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Carnegie Science Fall 2015 5 David Evans Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association NSTA gave some context to the issue. STEM is not a large part of the population he said.But STEM is a large driver of the economy. A recent Gallup poll showed that currently 42 of the U. S. population are Young Earth Creation- istspeople who believe that the Earth and humans in their why get involved present forms were created no earlier than 10000 years ago. That information is consistent with National Science Foundation surveys the state of science literacy is very low he remarked. He went on I heard a talk recently that in the 1960s only about 10 of the U.S. population had a college degree. Now only about 30 do. Very few scientists would agree with that number. When I pose the question to them I get numbers like 70 or 80. A surprisingly small number of adults have college degrees. When you consider how few of those are in a STEM field you realize its a pretty small group. We tend to suffer from selection bias. We tend to hang out with people like us and we tend to forget that that is not a very good sample of what the whole population is like . . . Scientists should realize the sampling problems and understand that that they have a vested interest in getting it right. That would go a long way recognizing the nature of the problem and that there are no short-term solutions. Evans also said that most science teachers do not have a personal experience with people in the STEM professions and that most students do not know what those professions are.We need to build a system to better connect STEM professionals and teachers. It is the personal experience we need to communicate to students. Evans goal as the leader of NSTA is that the whole population should be literate in the STEM fields.It is more important to raise the level of science literacy for everybody than improve the next generation of AP tests and get the next Nobel Laureate. Our future really depends on it he said. When people ask him how long it will be until we see an impact he says a generationat least a decadebefore the new standards will have a measurable impact.The problem is serious and its really important. Scientists really need to play a role and an active role in their communities. They need to think of it as a community problem not as a science problem. everal national leaders in STEM outreach voiced their opinions about the most compelling reasons that they believe that STEM professionalsthose in the sciences technology engineering and mathematics disciplinesshould lend their expertise to the teaching community to ensure a better future. FOR VIDEO GO TO www.carnegiescience.Edu