By Michelle Murray

Perhaps you feel you have an answer to the question posed, “What is heck STEM?”.  Well guess what, you are not alone! As a former STEM consultant, I made an income from schools who had their own definition of STEM  as well. Some schools created a committee that was in charge of compiling relevant data, creating and administering surveys to their constituents, and preparing proposals to ask donors for funds for a Maker Space or something similar all with the goal of adapting this once hot educational buzzword “STEM” into their curriculum and hopefully school culture. As an outsider to any particular school, I always found it interesting that there is normally a fundamental difference per school in how STEM was defined.

Public schools, on the other hand, often sought to fill a gap, raise test scores, or apply for a grant that dictated what that definition of STEM was. However, state to state and sometimes even county to county, there is still a different understanding of what STEM is and the best way to implement STEM. Usually schools attempting to fill some sort of curricular gap with a new STEM curriculum had other underlying issues that they hoped the alleged magic of STEM would resolve. With that, sorting out what those issues were instead of throwing the idea of STEM at the problem became the norm and oftentimes did not solve the issue. This was often another reason why schools hired me. 

“The implementation of STEM can differ according to the school, district, or county.”

– friendly stem consultant

In 2018, the National Science and Technology Council created a report driven by their Committee for STEM education. This report’s intention is based on a vision for a future where all Americans will have lifelong access to high-quality STEM education and the United States will be the global leader in STEM literacy, innovation, and employment (National Science and Technology Council, 2018). While I have not found any evidence that this report is commonly used when schools implement STEM, the report did share important key factors when developing STEM such as increasing diversity and equity in STEM and the use of technology as a classroom tool.

Additionally, the federal five year strategy for STEM implementation was introduced in the report and how best to prepare the STEM workforce for the future. 

I found myself thinking about this lack of consistency and the expected outcomes of STEM implementation in South Florida schools. I wanted to answer the following questions; could consistency somehow play a part in how schools implement STEM successfully and be a contributing factor to the growth in STEM fields in the US? Similar to common core standards, should STEM be its own mandatory vertically aligned standard, perhaps, or should it continue to be woven in as just an option for schools to adapt?

Lastly, are we as teachers planning our STEM lessons using different STEM curricular goals thus resulting in inconsistent student outcomes statewide or nationwide? How do we accurately measure the results equitably given the different ways we understand and implement STEM?

Not to mention STEM has now evolved over the years as people such as myself study STEM implementation and recognize that STEM needs to evolve as education evolves. Some examples of this evolution: i-STEM (Integrative STEM), D-STEM (Diversity in STEM), STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) and STREAM (Adding the reading or research to STEAM) to name a few. 

As schools look to define their STEM programs, I think it’s important to look at existing programs as a guide based on your schools goals. I also suggest a pace that makes sense for all stakeholders at your school, and lastly STEM seekers should develop a true sense of why you’re implementing STEM in the first place. This will help frame the hard work ahead but I caution you humble educator, due to technology evolving and the need for the workforce to catch up to neighboring countries coupled with the lack of a mandatory baseline STEM curriculum framework, in the end you may find yourself still asking, What the heck is STEM anyway?

 References

National Science & Technology Council. 2019. Charting a Course for Success:America’s Strategy for STEM Education. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2019/05/f62/STEM-Education-Strategic-Plan-2018.pdf

Florida Department of Education. 2022. Defining STEM. https://www.fldoe.org/academics/standards/subject-areas/math-science/stem/defining-stem.stml

Recommended Citation Carmichael, Courtney C., “A State-by-State Policy Analysis of STEM Education for K-12 Public Schools” (2017). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2297. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2297