This is an incredibly interesting conversation. Thanks for creating it Andy. Like you I was also a Sinclair child ( the next generation will be the micro:bit kids I suppose  and we will probaly have our first 16 year old billionaire in the next two years! ).


​Personally I think we perhaps concentrate too much on the technology and its understanding, as its our natural disposition to do so:  While we may understand it, we still do not effectively communicate its importance to the public and so it becomes undervalued and totally misinterpreted by media. So I think the soft skills are one area STEM also needs to cover.


I think STEM is so encompassing and yet it is so very limiting in that we are not addressing or acknowledging that there are many avenues within engineering that allow very different creative thinking processes, from marketing, design, business practice etc. So while I embrace the purpose of STEM activities wholeheartedly,  we should learn the techniques of better identifying the problems to solve, communicating how we intend to solve them and then apply STEM and other practices to develop business opportunities.  


I am going to be very controversial here  and I expect some kickback and please note this in no way decries the amazing efforts of teachers, lecturers and professors. I think STEM is potentially a 1990's approach to a very different world of science and engineering. It's purpose was to enthuse the young to fill companies with valuable trained scientists and engineers and while it no doubt achieved its aims somewhat, I regularly see great dissapoinment from younger engineers who get tasked with lacklustre or mediocre projects and yet have the capability to do so much more for society; their very creative essence being snuffed out in the first beginnings. We really should be concentrating on creating a new 21st Century breed of 'Entrepreneur-Engineer' that is not reliant on big business and STEM should be the catalyst that ignites that passion, identifies those talents and brings them together to become a much more valuable asset for the country.   


BTW, loved Thunderbirds and I know that even some of my colleague engineers who had worked at British Aerospace had had heated debates of the forward swept wing concept of Thunderbird 2; thereby indicating the impact Gerry Anderson had on a whole generation!  But I was really a Joe 90 fan, BIGRAT and what was the pre-cursor to Google glass, and which eerily appeared at about the same time period the series was supposed to portray ( ok more controversy... I know).

This is an incredibly interesting conversation. Thanks for creating it Andy. Like you I was also a Sinclair child ( the next generation will be the micro:bit kids I suppose  and we will probaly have our first 16 year old billionaire in the next two years! ).


​Personally I think we perhaps concentrate too much on the technology and its understanding, as its our natural disposition to do so:  While we may understand it, we still do not effectively communicate its importance to the public and so it becomes undervalued and totally misinterpreted by media. So I think the soft skills are one area STEM also needs to cover.


I think STEM is so encompassing and yet it is so very limiting in that we are not addressing or acknowledging that there are many avenues within engineering that allow very different creative thinking processes, from marketing, design, business practice etc. So while I embrace the purpose of STEM activities wholeheartedly,  we should learn the techniques of better identifying the problems to solve, communicating how we intend to solve them and then apply STEM and other practices to develop business opportunities.  


I am going to be very controversial here  and I expect some kickback and please note this in no way decries the amazing efforts of teachers, lecturers and professors. I think STEM is potentially a 1990's approach to a very different world of science and engineering. It's purpose was to enthuse the young to fill companies with valuable trained scientists and engineers and while it no doubt achieved its aims somewhat, I regularly see great dissapoinment from younger engineers who get tasked with lacklustre or mediocre projects and yet have the capability to do so much more for society; their very creative essence being snuffed out in the first beginnings. We really should be concentrating on creating a new 21st Century breed of 'Entrepreneur-Engineer' that is not reliant on big business and STEM should be the catalyst that ignites that passion, identifies those talents and brings them together to become a much more valuable asset for the country.   


BTW, loved Thunderbirds and I know that even some of my colleague engineers who had worked at British Aerospace had had heated debates of the forward swept wing concept of Thunderbird 2; thereby indicating the impact Gerry Anderson had on a whole generation!  But I was really a Joe 90 fan, BIGRAT and what was the pre-cursor to Google glass, and which eerily appeared at about the same time period the series was supposed to portray ( ok more controversy... I know).