Giving Compass' Take:

• To get her students interested in STEM, Deborah Cornelison, a teacher from rural Oklahoma, showed them how science projects can improve their community. Cornelison remains focused on inspiring schools and students to embrace stem in spite of the low priority the state has placed on education in recent years.

• How can we learn to get our children and students excited about STEM?

• Read more about teaching kids STEM.

On March 9, a few days after teachers in Oklahoma threatened to walk out to demand more funding for public schools, I was standing next to Deborah Cornelison, a veteran science teacher, in the courtyard of Byng Junior High School. At 11 a.m., the school’s only outdoor space was already hot, and a group of teens moved underneath a large beige canopy to catch some shade. The protective canvas—spread over half of the school’s only outdoor space—is there thanks to students in Cornelison’s physical-science class. In 2008, four ninth-graders investigated the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, tested different types of shade materials, and—in a district with limited resources and no wealthy PTA—raised funds to purchase and install it.

One of five schools in a rural southeast school district, Byng serves mostly white and American Indian students in Pontotoc County, the home of the Chickasaw Nation. The district, located in a tiny community of about 1,100 residents, was lucky to be open on a Friday: Nearly one-fifth of public schools in Oklahoma have shortened the school week to four days to help fill the gap caused by the budget cuts. From 2008 to 2015, Oklahoma cut its spending on public schools by 23.6 percent—more than any other state.

Read the full article on the importance of STEM in schools by Kristina Rizga at The Atlantic.