MIT is launching a new strategic initiative today: MIT for America, which seeks to strengthen STEM education nationally, at many levels of learning. Addressing a critical national need, the initiative ranges across STEM fields and will engage students from kindergarten through community college, preparing them to live and work in a world increasingly shaped by science and technology. MIT for America’s programs will develop new opportunities for student achievement in mathematics, hands-on design and fabrication, and constructive engagement with artificial intelligence. President Sally Kornbluth made the announcement today in a letter to the Institute community.“A natural extension of the Institute’s long record of national service, MIT for America is grounded in our deep belief in potential over pedigree, of the transformative power of learning by doing and in the open sharing of knowledge,” Kornbluth wrote.The initiative represents an Institute-wide effort to address the national challenge of improving STEM education and helping it adapt to shifting societal needs. MIT for America will leverage the Institute’s longstanding strengths to develop new programs and expand existing projects, while amplifying MIT’s impact on national education.MIT for America’s faculty leaders emphasize that the initiative will support programs that can be scaled up and that provide direct, face-to-face guidance for learners and educators. “The goal is to provide programs that are both scalable and high-touch, and make an impact across the country,” says Professor Eric Klopfer, a faculty co-director of MIT for America and director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and the Education Arcade at MIT. “All our programs take advantage of things we are well-positioned to do at MIT, and can be distributed around the country. That’s our guiding light.” Cynthia Breazeal, faculty co-director of MIT for America, professor of media arts and sciences, and the Benesse Professor of Research in Education, says the initiative “is about bringing high-quality access to STEM and AI education, from kindergarten to community college, across the United States. We live in an innovation-driven world, and it’s important to have an education that gives you access to it, whether that’s so you can be a fully engaged citizen or have the opportunity for economic mobility.”Breazeal adds: “Talent is everywhere. We think opportunity should be, too.” The initiative is addressing large-scale needs in STEM education. Only 29 percent of U.S. students in grades 9-12 build circuits, and only 6 percent of students enroll in computer science classes, even though about 60 percent of high schools offer such courses. MIT for America intends to substantially help communities across the country build the bandwidth needed to further develop STEM knowledge and workplace skills. “This effort is about really rolling up sleeves and getting out there and engaging communities, and helping to build capacity across the United States,” Breazeal adds.MIT for America features programs addressing three high-priority areas:Mathematical thinking and problem solving: Work here builds on an existing program, the MIT for America Calculus Project, launched a year ago, in which MIT students and alumni volunteer to help provide calculus tutoring to students in school districts across the country. Living, learning, and working with AI: This area addresses multiple issues revolving around AI, including teacher education that helps instructors integrate AI into classroom learning in productive ways, and programs that enhance AI skills and STEM education in technical-vocational schools and community colleges. The MIT RAISE program (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education) is a leader in this domain. Designing, making, and innovating: MIT for America plans to build out programs that encourage hands-on learning, design work, use of fab labs and makerspaces, and experiential learning, sometimes deploying tools such as national design challenges. “Across the U.S., we want to unlock opportunities and experiences where students are,” says Claudia Urrea, head of MIT for America and head of the MIT pK-12 Initiative. “We want to find people who have not had the opportunity to discover their talent.”In the first case, the MIT for America Calculus Project provides a ready model of outreach with growth potential. About half of U.S. school districts offer calculus, but many of those districts may be under-resourced. The MIT for America Calculus Project has been growing in partnership with an increasing number of school districts, while MIT undergraduates and alumni have enjoyed participating in the program. “People have been really excited about the MIT for America Calculus Project, seeing both the impact that it has, and its model, which I think has resonated,” Klopfer says. “That’s really representative of what other programs could look like.”In the second topic area, MIT for America can leverage burgeoning efforts such as MIT RAISE. The program helps educate teachers and engage students about implementing AI in ways that can complement the developing skills of students, enabling them to use AI in productive ways.“RAISE is about providing materials and training for teachers that helps them have conversations and productive activities around AI,” Klopfer says. “It’s about understanding how AI works and discussing what the values are in your school. It has to be active, involving the students. If you try to force things, about AI one way or the other, that will fail.”In an outgrowth of RAISE, MIT also launched a related program, Pathways for AI Training and Hiring (PATH), on Oct. 1. Starting with a partnership with Georgia State University, PATH aims to bring AI training to two-year and four-year colleges, to help students gain AI skills useful for workplaces. “RAISE has had a lot of success with scaling already,” Breazeal says, noting that about 1 million students were involved with RAISE’s Day of AI event earlier this year. “At MIT, we want to empower youth voices to shape the future. It’s an excellent example of our ability to do that.”And in the third topic area, MIT for America can help produce substantial growth in programs aimed at hands-on learning. That may include more projects such as MIT’s Regenerative Futures Challenge, a global program stemming from MIT’s pK-12 Initiative, which give students the opportunity to create climate and sustainability solutions. Additionally, the Fab Foundation, which grew out of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms Fab Lab program, offers tools and curriculum to learners at 300 fab labs across the U.S.“It’s about coming together in places where there are people who can work together, mentor each other, and learn by example,” Klopfer says. “That’s the kind of thing we want to be creating at scale. We want to build on that.”All told, MIT for America represents a vigorous all-campus effort to enhance education through sustained outreach and knowledge-sharing. At MIT, partners in creating the initiative include the MIT Media Lab; MIT RAISE; the MIT pK-12 Initiative; the Office of the Vice President for Resource Development; and the Office of Innovation and Strategy.The leaders of MIT for America presented an overview of the program in September at MIT’s Alumni Leadership Conference, and they say alumni activity around the new initiative will be another key to its success. “We really appreciate the support and engagement of our alumni,” Breazeal says. “We know they care about K-12 education and access to community colleges.” More broadly, she adds, “We do think this message will resonate with people all across the country.”“I look forward to watching these programs flourish, evolve, and grow,” Kornbluth wrote to the community.
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