STEM education is one of the best ways we can prepare the students of today for the challenges of the future. STEM learning helps the scientists, engineers, and inventors of tomorrow to understand and be able to address the opportunities and threats we face as a society.

What is integrated STEM education?

STEM education prepares students for a future that’s likely to be dominated by complex technologies, and perhaps even controlled by artificial intelligence.

Let’s take the quantum realm as an example. The prospects of quantum computing and development of other materials will push the boundaries of computing power. We will need STEM-educated students who will eventually become experts capable of addressing these ideas in the future.

But a STEM education isn’t only important for scientists or technical experts. While STEM clearly teaches the more scientific and technical subjects, it also teaches core skills that are essential for life success, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication.

How can STEM education shape the future?

STEM education is an integrated approach to teaching various complex but interrelated subjects. This approach is geared towards interdisciplinary learning and cooperation. Unlike the traditional highly compartmentalized and regimented approach to education that’s been in place since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the information age requires flexibility and merging of ideas.

STEM education is shaping the future by preparing future scientists, engineers, computer programmers, inventors, and technology entrepreneurs for the challenges of complex, interconnected, intelligent technology infrastructures.

Automation in many aspects of everyday life, including driving cars, will be the norm. Interactive and customizable work and home environments will be common. Looking even further ahead, it’s not impossible that human-like androids may eventually become citizens with rights. Colonization of the planet Mars, the moon, and other bodies in the solar system could be established.

This is no longer science fiction. We now have the technological foundations to make these things a reality.

What will STEM education look like in the future?

STEM education in the future will still include all the hard sciences like physics and chemistry and tech subjects like math and engineering. However, it will probably be more technology aided and technology driven, and also more interactive, flexible, and cooperative.

Science

Teacher involvement might be more like supervision or facilitation rather than delivering lectures and imposing what students should learn. Students may, on the other hand, be more akin to becoming explorers of knowledge rather than passive passengers or study tourists. Supervised but customized laboratory experiments will be a very important tool for learning.

Technology

STEM education in the future is likely to focus on enhancing students’ creativity. It will encourage students to innovate in terms of creating or improving technologies. This would be inseparable from engineering concepts. Nonetheless, technology has a broader scope, which also includes applications in the life sciences such as genetic manipulation.

Engineering

The best way to teach engineering concepts is the hands-on approach. Students must be given projects that focus on building or assembling structures, either as scale models or as working prototypes. Robotics will be an integral component of engineering because it requires both software and hardware.

Math

As the language of the sciences and the main tool of engineering, math will focus on practical applications rather than theoretical ones. The theoretical foundations will remain very important, but the emphasis and direction will be in practical applications.

The importance of STEM methodology

The integrated methodology of STEM is very important in solving complex, multifaceted problems. The emphasis on multidisciplinary approach and cooperation is crucial, and extends beyond the confines of a classroom or laboratory.

It is, in fact, a dress rehearsal for facing the real-world challenges at work and in the wider community. STEM students are being trained to be creative problem-solvers who are also capable of excellent social interactions.

Challenges in STEM education

The main challenges in STEM education have more to do with the pedagogical, social, and psychological aspects rather than the topics themselves. These main challenges can be broken down into these three issues:

1. Engagement

This refers to the pedagogical challenge of the best methods of teaching STEM, which must incorporate students’ various learning styles and interests. At the same time, it should also incorporate the different subjects to make them interesting and insightful. One of the best methods of teaching STEM is the cooperative learning approach that focuses on hands-on training.

2. Relevance to everyday life

Many topics in STEM are highly technical and complex. Some may even seem to be esoteric. Few people with scientific inclinations can appreciate most of the topics in STEM. Making them more relevant to everyday life is a challenge not only for teachers but also for students. That’s why there should be a focus on practical applications.

3. Gender divide

Several peer-reviewed sociological studies have shown that there is a clear gender divide between males and females when it comes to STEM. Women are far less likely to earn a STEM degree or pursue a STEM career as compared to men - they make up just 28% of the STEM workforce. The reasons are complex, but it seems mainly to do with culture and psychological motivations. Consequently, the solution is not simple and would involve a sea change in values and attitudes.

The impact of STEM careers

The impact of STEM careers is obviously positive. Our civilization needs STEM-trained experts. We need physicians, scientists, engineers, computer programmers, inventors, and other scientifically inclined professionals to sustain our global, technologically based civilization.

Are you an educator looking for STEM resources for middle school, high school or university? Take a look at Arduino Education kits and how they can support your hands-on STEM lessons.