How to Build a Strong STEM Pipeline

Addressing Gaps in the STEM Pipeline

Date: February 28, 2023

In the 1970s educators and policymakers began visualizing the path a student takes from elementary and middle school to an eventual degree and career in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as a pipeline. Today, this “STEM pipeline” remains a helpful tool for visualizing the steps that cultivate and maintain interest in these fields throughout a child’s education.

However, as we seek to close gaps in this pipeline and strengthen our national STEM workforce by attracting more people from all backgrounds into these fields, it can be helpful to identify a few central reasons why students might lose interest in these subjects over time.

This paper explores a few of the common gaps that exist in the STEM pipeline and includes details on how 2022-23 New Jersey Teacher of the Year Christine Girtain developed her own STEM pipeline with the Camp Invention^® program at its base.

Highlights include:

• Why math anxiety and science anxiety cause students to avoid STEM subjects
• Reasons behind the gaps that persist in the STEM pipeline across many demographic groups
• Solutions for closing these gaps