STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
STEM is not just a subject but a collective of subjects that cultivate the way you do and think critically. STEM education is not about teaching you to be an expert in all of these fields but harnessing the transferable skills behind them. Of course, science and math have been a part of the educational system for generations. So how is so-called STEM education different from the traditional kind?
Dr. Audrey Sin, co-founder and principal at Kidzie, in her own words:
“It is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in the four disciplines in an integrated and applied approach. It is an important skill set for the next generation working together in solving some of the world’s challenges. Students are challenged on real-world problem to propose cutting edge solutions. That’s not it, together we learn to build the prototype from scratch making it a viable solution based on the STEM knowledge we learnt.”
When your child grows up whether he/she wants to be a football player, fashion designer, medical doctor, accountant, entrepreneur or other professions, STEM is needed. Why?
Why is STEM so important?
For football players, knowing STEM helps them to get better at the sport or have the ability to be more precise with their strike with their well-calculated moves. And STEM helps them to design protective gear to keep them safe while enjoying their favourite sports.
Fashion designers need various fabrics and materials to make their cool outfits. STEM helps them to bring their creativity to designing better materials to be used for their masterpiece. Whether you want to explore the ocean or space, STEM is useful regardless of the profession, whether directly or indirectly we all need STEM skills.
STEM fosters ingenuity and creativity that leads to new ideas and innovations besides:
- Build resilience
- Be technology savvy
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Collaboration
- Experimentation
- Augmentation
- Adaptation
- Applied knowledge