Computer Weekly: Cognizant’s Vice President of Consulting Writes About Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Talent
“The issue of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills—or lack thereof—among the next generation is never far from the news agenda,” writes Phil Dunmore. “It has been suggested by many organizations, including the Confederation of British Industry, that the UK faces a serious shortage of graduates in these subjects and that the consequences are serious enough to threaten our future economic prosperity.” Excerpts:
“There is also a vital role here for technology orientated companies. At Cognizant, this is a topic that's close to our hearts and one where we are taking action.
A couple of weeks ago, we held the latest in a series of events where local pupils come in for a day to spend some time with some of our recent graduates and learn more about what a career in STEM looks like at Cognizant. These ‘Insight Days’ take place regularly in our offices across the world, but on this occasion we welcomed thirty Year 9 students from two secondary schools in Newham and Fulham to our UK headquarters in Paddington. In the morning, the students took part in some interactive games around technology innovation and heard from our graduates about what studying STEM subjects at university is like. Then the afternoon saw me and three senior colleagues act as the ‘dragons’ in a Dragons’ Den style challenge about wearable technology.
This exercise in particular allowed the students to express their creativity and teamwork skills, whilst also learning about how frequently STEM related topics touch our everyday lives. The students were divided into seven teams, with a mix of pupils from each school, and given a vertical market to target, ranging from sports and fitness, to transport. They then had just one hour to come up with a new wearable technology solution, thinking about everything from design and functionality to audience and marketing strategy.
The ideas that were generated were actually really quite interesting. They included a ring that would allow teachers to track the emotions of their students to better understand their engagement and attention during lessons, a smartwatch that would allow the wearer to transmit movements into video games and a smart shoe that would track the wearer's health as well as store energy from walking to recharge a phone. My fellow dragons and I were all seriously impressed with their ideas, which were all based on highly relevant insights and market trends. The students also showed very strong collaborative skills, forging relationships with pupils from another school, brainstorming and then presenting their ideas in little more than an hour.
When discussing what had been learnt from the day, the pupils talked about the extent to which they are surrounded by STEM but often do not realise it - whether at school, at home or out with their friends. By showing how subjects normally perceived as ‘boring’ such as maths or physics relate to students’ everyday lives, we can hopefully create a meaningful connection that demonstrates their relevance and drives curiosity as to where they could take the technology next. The other huge benefit of the day was to give the students a taste of the real working environment.”
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