“STEM” Is Not a Course Title

The acronym “STEM” — shorthand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is a loaded term. For some of my colleagues who also teach in humanities fields, I confuse them when I mention that I am a STEM teacher.

“You teach language arts, yet you call yourself a STEM teacher?” “Isn’t STEM an acronym for people who teach science and math courses?”

During North Carolina New Schools’ STEM Day at Duke Energy in June, I was reaffirmed that STEM is more about a way of thinking than courses that have something about science or math in the title. STEM is about using inquiry to find new solutions to old (or new) problems. It is about analyzing data that is both quantitative and qualitative. It is about communicating fact-heavy information to a variety of audiences.

Duke Energy employees showed us exactly what this STEM thinking looks like in very practical ways. One of the simulations that Duke Energy provided for us was a modified version of an analysis employees completed prior to beginning a program promoting energy efficiency. In groups we were handed about 100 pages of data and asked to identify 30 pieces of information that would later be inserted into evaluation formulas in Excel-like spreadsheets.

After less than 10 minutes of work, my group was frustrated. We didn’t know where to start. There was no “find” feature for us to use to search the data, and the terms we were asked to find didn’t match the terms in the data. And then it hit us. The work we were asked to complete in the simulation is exactly the kind of STEM-based work that our students need to be prepared for.

Teachers in all subject areas need to be working with students in 9th grade, and 10th grade, and all of high school to make sure that when they are first-year employees at Duke Energy, they can persevere longer than we as educators did.

We need to teach students that knowing many ways to solve problems is much more important than just knowing the correct terms, formulas, and definitions. We need to teach students how to look at overwhelming problems and create a plan of attack. We need to teach them to quickly sort through charts and graphs to see if the information is useful. We need to engage them in inquiry every single day. And, perhaps most importantly, we need to help students understand that once they are in the workforce, “STEM” thinking will not be subdivided based on subject area but instead will permeate all aspects of their jobs.