of “cross-training” that can amplify the power of this work, create a better return on our investment in this area, and better equip our STEM students to lead us into the future?