What is STEM?

STEM an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Sometimes an ‘A’ is added to include arts in STE(A)M.

As with most buzzwords, it has come to mean whatever people want it to mean.

• An emphasis on science and math
• Filling the STEM pipeline for jobs
• Two thirds of the disciplines for which there are state or national standards
• A convenient shorthand
• Yet one more way to overload the definition of technology

STE(A)M is a convenient acronym to group subject areas and career paths — it does not get at the essence of what I believe is important about STE(A)M teaching and learning.

What is STEM education?

In contrast to most content-based definitions of STEM, this manifesto emphatically asserts that the definition of STEM teaching and learning must incorporate four things.

• Cross-curricular teaching and learning — The tendency to silo educational content (especially in secondary grades) is antithetical to students analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what they learn. If STEM teaching and learning is anything, it embodies resistance to this tendency. Specialization is best left to advanced study in post-secondary or graduate courses — when deep dives are necessary.
• Asking and answering open-ended questions — Four of the seven Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements of PBLWorks (and the Buck Institute for Education) are embodied in authentic, challenging problems that include student voice in posing, as well as answering, questions through sustained inquiry. This approach is the antithesis of a hand-holding or demonstration-based approach that purports to know the outcome of an activity before it starts. The educators’ challenge is to support students through the process.
• An iterative design process — The engineering design process — which is akin to the artistic design process and the scientific method — is described in many ways, each including what authors deem are relevant steps and sub-steps. They include as their basis: Imagine → Design → Build → Test ↺ — with the important step of iterating the process when things don’t work as expected. Learning from ‘failure’ (a loaded word for students) and developing the resilience to try-try-again is an important aspect of K12 engineering education — and a reason it is one of four strands in the Massachusetts Science and Technology / Engineering Curriculum Framework(2016).
• Making something — Creation is one of the 7 Big Ideas of computer science: ‘Computing is a creative human activity…’ (defined as part of the CS Principles project in 2010). Creativity has its colloquial meaning of ‘produce or use original and unusual ideas.’ It also means ‘the process of creating.’ Both important meanings are supported by students generating public products (one of the 7 essential elements of PBL) or creating computational artifacts (one of the 7 Core Practices of the K-12 Computer Science Frameworks). Making stuff requires students to ‘think outside the box’ as well as collaborate in creating something for their community to reflect upon, critique, and revise.

Teaching and learning that incorporates these four elements is what STEM education is to me.

What STEM is not

STEM teaching and learning can be many things. Some STEM trends must be avoided.

• Technology (from the Greek τέχνη) is an overloaded word. It can mean anything from a tool like a pencil to elaborate human-made systems like generative artificial intelligence. Too often ‘technology’ is taken as a synonym or shorthand for STEM — as in ‘information technology’ (IT) or ‘educational technology’ (ET). These terms refer to tool using, whereas STEM is much more about tool making. STEM must not be conflated with IT or ET.
• Since STEM is an acronym, it is too often used as a synonym or shorthand for only one of its core content areas — as in ‘I’m a math teacher… I teach STEM’ or ‘I’m a science teacher… I teach STEM.’ STEM must resist the tendency to siloing.
• STEM is a popular shorthand for career pathways that lead to ‘good paying jobs’ or as an educational focus whose lack is something to decry, lest we be ‘left behind.’ While STEM is touted as the key to future-ready skills, the habits of mind engendered by the four elements of STEM teaching and learning are more important that any specific content knowledge. STEM must not be justified solely by its usefulness to careers of the moment.

Why STEM?

• After challenging the conventional definition of STEM, it is important to acknowledge that studying STEM content disciplines K-12 does help prepare students for advanced study and careers in STEM-adjacent disciplines; those disciplines are often well compensated and intellectually rewarding; and excelling in those disciplines is a requirement to tackle and solve the biggest challenges facing humanity — like the climate catastrophe and artificial intelligence. (Also…).
• STEM teaching and learning exposes students to four things they typically do not get from traditional ‘book learning.’ It requires atypical approaches to instruction, assignments and activities, and assessments and grading. Approaches that incorporate the DLCS Practices of connecting, creating, abstracting, analyzing, communicating, collaborating, and research.
• STEM disciplines typically have overrepresentation by White and Asian male students and professionals. It is therefore vital for reasons of equity that students from underrepresented groups — especially Black, Brown, and female students — are exposed to the STEM teaching and learning described in this manifesto at every grade level K-12. It is especially vital that grade K-5 students have access to all four elements of STEM education and that the middle grades 6-8 exploratory courses provide an ‘on ramp’ to grade 9-12 integrated STEM units and stand-alone elective STEM courses.
• Engineering — as opposed to science — is not typically included in K-12 STEM curricula. Engineering is the application of knowledge in order to solve problems. Even though the engineering design process is structurally similar to the scientific method, engineering is fundamentally about solving problems that humans face — not fundamentally about the pursuit of knowledge. The multi-disciplinary engineering problem-solving approach embodies STEM.
• STEM problem-solving — especially as it relates to computing education — is typified by computational thinking. Originally described in detail by Jeannette Wing (2006) and expanded upon by Fred Martin (2018): ‘computational thinking is about connecting computing to things in the real world’ and ‘…is the “connecting tissue” between the world of computer science / programming expertise and the world of disciplinary knowledge.’ This connection is a fundamental aspect of STEM problem-solving and what enables, ‘…formulating problems and their solutions so that the solutions are represented in a form that can be effectively carried out by…’ code and computers (2010).

Other questions…

• How do common core and next generation standards affect what we do? Are there crosswalks for these national and state standards with K–12 Computer Science and DLCS curriculum frameworks — especially since many non-computing curricula already incorporate computing standard and practices?
• What about other disciplines? Art? Humanities? What about units integrated in topics or courses from non-computing disciplines?

This note is a DRAFT — v0.3

#stem