STEM – What’s it all about?

I’ve been very excited recently as something important to me has started turning up in Early Years.  And by turning up, I mean I have started to see the term used in Ofsted reports and Early Years publications.  So what is it? (You should be able to guess from the blog title!)

STEM in Early Years Settings

STEM is simply an abbreviation for four subjects; Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.  It’s a term that has been used in schools for a while, and having been a science teacher for a number of years it was a term that I used frequently.  Yet seeing it turn up in the context of under 5 education is new and interesting (to me at least).  Is it time for us to start including these subjects in our practice?

Of these subjects, Maths and Technology will be the most familiar to anyone that works in Early Years, they both appear in the EYFS of course, but the other two may leave people a little stumped as to what they look like in an Early Years setting.  Well I can help you with that, and I’ll be taking a look at the different subjects over the coming weeks, so keep your eyes open for some ideas!

(Note that STEM doesn’t have the subjects in any specific order, it used to be SMET in fact, but that doesn’t really sound as nice off the tongue!)

About the author: Matt Stanford

Matt has been working in education for over 10 years, teaching science to all ages from preschool to degree. Before he became a teacher he studied chemistry at Masters level and completed his PhD at The University of Warwick. It was during his time at university that he got involved in outreach work in local primary schools and found his passion for inspiring learning.