Empowering Communities to Shape the Future

Popular science fiction often imagines a future dystopian society where robots, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies have taken over. While the majority of Americans believe that science and technology result in more positive than negative effects on society, a substantial percentage also believe that advances in science and technology make life change too fast. The feeling of “future shock” — of too much change in too short a time — has been expressed for decades.

The widespread perception that social and technological change happens to us rather than by us, and that it happens too fast, reveals a critical gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) engagement in the United States. Our educational system does not yet adequately support the development of futures thinking or a deep understanding of the relationship between STEM and society.

In this New Tools breakfast seminar, Rae Ostman and Paul Martin will discuss how the Center for Innovation in Informal STEM Learning at Arizona State University approaches the futures gap in STEM education, and describe how they are partnering with museums across the country to address it.