About STEM education
The workforce of the future requires high levels of skills, responsible thinkers and creative thinkers.
STEM education:
- is an approach to teaching science and technology, and mathematics
- fosters inquiry learning in our complex world
- helps teachers guide students to apply their knowledge and understandings, inquire into their world, and solve complex, authentic problems involving contextually rich projects.
Through quality STEM programs, students from pre-school to Year 12 engage with their curriculum, acquiring skills that lay strong foundations for their career aspirations.
Aims
In NSW, we aim to
- raise expectations and enhance the quality of student learning in STEM
- foster quality teaching and leadership in STEM
- provide innovative ways of delivering STEM education
Through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) we encourage students to:
- be confident in their ability to design and engineer creative solutions
- apply their understandings in mathematics, science and technology
- engage in collaborative teams
- take on more challenging STEM subjects.
STEM is - 'the set of disciplines that work together to understand and model the universe so that people can solve problems through harnessing and manipulating the world around them.' Timms, Moyle, Weldon & Mitchell in Challenges in STEM Learning in Australian Schools (2018), Australian Council for Educational Research