What’s the goal of education? Career preparation is surely a part, but there’s certainly more to it than that. While the purpose of schooling is a topic worthy of discussion and debate, you’ll likely find a reasonable degree of agreement regarding the importance of teaching young people the skills and knowledge necessary for things like informed decision making, productively contributing to society, and civic engagement.

What does this have to do with science education? The purpose of K–12 science education certainly is broader than preparing students for postsecondary learning and STEM-related careers. Afterall, we want every young person to become an adult capable of using scientific knowledge and thinking to guide how they gather information, make decisions, and take action in their everyday lives. Scientific thinking and knowledge can and should be tools everyone has the confidence and capabilities to use.

So, then, how do we as educators help to make this a reality? Perhaps you’ve read articles about or seen for yourself what young people can make happen when they see science as personally relevant and are inspired and empowered to take action because of it. This issue of Connected Science Learning features strategies for engaging young people to use STEM to make a difference in their communities—whether it be their classroom, neighborhood, city, or the world—and examples of how they are actually doing it! 

Additional CSL articles connected to this issue’s theme:
https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-january-march-2018-0/enter-nations-first
https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-september-october-2021/sustaining-community

Beth Murphy, PhD (bmurphy@nsta.org), is field editor for Connected Science Learning and an independent STEM education consultant with expertise in fostering collaboration between organizations and schools, providing professional learning experiences for educators, and implementing program evaluation that supports practitioners to do their best work. 

citation: Murphy, B. 2022. What’s STEM got to do with it? Connected Science Learning 4 (1). https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-january-february-2022/whats-stem-got-do-it