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The history of STEM

STEM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

The UK has, for many years been one of the global leaders in STEM businesses. From technological innovations to class leading services, the STEM sector is one of the fastest growing sectors with a near limitless demand from businesses within the field for new, talented and hungry employees.

The STEM acronym was first introduced in 2001 in the United States at the National Science Foundation.  Previous to this, the acronym SMET was the ‘go to’ term in the industry.

As humanity has developed, the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics have become more and more integrated as both political leaders and captains of industry have realised that in order to advance at the required pace, emphasis needed to be placed on these sectors that form STEM.

Such is the demand for employees in this sector that the likes of Google and Apple are interviewing potential employees without a traditional degree. As long as they can prove that they have the skills.

STEM in the workforce

While STEM is often looked at as an educational subject, businesses in developed countries have embraced STEM based education as a way of strengthening their workforce.

Many countries have created STEM specific educational pathways and the growth in STEM based jobs was in the first decade of the 21st Century, estimated to be three times faster than non STEM career paths.

But with this growth has come racial and gender diversity problems as employers have struggled to tap into the wide talent pool that has been growing.  Through unconscious bias, sexism, diversity and racial issues, companies in STEM based businesses have become ‘stuck in their ways’ due to a lack of diversity in their hiring strategy.

Women make up only around a quarter of the workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. And in the fastest growing sectors of STEM such as computer science and engineering, the gap is even bigger.

And that is where we come in

During our 16 years at the cutting edge, we have supported the growth of more than 10,000 employees who have helped to shape the future of companies in the STEM sector such as Atkins, Arcadis, Balfour Beatty, EDF, Kier and Mott MacDonald.

As a business which is both female founded and owned, we offer clients a diverse supply chain as well as first-hand, extensive knowledge of how to implement effective solutions.

Our proven record in collaborative & impactful partnerships helps us to deliver an agile approach which supports and enhances current EDI progress and has established long-term partnerships with some of largest names in the industry.

Why work with Skills 4?

the history of STEM

Unrivalled expertise in the Construction and Engineering sectors

  • 16 years expertise (established 2006)
  • 150+ STEM organisations
  • 10,000+ delegates

Proven record in collaborative & impactful partnerships

  • Agile approach which supports and enhances current EDI progress
  • Best practice and benchmarking support
  • Long-term partnerships with some of largest names in the industry

Multiple award-winning company

  • Specialist, industry experienced training team
  • 100% learners would recommend the training to a colleague
  • 100% delegates felt the training would contribute to business improvement

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Other Variations of STEM

STEM is a US based acronym however there are, globally, many other variations including:

  • SMET (science, mathematics, engineering, and technology; previous name)
  • STREAMi (Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Arts, Maths, innovation)
  • STM (Scientific, Technical, and Mathematics; or Science, Technology, and Medicine; or Scientific, Technical, and Medical)
  • eSTEM (environmental STEM)
  • STEMIE (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Invention and Entrepreneurship); adds Inventing and
  • Entrepreneurship as means to apply STEM to real world problem solving and markets.
  • iSTEM (invigorating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics); identifies new ways to teach STEM-related fields.
  • STEMLE (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Law and Economics); identifies subjects focused on fields such as applied social sciences and anthropology, regulation, cybernetics, machine learning, social systems, computational economics and computational social sciences.
  • MEd Curriculum Studies: STEMS² (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Social Sciences and Sense of Place); integrates STEM with social sciences and sense of place.
  • METALS (STEAM + Logic),[19] introduced by Su Su at Teachers College, Columbia University.[citation needed]
  • STREM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, and Mathematics); adds robotics as a field.
  • STREM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, and Multimedia); adds robotics as a field and replaces mathematics with media.
  • STREAM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics); adds robotics and arts as fields.
  • STEEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Economics, and Mathematics); adds economics as a field.
  • STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)
  • A-STEM (Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics); more focus and based on humanism and arts.
  • STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Mathematics); add Agriculture.
  • STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Applied Mathematics); more focus on applied mathematics
  • GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science); used for programs to encourage women to enter these fields.
  • STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine)
  • SHTEAM (Science, Humanities, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)
  • AMSEE (Applied Math, Science, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship)
  • THAMES (Technology, Hands-On, Arts, Mathematics, Engineering, Science)
  • THAMES (Technology, Humanities, Arts, Mathematics, Engineering, and Science; includes all three branches of science: natural science, social science, and formal science)
  • MINT (Mathematics, Informatics, Natural sciences and Technology)

(Source – Wikipedia)

 

Image by Eli Digital Creative from Pixabay

Image by Ronald Carreño from Pixabay

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