envision something like this or possibly
this or maybe even this but what about
this the first person to step foot on
the red planet has already been born it
could be a student in a classroom or a
kid in your neighborhood or someone in
your own home the youth of today will
not only witness colonies on the Moon
and Mars they will be the ones taking on
and conquering these great frontiers now
the youth of today may sometimes seem
like alien life-forms and in reality
they’re experiencing the world an
education in a way that’s so vastly
different than the world and the
classrooms we grew up in then it might
as well be growing up on a different
planet you may have seen this commercial
[Music]
hey hey what you doing on your computer
what’s a computer riding bikes climbing
trees signing castes looking at comic
books the youth of today are similar to
past generations in many ways but the
way that this information is obtained
and the way these interactions occur is
so foreign to that of the past and will
continue to evolve I was having a
conversation with my mother the other
day and we were talking about the lyrics
to the song fire and rain by James
Taylor and I asked her if she had known
what the line sweet dreams and flying
machines meant when we used this as a
good night wish growing up I thought for
certain she’d always known the meaning
but she reminded me that she couldn’t
just look up the lyrics to a song in her
youth real-time information wasn’t
available on demand and even libraries
wouldn’t have this information available
the way that we access information now
doesn’t even resemble that of just a few
decades ago if you think about how
quickly these changes have occurred I
can’t even remember the last time that I
did research in a library or looking
back into at my college years doing a
term paper I remember being in my dorm
rude room hovering over a word processor
that I borrowed from a friend and
realizing that they’ve made a mistake on
the page earlier and I’d have to go back
and delete multiple paragraphs just to
correct that mistake and now I can’t
even remember the last time that I
opened a physical dictionary imagine
having never known anything else I’m
sure we’ll look back in 10 years
every minute reminisce on how advanced
we thought our technology was today and
how quickly it was replaced with a more
savvy tech of the future we often hear
that we’re preparing students for jobs
that don’t exist but seldom do we think
about the possibilities that these jobs
may not occur in our communities or in
our country but they may be out of this
world
quite literally 66 years separated the
Wright brothers from the Apollo 11 moon
landing 29 years later the International
Space Station was formed the next great
frontier of the Mars and beyond is not
too far away in 2016 I was invited to
the 100k intense summit in Houston at
the Johnson Space Center to work with a
group of professionals from across the
country to address the issue of a
shortage of stem teachers in education
there’s a projection that will have
100,000 a shortage of 100,000 teachers
that we’ll need for science technology
engineering and math which is otherwise
known as stem which a return has created
a shortage of students going into stem
in addition to recognizing the magnitude
of this problem we were able to see
firsthand the impact that SCIM has had
on the world around us while there we
were invited to our Mission Control
Center where human space flights were
managed mill Heflin the retired director
of flight control shared with us his
stories of space and gave us a tour of
the center I was blown away by the
technology that sent man to the moon
most of the Martians in her classroom
would recognize this as something you
would see at a bank drive-through on the
rare occasion that baking is not done
online or on an app but many of our
students have only seen a rotary phone
dial in a movie or maybe an unused phone
in a grandparents house yet this is the
technology that sent man to the moon the
computers themselves were less powerful
than the smart watch I have on my wrist
today in the book the gravity well NASA
director and engineer Steven Sanford
says that by 2030 we will have a small
colony on the moon by that same date
we’ll be mining asteroids for spent for
precious metals by 2040 we’ll have a
colony on Mars
that’s just 22 years away the students
of today
classrooms could be the first Martian
colonists in 2040 will have probes and
habitable new planets the sky is no
longer the limit we’ve come a long way
in technological advances in space
travel but in order to at lead the way
in future missions we have to think
bigger in education as well the Martian
classroom isn’t just about space it’s a
metaphor for the future of Education and
where we need to drive the learning
space in the future by equipping
students to thrive both on and off of
planet Earth just as viewing the Earth
from the perspective of space changes
our perception when we look at the
classrooms in education from the
perspective of the future workforce it
changes our perception as well according
to the Institute for the future 85
percent of the jobs that will exist in
2030 have not yet been ended Dell
technology says that the pace of change
will be so rapid that we’ll use virtual
and augmented reality to learn in the
moment and the ability to obtain new
information will be more valuable than
the knowledge itself this means that we
need to change the mindset of learning
or education and then work and create a
mindset of learning is a way of life
according to the Bureau of Labor
students who graduated high school last
year will have 17 jobs by the time they
reach the age of 38 now that’s not
different positions in the same in the
same company that’s completely different
jobs instead of asking students what
they want to do with their lives we need
to ask what they want to do next it’s
really unfair to ask them what they want
to do for an entire lifetime and it
leads to decision fatigue it’s kind of
like looking at the menu at the
Cheesecake Factory there are so many
amazing yummy options but it’s hard to
make the right choice and sometimes I
end up leaving without that sweet piece
of pie in my tummy which sometimes is a
good thing but this is why we see so
many students stalling the idea of
having to come up with a job for an
entire lifetime especially when that
not even occur it’s overwhelming and
rather than making the wrong choice they
make no choice at all instead of asking
students what they want to do after they
graduate well first you have to think
about the idea that when you say what do
you want to do after you graduate you’re
implying that learning has ended and
that the rest of their life begins and
what they’re doing right now doesn’t
count plan yes but no that plans may
change and be prepared to take a take on
other opportunities I encourage students
to dream big and have audacious
outrageous Marshak goals knowing that
the jobs the education the credentials
that they take on next will lead to
opportunities that have never crossed
their minds this is what jobs could look
like in 2040 from the perspective of
[Music]
the types of jobs that we’ll need and
then will have similar needs both on and
off world as what we have today but will
look vastly different doctors will not
become obsolete but the healthcare field
will require more technology skills than
what it has had in the past I grew up in
West Virginia in a coal mining town and
as a Coal Miner’s Daughter when I think
of mining I think it’s something like
this but mining could look very
different for the for the Martians and
our classrooms this is an image from
NASA depicting what mining may look like
in the future off-road mining is a
concept of being explored by both NASA
and private space companies one asteroid
the size of your living room could be
worth as much as three trillion dollars
not only providing needed resources but
saving our planet and giving it time to
heal now this may sound like science
fiction but imagine what folks who are
alive a generation ago or or a century
ago would think of what exists today I
know for me as a child at the thought of
offworld mining wasn’t even conceivable
imagine what’s conceivable for the
students of today that they may
experience that that we haven’t seen yet
for example how many of you thought that
we would have a red Tesla with a space
dummy named star man hurling through
space to the tune of David Bowie’s Space
Oddity and if you haven’t seen this yet
I’m gonna show you just a short news
clip showing what makes this so
fascinating oh my what a heavenly site
[Music]
the cherry red Tesla Roadster on its way
into deep space is a tremendous success
for Elon Musk
the billionaire behind the SpaceX rocket
launch and Tesla car normally for new
rockets
you know they’ve launched like a block
of concrete or something like that I
mean that’s so boring the corners
actually must vary on all electric
roadster just like this one and it is
certainly not boring the price tag on
the latest version of this snazzy sports
car is two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars and there is a waiting list to
buy them the top speed 250 miles per
hour there are lots of little inside
jokes on board the don’t panic sign on
the touchscreen is from the first page
of the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the galaxy Musk’s favorite book there’s
also a copy of the book in the glove
compartment printed on the car circuit
board is the message made on earth by
humans former NASA astronaut Mike
Massimino is now a professor at Columbia
University’s engineering school a Tesla
in space you would think it’s crazy musk
is being hailed a genius today and not
just by the adoring crowd that watched
the launch at Cape Canaveral no one is
prouder than Elon ‘small now I have to
say that if I were on that waiting list
I’d be very upset if I rub next and I
knew it’s hustla was out in space a
globalized workforce and a gig economy
is becoming the norm as industries are
no longer reliant upon local talent in
their communities kids get this they
have friends they’ve never met in person
but that they interact with every day
that’s already here we not only have to
keep up with the changes in the
workplace we also have to keep up with
the Martians in our classrooms as well
moving in this direction is actually a
really good thing the more globalised we
become the more cooperative we will be
just as the International Space Station
and the first step on the lunar surface
where victories for all of mankind
having this cooperation and this
globalization will create more peace
between nations as we work together
education has always been about the
future as
very nature of work changes we have to
change to education leaders can no
longer rely on the way that things have
always been done we have to keep up and
we have to reimagine the learning space
for the Martians in our classrooms
now just as technologists Riis and
technologies have made great strides and
advancements education has as well
despite what some may say but we’re
robbing our students of the preparation
they need for their future when we hold
on to legacy thinking and legacy systems
that do not serve the youth of today
according to the white house 16% of
stone Lea 16% of students are interested
in stem distant careers and proficient
in math Lockheed Martin says that if
tech companies don’t motivate the next
generation now there simply won’t be
enough people to fill these positions
and to build the aircraft in spaceships
in 20 years this means we need to have
stronger partnerships with industry we
can no longer guess what skills are
needed when you think about the biggest
problems in the world in addition to not
having enough aircrafts and spaceships
those problems really have require
answers related to stem so whether it’s
coming up with a cure for cancer
reading algorithms for transportation or
detecting the next terrorist attack or
sending man to the moon and coming up
with a technology to create those
colonies so we can continue on to Mars
those problems require solutions related
to stem we need to inspire our students
and give them the space to create in the
inspiration to do so we also need to
motivate them to go into these STEM
careers and that takes using Career and
Technical Education to show real-world
applications and inspire students to go
into these fields innovation is a
crucial component in the Martian
classroom teachers serve as a
facilitators as students think bigger
and take concepts to the next level we
also need more mastery learning in the
classroom I was talking to someone who
owns an underwater welding company the
other day and I asked him how we as
educators can do a
inspiring students and preparing them
for the future workplace
he said that sea level work in
underwater welding means that someone is
dead and when you think about it we
really do need that level of mastery but
just as important as mastery learning is
frustrated learning giving students
problems that they have to wrestle with
that they have to struggle to come up
with solutions giving them problems that
may lead to failed attempts but without
being penalized when we only give
students problems that we have the
answer key to we’re not preparing them
to solve the unknowns the that the
future holds Mission Control Center is
named after Christopher Kraft who played
a pivotal role in developing the concept
of a flight control center I was struck
by this quote in that the very people
who changed the world by coming up with
the technology that’s really made an
impact on the world around us didn’t
realize the impact that they were going
to make on the world when I think about
the leadership that we need to think
bigger and to inspire students to go
into STEM and CTE we too do not realize
the task before us or the impact that we
will make educators influence the future
the Martians in our classrooms are that
future and they will pave the way for
Humanity what an awesome responsibility
we have and they have we are just
getting started let’s be the let’s be
the ones to drive this change rather
than waiting for the change to drive us
thank you [Applause]