Tom Udall: “who will develop a computer small enough to fit into our eyeglasses? Who will build the first fully-automated…”

“who will develop a computer small enough to fit into our eyeglasses? Who will build the first fully-automated, completely sustainable house or hospital? Which country will successfully test time travel? I hope that it will be the United States, but I am not confident. When we compare the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, success of students globally, we are not in the lead. The President, Congress and our business community all agree that we must do better in order to compete and excel in STEM fields globally. If we are going to remain competitive, we must develop and retain high- quality math and science teachers. We must provide those teachers with strong professional development so they can develop higher-order thinking in their students. We must encourage higher education leaders to strengthen K-8 teacher education programs to provide a deeper understanding of the content knowledge necessary to teach math and science. We must engage students earlier about possible careers in STEM fields. Our economic growth and our national security depend on a workforce skilled in STEM fields. The demand for scientists and engineers is expected to increase at four times the rate of other occupations. But our students just aren't performing well enough in math and science, and too few of them are pursuing careers in these technical fields.…”