Many people today have had to call customer support and ask for help for their electronic needs.
Those calls often get frustrating because the person on the other end is trying to diagnose based on a verbal description only.
two girlsAs part of the Henryetta STEM program, students were shown how vital clear and concise instruction is toward a successful outcome.
STEM coordinator Stacy Bullard had her class build a project using only descriptions from another person. "It takes the ability to community what your thoughts are," Bullard said.
"Those instructions could be miles away, even on the other side of the globe, she told the students.
Those students took ten parts from storage bins and described what to build. Their partner had the same ten parts and tried to follow the instructions.
"They had to be very specific, even telling the other person to use the second hole from the left, third hole from the bottom." Bullard said. Students were able to ask questions but not allowed to see what the other person was actually doing.thompson and student
This led to different versions of the projects as the students learned clear and concise instructions had to be given.
Watching the work were school superintendent Dwayne Noble and State Senator Roger Thompson.
The need for STEM instruction was illustrated by Thompson who explained the state has lost 14,000 oilfield jobs but there are 60,000 STEM-related jobs.
He said a recent story indicated statewide STEM and reduced lunch programs were taking a cut in funding.
"That is not true." Thompson explained the reduced lunch and STEM funding has been removed out of general appropriations so they would not lost funding.
Thompson did point out schools will have to be watching expenses.He said bills have been filed and will be deliberated this year that deal with districts merging.
"There is a bill in place that calls for all schools with 100 or less students by actual daily count to merge with another school within a two year period of time."
He said 51 percent of the state budget currently goes to education and all areas are being examined to hold down expenses. "Administration and transportation costs are eating us up."
"We are not looking at closing campuses," he added.
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