Moonshot Thinking - Being Extra-ordinary

Since I became a teacher in 2005, I had felt that something is terribly missing in our education system!

For example, we have standard curriculum and exams to tell us what to learn, and based on that, sometimes, my students will kindly remind me what not to teach since it's "not in the Regents test".  

We have rubrics to measure the performance of our learning, and based on the that, students will be busy fulfilling a huge array of requirements. In order to get good grades, we have soon learned to balance our time and efforts among all the items on the list.- not to "waste" too much time/effort on any individual one. 

We have a routine process to prepare students to go to college. We don't need surprises, neither need anything special. We want everything as smooth as possible, as predictable as possible. We definitely will avoid anything with risks of failure.

Don't take me wrong. There is nothing wrong with standard curriculum and exams. In fact, I believe that we should have multiple of them. There is nothing wrong with rubrics. We do need checklists for many academic activities. There is nothing wrong with standard procedure, since it will guarantee certain level of quality and efficiency. What seems wrong to me is that we have missed something or someway to make our students "extra-ordinary"!

In the STEM field, the most critical activity is R&D (Research & Development). The goal of R&D is never to follow the current standard, instead, is to create new technology that may become the new standard in the years to come. How can the "standard-compliant" mindset in education cultivate students to become innovators who will revolutionize our society?

In the STEM field, technical breakthrough regularly came from years of efforts of understanding and solving a single problem (since trivial answers have long been tried without success). Engineers or researchers need to focus on their problems, overcome obstacles, struggle through many failures, and find not only a solution but an innovative and optimal solution. How can our "rubric-minded" students be willing to "waste" their time and efforts, and focus on a single task for a long time in order to succeed?

The STEM field is a highly competitive, fast changing world. Projects can be cancelled or changed overnight due to new technology development. Product release deadline may impact the fate (life or death) of the company, so, it can be very bumpy and stressful in the process. Though everything is well organized and planned, it is subjected to change at any moment. Risks are part of the equation, and failures are embedded in the process by design. How can our students who used to smooth and predictable learning path face a real world full of stress and uncertainty, and still be willing to take the risk of failures to achieve something extra-ordinary?       

I believe that's exactly why we have this class - to make the impossible possible, to challenge students to be extra-ordinary. STEM education is not just about knowledge and skills, but also about dreams and determination. In order to succeed in the STEM field, we need not only the traditional wisdom in education, but also a thinking beyond the "standard", a undivided focus and determination in problem solving, and a little bit "crazy" (you can call the "passionate") about what you are pursuing.

I share this "Moonshot Thinking" video with you since that's what we are trying to do here!