What is STEM education? Common questions answered

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, but there’s more to it than that. In an education context, STEM doesn’t just mean the grouping of four academic disciplines, it refers to a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching in which aspects of all four disciplines are brought together in one project or subject. STEM lessons are often a great place to use Inquiry or Project-Based Learning. Students can try and work out solutions to real-world problems by applying their knowledge from the four STEM disciplines. Notably, the social sciences are typically ommitted from STEM and grouped with the humanities and arts instead, forming the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) grouping. Teachers can implement STEM in countless ways. Classic lesson plans range from designing and programming robots to building tin foil boats. Crystal Brook Primary School’s ice cream project is a brilliant real-world example. Students were tasked with concocting a new ice cream product – some set about designing original flavours, others tried their hand at inventing unmeltable ice cream.