By Marlene Sokol, Times Staff Writer. In Print: Sunday, October 16, 2011. TAMPA — As one class at Middleton High School studied dehydration synthesis, another took a test on computer networks while students in an engineering class designed assembly lines.
"I want to see the process," said Brian Ware, 17, an engineering student. Teammate Andres Salas, 15, said, "I like to use computers." But he doesn't like programming.
It remains to be seen whether these will be lifelong pursuits.
Throughout Middleton and beyond, kids are encouraged to take things apart and put them together, care about the watershed and enter math contests.
"We scream the theme schoolwide to spark students' interest in the sciences and math," said Owen Young, principal of Middleton, whose reputation rests on a thing called STEM.
The term — which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is now a buzzword, espoused by politicians as divergent as President Barack Obama and Gov. Rick Scott as a way to make America competitive.
There's nothing new about STEM. In Pinellas County, it has been around for at least 20 years, said Bill Lawrence, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
But among policymakers confronting a frightening economic future, it has taken center stage. Learn more...
