STEM: The Mindset

In every career, there comes a moment when the light bulb finally turns on, and everything clicks. For me, that moment came in the last nine months.

From Skeptic to Believer

In August 2014, I became the Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) instructor at STEM School Chattanooga, a three-year-old, forward-thinking platform school in Tennessee. Before this, I was a long-time skeptic of the STEM movement, dismissing it as just another educational buzzword destined to fade away. While I admired the administrative team from prior professional development experiences, I didn’t fully buy into their philosophy.

Within just three months of working there, however, my perspective changed dramatically. I realized that my understanding of STEM had been completely wrong. The problem wasn’t STEM—it was my misconceptions about what STEM truly stood for.

What STEM Is Not

When I was first introduced to STEM, it was framed as discovery-based learning. As a high school math teacher, I often joked, “How are students supposed to ‘discover’ 2,000 years of progress in mathematics in just 90 days?” It seemed absurd to me. "Here kids, I have a compelling essential question, now discover differential equations despite having never heard of the concept before."

Instead of embracing the model, I stuck to traditional methods—standing in front of the class as the “expert” I believed my students needed.

What STEM Really Is

Now that I’m immersed in the STEM school environment, I’m living in a perpetual light bulb moment. Every day brings new epiphanies that challenge how I used to think about education.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

• STEM is not about throwing projects at students and hoping they’ll figure it out.

• It’s about educators and students working together to solve authentic, contextually meaningful problems while packaging deep learning throughout the experience.

• Students integrate STEM content organically as they navigate these challenges, often learning new skills “accidentally” in the process.

The shift is profound. Rather than working within contrived scenarios, students engage with carefully designed project-based learning (PBL) units that foster curiosity and creativity. They develop products they genuinely care about, often driven by their imagination and intrinsic motivation.

Accidental Learning and Real-World Engagement

When students work within authentic frameworks, their learning becomes inherently professional. They may not consciously recognize the skills they’re acquiring, but they actively seek out knowledge to synthesize solutions. This process-oriented model helps students:

• Embrace challenges,

• Develop critical and innovative thinking skills, and

• Become self-sufficient problem solvers prepared for the 21st-century workforce.

In this environment, the true value isn’t necessarily in solving the problem—it’s in the process of learning how to solve it. In a world where everyone has access to the same content, the process is what sets individuals apart.

Redefining STEM

What I once dismissed as STEM was nothing of the sort. True STEM education is about empowering students to tackle real-world problems by applying the same kind of problem solving processes that are pervasive in traditional STEM discipline. It’s about fostering the types of skills that modern jobs demand.

This educational philosophy isn’t just about preparing students for careers in STEM fields—it’s about equipping them with the tools to thrive in any domain that requires innovation, collaboration, and adaptability.

Conclusion

My journey from STEM skeptic to advocate has been nothing short of transformative. STEM is more than a buzzword—it’s a philosophy that prepares students to succeed in a complex, ever-changing world. By focusing on process over content, we’re not just teaching students to solve problems; we’re teaching them to lead the way in solving the problems of tomorrow.