STEM Education

The acronym STEM refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Although each individual subject has its own extensive history, the notion of STEM education is relatively new. The commonalities and overlap of subject matter has meant that delineation of each subject area is very difficult. This has led to a combining of subjects such as: S&T (science and technology), STS (science, technology, and society), SMET (science, mathematics, engineering, and technology), TAS (technology as applied science), SET (science, engineering, and technology), MST (mathematics, science, and technology), and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics). This entry further defines the term STEM and discusses the value of STEM subjects to society, interest levels and gender disparities in STEM, and research on STEM education and the choice to ...