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In Kim Forbes’ classroom — behind the boomerang-shaped desks, power tools, computers, wind tunnel and slew of competition trophies — is a case full of technology textbooks.

Students rarely open them.

Instead, they design video games, create cold-case files and build bottle rockets and miniature fuel cell cars. Forbes, a technology teacher at Ferndale Middle, has one advantage: Her students face no state exams, so they can focus on hands-on activities.

This kind of learning has become more common in Guilford County classrooms as educators improve how they teach science, technology, engineering and math. Leaders believe a focus on STEM education, as it’s called, will better prepare young people for the technical jobs of the future.

“It’s critical for the kids to make the connections,” Forbes said. “It sounds so pat to say that we have a global economy, but we’ve got to make them competitive. I don’t think you can start too early.”

Jobs of the future

STEM is one of the fastest-growing areas of education in North Carolina. High school students take courses in 20 special high schools, 72 career academies and 90 vocational programs, according to the state education department.

Some elementary schools focus on these subjects, including Bluford STEM Academy in Greensboro, Coltrane-Webb Elementary in Concord and Morehead STEM Academy in Charlotte.

This trend should come as no surprise. It’s widely believed that today’s young people will have a harder time finding well-paying work that doesn’t require them to use computers, analyze data and solve complex problems.

“We really need to hire people who know how to work in teams, who know how to work on projects and who know how to find answers when they don’t know what the answers are,” said Mark Ezzell, communications director for the N.C. STEM Community Collaborative.

The collaborative is working with education and business groups to develop a statewide strategy to expand and improve STEM schools.

STEM-related jobs represent only about 10 percent of the state’s workforce. But officials expect those jobs to grow at a slightly faster rate than other jobs in North Carolina over the next decade.

The N.C. Commission on Workforce Development projects the state will gain 70,000 jobs in STEM fields by 2020 with wages well above the state average.

Educators understand the path to students becoming the next food chemists, statisticians — even data-savvy farmers and homemakers — starts with light-bulb moments in the classroom.

When done right, teachers integrate math and science concepts in all classes, Ezzell said. They also emphasize student projects and experiments over lectures and memorization of facts, he said.

STEM in Guilford

Many Guilford students already learn in a hands-on way, whether through class projects or clubs that meet after school.

They program robots, tend vegetable gardens and devise ways to cut the district’s energy bills. A team from Mendenhall Middle even attempted to grow brine shrimp aboard a NASA space shuttle this year.

Thirteen magnet schools specialize in one or more STEM subjects. At Bluford, students survey classmates on the types of books they read, calculate the amount of recyclable materials that end up in trash cans, plan their first LEGO League robotics competition and sing songs about ecosystems in music class.

The school, which adopted the  magnet theme in 2010, offers a weekly science lab for students and requires teachers to use science vocabulary in every class. 

Fifth-graders recently played a game in science class that tested their understanding of symbiosis, or a close ecological relationship between two different species. In reading, they wrote about ways people affect aquatic ecosystems.

“I think it’s cool,” fifth-grader Joshua Ross said. “We’ve got to do it for our benchmarks and (end-of-grade tests).”

Guilford County Schools wants to do more. On the drawing board: a STEM Early College at N.C. A&T, where high-achieving students earn up to two years of college credits before graduation.

The district hopes to fund the program with portions of a federal Race to the Top grant. Officials will seek approval from the school board by January, said Beth Folger, chief academic officer.

School leaders discussed opening a school at the Natural Science Center in Greensboro but halted its development because of budget cuts and lack of space.

“We are being innovative, but it is certainly challenging during the economic times we’re in,” Folger said. “We have to adjust our priorities to make sure we are preparing our students. If we’re not preparing our students for STEM careers, we’re limiting their opportunities.”

Other strategies

Students at traditional schools won’t miss out on opportunities to experiment or learn under engaging teachers. 

Next year, local teachers will get the chance to shadow workers in STEM industries and share those experiences with students, thanks to a new program through the nonprofit Guilford Education Alliance.

And the district just received a $2 million federal grant to recruit STEM teachers of color to work in schools with high turnover and low test scores.

Some teachers seek training on their own. Last year, Forbes visited the headquarters of Discovery Communications, which produces shows for The Discovery Channel, to find ideas for her classroom.

Why? Because even technology classes can be dull. Forbes relied on a lot of computer busywork when she joined Ferndale’s staff seven years ago.

“I really wasn’t interacting with the students a lot,” she said.

On a recent Wednesday, her sixth-graders attempted to create a 2-foot structure that would hold a ping-pong ball for three minutes. Forbes walked around, probing students on their strategies and charging “consulting fees” when they asked questions.

Isaiah Bagley, his team’s “design manager,” pored over a rough blueprint, trying to determine how many noodles and marshmallows he needed for the project. Interim deadlines loomed.

“It’s going to be hard,” Bagley said. “We have $8,000, and these are expensive. The noodles, the marshmallows, the tape — everything’s expensive.”

Devin Cheek, the “finance manager,” balked at the prices of materials: $400 a noodle, $100 a marshmallow.

“One teeny tiny thing,” he said. “Such a rip-off.”

The students could spend more time learning how to fill out resumes and set goals — a couple of textbook lessons — but students like this approach better. Forbes’ classes have a waiting list.

“I like hands-on projects because it’s more fun,” said Carson Day, a sixth-grader. “If we do this stuff out of a textbook, all you do is take notes.”

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com