Creating Solutions. Inspiring Action.

Member Login | Register

 

The STEM Research and Modeling Network

History

As co-chair of BHEF’s STEM Initiative, which calls for doubling the number of U.S. students earning STEM degrees by 2015, Raytheon Company CEO Bill Swanson commissioned a team of Raytheon engineers to create a tool to help policymakers, educators, and researchers better understand the complex nature of the U.S. education system and identify potential solutions that could help the nation strengthen student outcomes in STEM.

After more than two years of development and with the assistance of BHEF and other experts, Raytheon has created a preliminary dynamic systems engineering-based tool that has the potential to assist in modeling interventions to increase student interest and capabilities in STEM.
The prototype model tracks students with ability in STEM as they flow though the system, starting in elementary school, moving through secondary school, transitioning into college, and entering into either a STEM-related career in teaching or industry or a non-STEM career. Using systems dynamics techniques, a number of proposed policy interventions and strategies were overlaid on the baseline model to simulate the impact—both intentional and unintentional—on the number of STEM-capable students.

This initial modeling activity has not only provided valuable insight into the nature of the STEM education pipeline, but it has also illuminated important gaps in our current understanding that will require additional research. In addition, the model has demonstrated the potential to examine which strategies might produce improvement in students’ ability in STEM, and that hold promise for increasing the number of STEM college graduates. 

To fully realize the potential benefits of this tool, Raytheon and BHEF recognized the need for additional model enhancement, testing, validation, and analysis before the model transitions to open source use by the public. To accomplish these refinements, we formed a collaborative partnership with The Ohio State University to manage the project and engage strategic partners and the broader STEM education community. The STEM Research and Modeling Network (SRMN) was officially launched in June, 2008 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The first convening of the network took place in November, 2008 at the Kauffman Foundation. Download a copy of the official proceedings (pdf). A second meeting was held February 9, 2009 in Miami; download a summary of the meeting (pdf)

For more information about the system dynamics model, click here (pdf).

SRMN Guiding Principles

  • Motivated to improve education for all our children
  • Grounded in real-world experience, data, and practical knowledge
  • Committed to translating knowledge into action (i.e., policy-relevant AND linked to research)
  • Devoted to fostering a rich collaboration around rigorous modeling, research, practice and policy
  • Dedicated to fostering and sustaining an inclusive community of users, researchers, practitioners
  • Committed to using open innovation and open source techniques
  • Embraces predictive research methods and tools

More Information about the SRMN

SRMN Concept Paper (pdf)

www.stemnetwork.org

Blog post by BHEF member Joe Hartley about the February 2008 meeting and the SRMN