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<<https://stemscouts.org/>>       Well,  here's BSA's latest brainstorm to replace regular Scouting.  Open to boys and girls grades 3-12.     Not a WORD about camping that I saw. 

Money.   There are many youth STEM grants to be had from both government and the private sector.  As an example, I recently received an email from FIRST asking volunteer help in social media voting

Why would I want to hang around a middle school?  It wasn't fun the first time, I don't think it's gotten better for me over the years.  My kids didn't like it either.  

It's pretty obvious what BSA is up to.  They wanted the Exploring program to go co-ed and opened it up to "General Interest" posts (old boys only Exploring) and career posts.  Then when enough time had passed and no one was paying attention they broke it out into Learning for Life and Venturing, but now the boys only Explorers are gone.  So we have Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and it's boys only, but STEM Scouts is the new co-ed answer to getting girls into the program through the back door like they always do and GSUSA is looped out of the picture.  They got away with the Venturing/Exploring end around now this is for the younger guys and gals.

 

If you watch the overview video, the Class-B uniforms with the STEM logo being sold of course by BSA are prevalent in all the scenes, even lab coats for the adults.  

 

This is where BSA is putting all it's eggs in the basket at this time.  Co-ed scouting using the STEM excuse to make it not so dorky.  Computer camps, space camps, etc. watch out, here comes the BSA!

 

Cubs and Boy Scouts will still be there, but they will be the tag along program like Learning for Life became with the dropping of the Exploring program.  Maybe the new Boy Scout program will be the field research arm of STEM.  Outdoor lab instead of an indoor lab.  A little bit of everything for everyone.

Edited by Stosh
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Don't worry, if their STEM courses are as well thought out as the animation or game design or robotics or other technology MBs, these kids will have the technical skills of your average 7th grader. ;)

Edited by Bad Wolf
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I don't think it's as much about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math as it is about co-ed scouting for 3-12 grades.   It's a marketing shift to capture the scholastic market and leave the sports to YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs.

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Don't worry, if their STEM courses are as well thought out as the animation or game design or robotics or other technology MBs, these kids will have the technical skills of your average 7th grader. ;)

I think that's why the designers of STEM scouts bypassed the merit-badge program. It is simply not flexible enough to have age-appropriate activities for any cluster of science related badges over a long term. The same thing could be said for GS-USA's science-related badges.

 

My reading through this and the STEM-Nova programs gives me the sense that accumulation of time in various lab settings is as central to them as accumulating varied camping nights is to boy scouts.

 

In fact, I could envision the pinnacle STEM-scouting experience as independently replicating science and unlocking the secrets of the universe with your mates. Lets hope the leaders and parents of this division can too.

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Money.

 

There are many youth STEM grants to be had from both government and the private sector.  As an example, I recently received an email from FIRST asking volunteer help in social media voting to win a $500K award from Microsoft. Some of these STEM grants can fit into a school curriculum, but many would rather be outside, free of teacher unions, Common Core, open to all kids in a community. No surprise Boy and Girls Clubs, 4-H, and Girl Scouts are in the STEM money chase.

 

Acquiring STEM grants is a way for the BSA to get back lost corporate donations. 

 

My $0.02

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Money.

 

There are many youth STEM grants to be had from both government and the private sector.  As an example, I recently received an email from FIRST asking volunteer help in social media voting to win a $500K award from Microsoft. Some of these STEM grants can fit into a school curriculum, but many would rather be outside, free of teacher unions, Common Core, open to all kids in a community. No surprise Boy and Girls Clubs, 4-H, and Girl Scouts are in the STEM money chase.

 

Acquiring STEM grants is a way for the BSA to get back lost corporate donations. 

 

My $0.02

Excellent point!

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For every boy that joins Cub Scouts, how mant boys don't join?  For every boy that joins Boy Scouts, how many boys don't join?  When I was of Cub Scout age, my neighborhood had around 25 boys my age or within a year on either side of my age.  Of those 25, only 10 boys joined the neighborhood cub scout pack (and it truly was a neighborhood cub scout pack, it was sponsored by our school and we all went to the same school.  Of those 10 Cub Scouts, 7 crossed over to Boy Scouts.  Of those 7, only 3 were still Boy Scouts at the start of 9th grade.  Lets look at that number agin - 3 out of 25 were Boy Scouts through high school.  The BSA has always been this way.  If STEM Scouts was around back then, maybe they could have raised that number to 5 out of 25, or 7 out of 25.  Wouldn't it have been worth it to try? 

 

Does it dilute the brand by not being outdoors enough?  Ok, I'll accept that, but at the same time, in this day and age, more and more people are afraid of the outdoors (which is frankly odd given that most of us no longer live anywhere near bears and mountain lions) and so that attraction to the outdoors is no longer the draw it used to be.  We can and should still offer a great outdoor program for those that are looking for a good outdoor program, but what is the real harm in offering a non-outdoor program to boys and girls who are more interested in STEM than they are in the outdoors?

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Now Calico, let's not try and be rational or see another perspective.  We have to holler bloody murder if anything NEW is suggested or heaven forbid, actually given a try.  

 

Yes, we need to do more to keep the "outing in Scouting", but that is not to say there may not be other avenues of program that can and will work.  And, with STEM, reality is that a number of STEM related subjects can play very well into the outdoor program, possibly even enhance it to some extent.  

 

When I was at the 2010 Jambo, one of the most popular areas for scouts was the science and technology area.  And the Pioneering area there included a number of mechanical devices made from spars and lines.  That is technology I think, just as updated First Aide techniques are, or using photography and microscopes to identify plants, insects, or animals from the wild.

 

Use ALL the tools available to draw them in, then find ways to include the outdoors in the overall scheme.  Nawww; never work!

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After our last middle school outdoor education trip, we took a survey of the kids to rank the activities.  

 

The 3 Science activities came in first, third, and fourth. The English department came in second (Storytelling).  So, these top 4 activities beat out the Physical Education department  (swimming, canoeing, and archery).  

 

Team Building, which was a perennial first place,  took a huge plunge down to eighth.

Edited by David CO
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After our last middle school outdoor education trip, we took a survey of the kids to rank the activities.  

 

The 3 Science activities came in first, third, and fourth. The English department came in second (Storytelling).  So, these top 4 activities beat out the Physical Education department  (swimming, canoeing, and archery).  

 

Team Building, which was a perennial first place,  took a huge plunge down to eighth.

Let's face it, STEM Scouting is BSA's attempt to get the Asian market. They're not as focused on outdoor as other kids, but rather math and science.

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Let's face it, STEM Scouting is BSA's attempt to get the Asian market. They're not as focused on outdoor as other kids, but rather math and science.

If so, consider similar attempts to increase membership from a specific population - Improved Scouting Program with an urban focus, scouting as a "family program", Summit for the 10 per-centers.

 

There are at least three STEM programs in the BSA

- the old merit badge program with Chemistry, Electronics, Welding, ...

- the STEM/NOVA an embellished merit badge program??? Sorry I don't get it. Why not improve the merit badges themselves.

- STEM Scouts which is pilot program entering its second year. I think we will see major revisions in STEM scouts this academic year.

 

My $0.01 for rambling

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