What is STEM Education?

our world changes by leaps and bounds and exponentials. We are watching the disappearance of some trades and the emergence of new professions and skills. This is due to the accelerated advancement of information and communication technologies, as well as scientific development. We are living the fourth industrial revolution,

The difference, between the skills demanded and those already possessed by the current workforce, exposes the problem of the pedagogical model that we have adopted, and the need for change in future learning goals.

Students require a broader skill set and a different approach to face their college careers and the competitive world of work. Countries such as Singapore, Finland, South Korea and Japan are world leaders in terms of educational public policies that generate relevant changes.

"To thrive in today's innovation-driven economy, workers need a different mix of skills than in the past."

During the 1990s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) coined the acronym "STEM" to group the terms Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

STEM education corresponds to a grouping of areas to create a frame of reference for the construction of knowledge.

The construction of knowledge is integrated and coordinated between different disciplines to solve real life problems, that is, transdisciplinary, within an active process. These problems are complex, so the student must necessarily develop their creativity and critical thinking to solve them.

All this within a collaborative environment in which inquiry and investigation is generated, as a consequence of the search for answers.

Experts and educational institutions agree that the most appropriate teaching strategies for the STEM approach correspond to project-based learning or PBL,

problem-based learning and inquiry-based learning.

The ABP, also known as PBL (Project Based Learning for its acronym in English) corresponds to a set of activities aimed at solving a problem linked to a specific need of the school or community.

An ABP can be carried out during the course of a school semester, integrating the different subjects taught in the school.

Problem-based learning is very similar to PBL, but the situation to be developed has a smaller scope in its execution time. It is framed in the resolution of a challenge or challenge.

Finally,

inquiry-based learning is focused on developing students' abilities to ask scientific questions and solve problems.

These strategies have a common factor: learning by doing.

In addition, they have the advantage of linking the findings with the environment and there are no rules that prevent combining them with each other.

"I listen and I forget it, I see it and I remember it, I do it and I understand it" - Confucius

Specialization is a process of becoming profoundly competent in a narrow field of interest. We all start from a more or less generalized education. We learn mathematics, languages, arts, science ... Our general knowledge is relatively broad, but also relatively superficial. Eventually,

we choose a field of interest and get a job in that field or study it.

Once you have chosen a field to study or have found a job, you will learn specific skills that your field or position requires. The more you study a certain field or the longer you are employed in a particular industry,

your skill set becomes more and more refined. Over time, you become an expert in that area.

The benefits of specialization

The easiest way to explain why specialization is a positive outcome is to look at medicine. Doctors may specialize by disease (for example, oncologists), organs (for example, cardiologists), or techniques they use (for example, neurosurgeons operate, but neurologists do not).

And the more specialized a doctor is, the more likely it is that we will receive good care for them.

The situation is also no different when we look outside of medicine: if you want to create an application for iOS,

the most sensible way to do it (if you are not an app developer) is to find someone who specializes in building iOS apps; Or if you own a Tesla that breaks down, you probably won't take it to a general auto mechanic.

On the other side of the equation,

The benefits of specialization are also clear to specialists. The most obvious is that people who specialize in a specific field generally choose that field or topic because it brings them joy and satisfaction.

Another benefit is that specialists can almost always charge more for their services, and the rarer they are, better. The rarity of specialists also means that they can, at times, be irreplaceable, which in turn ensures job security.

All of this sounds obvious, and this is why so many people believe that specialization is a worthwhile goal. But let's look at the problem from another angle.

Towards a multi-skill future

We are inclined to think that the privileged minds of the great geniuses of the past will no longer exist in our age. Wouldn't it be good to ask ourselves if we are encouraging these types of minds to flourish in our society?

Will not similar minds exist in our age? The odds are in our favor, but not current educational policies, especially in Latin America.

How can we promote an education focused on "doing" and promote interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity from our environments? Understanding environment as any place where we interact with others: educational environments (eg college, university), non-educational environments (eg office) or our own home.

Embrace the bug.

Do not punish failure, learning from mistakes fosters authentic learning.

Guide learning, don't force it. Be a facilitator of learning.

Learn less, but better.

Encourage curiosity. Sincere questions trigger sincere motivation.

Empathize with others.

Listening to other points of view and empathizing with them is the cornerstone of collaborative work.

Learn a lot, grow a lot

Becoming a generalist is crucial to success in the information age. This is especially true as the world turns to artificial intelligence. However, you can still specialize in one thing while learning about everything.

"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."

-Thomas Huxley

You can and still must pursue mastery in your chosen field, but you need to activate your curiosity to learn about everything you can.

Curiosity is the key to becoming a polymath: you must develop a curiosity for every subject and every type of knowledge.

The best way to do this is by studying a new topic every day.

Learning like this opens up new avenues in your brain. Change the way you think and act. Change who you are.

Personal development is a topic mentioned below. Everyone wants to know how to change themselves to be more confident, happy, social, or smart.

The truth is, you can only change your mind, and your mind only changes when you learn.

Becoming an expert at anything requires extensive knowledge and skill. There is no better way to develop this knowledge than by developing your curiosity for every topic imaginable.