Where are your priorities?

If your answer involves our education system, then you will want to read on. Last week, the executives of National Instruments held an informal Q&A session with dozens of media representatives to discuss the topic of education. National Instruments is involved with a number of educational initiatives that I hope will inspire all of you to help the cause. It’s become very evident that the automation industry is witnessing a skills shortage – and it’s only going to get worse, unless we all do something to reverse it.

Why aren’t kids going into science and math related fields? For one reason, engineers and scientists are never portrayed as heroes in the movies or on TV. It’s not glamorous to be a geek. Our society also puts too much emphasis on sports. In Texas, for example, football is more popular than any other sport around. The communities have made it a priority, so the school administrations have made it a priority. If the communities celebrate science and math like they celebrates football, things would change. I don’t mean to pick on Texas – this is a widespread epidemic. Parents are great at pushing their children to excel at a sport or with a musical instrument. It’s pretty common knowledge that the more you practice something, the better you will get at it. But parents don’t push science and math like they push sports and music.

Is it possible that our education system is beating the math/science interest out of children by the time they reach the 12th grade?  Jeff Kodosky, Cofounder and Business and Technology Fellow at NI says, "Yes."  We have a shortage of qualified teachers for math and science curriculum. As a result, many of the stand-in math and science teachers are intimidated by the topics – they just don’t have the confidence to teach these subjects effectively to students. Students sense that fear and they turn away from the subjects. That’s why Kodosky is involved with the UTeach Program at the University of Texas at Austin. UTeach is a teacher preparation program that allows students to obtain their teaching certificate in four years instead of the usual four-year degree plus another 1.5 years which was previously necessary to get the certificate. At UT-Austin, there are more than 450 participants in the UTeach program and they have doubled the number of graduating secondary math and science teachers. The program is so successful that it is being replicated at other universities around the country.

Do we need a crisis to spur interest in the science and engineering related professionals? In the 1950s, Sputnik drove interest and we witnessed a surge in science and engineering fields. Will global warming be the catalyst of our generation? Or, will it take the loss of our global competitive edge to drive more young people to step up and solve problems?

National Instruments has been eager to get LabVIEW into the hands of students (at drastically discounted prices) for two reasons. One – by using LabVIEW, students become interested in the industry and will hopefully enter a science and engineering field. Two – having young people come out of school with the knowledge of LabVIEW can only help NI’s position in the market. According to NI, LabVIEW allows students to see how things work, which is much more exciting than looking at ICs on a circuit board.

National Instruments (and its suppliers) is also very active in the FIRST Program via the donation of $10 millon in hardware and software. The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and enter them in competitions.

To reach the younger crowd, NI and LEGO developed Robotics Platform for Elementary School Students. Powered by NI LabVIEW graphical design software, LEGO Education WeDo Software is a drag-and-drop, icon-based environment that students ages 7 to 11 can use to easily program their own robotics inventions. Using WeDo software, students learn basic programming skills while designing their robotics applications.

I’ll leave you with this final quote which is also the Vision of FIRST - "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes."   Let that be a motto for all of us.

Enjoy the rest of this Automation Weekly!

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher

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