McGill Minute – Episode 11: STEM Day 2021

Interview with Ian Riddell, STEM Facilitator at Carolina Day School

 

STEM Day 2021

STEM Day is celebrated every year on November 8, to encourage kids to explore their interests in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. As an engineering firm, McGill is proud to employ STEM-educated workers. There were nearly 10.8 million workers in STEM occupations in 2019, however the number of STEM vacancies continues to remain higher than the number of actual candidates for many areas of the country.

Meet Ian Riddell, STEM Facilitator at Carolina Day School

At McGill, we are celebrating STEM Day by speaking with Ian Riddell, the STEM facilitator for grades PK-8 at Carolina Day School, in Asheville, North Carolina, about what he believes are the most important things to teach young people to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Ian has crafted a STEM workshop at Carolina Day School that includes hand-tools, scientific equipment, Legos, computers, and much more. His passion for challenging students to think critically about science and mathematics through hands on experiences leads him to develop programming that inspires curiosity and confidence in young people and will likely result in increased numbers of workers in STEM occupations in the years to come.

Resources:

Scratch – https://scratch.mit.edu/

Science Olympiad – https://www.soinc.org/

FIRST LEGO League – https://www.soinc.org/

References:

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/stem-day.html

 

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash