38 percent of teachers report that a majority of students seem naturally interested in STEM

A strong future Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workforce is vital to sending humans to Mars, yet a new survey commissioned by Lockheed Martin shows only about a third of U.S. middle school and high school teachers (36 percent) see enthusiasm from their students about STEM learning.

NASA is planning to send a crew to Mars in the 2030s. To meet tomorrow's ambitious goals, the country will need thousands of today's students to follow career paths that will create the next generations of scientists, engineers and space explorers. According to the national survey of 1,000 teachers (conducted by Morar Consulting from April 5 – 11, ± 3.1% MOE), while just 38 percent of teachers report that a majority of students seem naturally interested in STEM, 83 percent see discussing space-related careers as a potential way to increase student focus on STEM. Other polling highlights include:

• 52 percent of teachers believe a near-term return to the moon would increase students' interest in STEM
• 43 percent of teachers say their schools' curriculum is sufficiently preparing students for a STEM career (12 percent of which say very sufficiently preparing students)
• 23 percent of teachers agree that the current school curriculum is sufficiently preparing students for a career in space exploration