{"id":228317,"date":"2022-07-08T10:52:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T08:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/?page_id=228317"},"modified":"2025-06-25T18:38:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T16:38:47","slug":"what-does-the-term-stem-mean","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"STEM"},"content":{"rendered":"    <m-final-content-header >\n            <c-breadcrumb label-text=\"Breadcrumb\" slot=\"breadcrumbs\" type='2' align='left' wrap='wrapped wrapped' aria-label='You came from STEM'>\n                        <ol>\n\n                                                            <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/\" title=\"Ferrovial\">Ferrovial<\/a><\/li>\n                                                                        <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/\" title=\"STEM\">STEM<\/a><\/li>\n                                    \n                <\/ol>\n\n                <\/c-breadcrumb>\n    \n        <div slot=\"header\">\n            <h1>\n                What does the term STEM mean?            <\/h1>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/m-final-content-header>\n\n    \n\n\n<m-wysiwig class=\"wp-block-components-wysiwyg\"><div slot=\"maincontent\">\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What does the term STEM mean?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; it suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What is STEM education?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"STEM education is a new teaching trend that aims to understand science, mathematics, and technology in an integrated, crosscutting way through a theoretical approach to then apply it in practice in problem-solving.\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What are the principles of the STEM methodology?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"The STEM methodology is based on the four principles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and it offers lessons focused on:\n<ol>\n<li>Teamwork<\/li>\n<li>Real-world application<\/li>\n<li>Learning through research and experimentation<\/li>\n<li>Promoting leadership in decision-makin<\/li>\n<li>Teaching in context<\/li>\n<li>Encouraging creativity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\"\n    }\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What\u2019s the relationship between STEM and gender?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Even if men\u2019s legacy in the field of science and technology has been highlighted throughout history, the valuable contributions made by women in this field are also a known fact. On Ferrovial\u2019s blog, you can learn about women who are sources of inspiration in the field of mathematics, science, engineering, and the STEM universe.\"\n    }\n  }]\n}\n<\/script><p>STEM stands for <em>Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics<\/em>; it suggests the<strong> interdisciplinary<\/strong> integration of these areas of science in a context <strong>tied to engineering and technology.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundations of STEM are attributed to the South African mathematician <strong>Seymound Papet,<\/strong> who built Lego-Logo, a toy with built-in programming, in the 1980s. A decade later, the term was coined by the <strong><em>National Science Foundation<\/em><\/strong><strong> (NSF)<\/strong>, but in a different order: SMET. It wasn&#8217;t until 2001 that the acronym was reorganized to STEM.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At both academic and professional levels, the STEM approach focuses on the <strong>formation and integration of society in an increasingly advanced technological world<\/strong>. By way of summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>S, <em>science<\/em>, works on skills in a field addressing the issues of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/climate-change\/\">climate change<\/a>, medicine, and global warming.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>T, <em>technology<\/em>, expresses the professional&#8217;s relationship with the technological field, ranging from programmatic languages to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/artificial-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Artificial Intelligence<\/a>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>E, <em>engineering<\/em>, offers solutions in terms of infrastructure, designing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/smart-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">smart cities <\/a>and infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>M, <em>mathematics<\/em>, focused on fields of financial analysis, economics, accounting, investment, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/resources\/circular-economy\/\">circular economics<\/a>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is STEM education?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2021\/09\/stem-shaping-future-gens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">STEM education<\/a> is a <strong>new teaching trend<\/strong> that aims to understand science, mathematics, and technology in an integrated, crosscutting way through a theoretical approach to then <strong>apply it in practice in problem-solving<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The objective of this study methodology is to equip people with interdisciplinary skills that will allow them to <strong>learn from experience<\/strong> &#8211; &#8220;learning to learn,&#8221; preparing them for an increasingly advanced world at the technological level. It also <strong>supports developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and interdisciplinary collaboration.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its principles differ from traditional teaching in its <strong>eminently practical approach, far from theoretical, memory-based, repetitive learning.<\/strong> This type of education makes it possible to train professionals in fields as wide-ranging as computer, industrial, or telecommunications engineers; physicists or mathematicians; and so on. They all start from <strong>the premise of innovation, logical and analytical thinking, and a practical vocation.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are the principles of the STEM methodology?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The STEM methodology is based on the four principles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and it offers lessons focused on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Teamwork,<\/strong> working on concepts such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2015\/02\/future-starts-letter-s\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">collaborative economy<\/a> for problem-solving and resource optimization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Real-world application<\/strong> in analyzing situations that impact day-to-day life and implementing decisive innovation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Learning through research and experimentation, <\/strong>motivating students to discover, reach conclusions, and design methods to carry out the object of the investigation, improving retention of the concepts learned.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Promoting leadership in decision-making<\/strong> for training researchers and leaders with decisive skills in the face of the challenges of an increasingly advanced society.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Teaching in context,<\/strong> to be faithful to the meta-disciplinary concept of the STEM methodology. If not taught in context, it would just be teaching science or mathematics in isolation.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Encouraging creativity<\/strong> to increase the capacities for problem-solving from a critical perspective that&#8217;s individual, creative, different, and boosts communication skills.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/m-wysiwig>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":227880,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-228317","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>STEM - Ferrovial<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"STEM suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"STEM - Ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"STEM suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T16:38:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ferrovial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"STEM - Ferrovial","description":"STEM suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"STEM - Ferrovial","og_description":"STEM suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/","og_site_name":"Ferrovial","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ferrovial","article_modified_time":"2025-06-25T16:38:47+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ferrovial","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/","name":"STEM - Ferrovial","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-08T08:52:23+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-25T16:38:47+00:00","description":"STEM suggests the interdisciplinary integration of these areas of science in a context tied to engineering and technology.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/what-does-the-term-stem-mean\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"STEM","item":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/stem\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"STEM"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/en\/","name":"Ferrovial","description":"Welcome to the Ferrovial&#039;s website, global operator of sustainable infrastructure. 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