STEM and STEMx

Hello audience. Throughout these past months I was engaged in learning of a higher and more engaging form of literacy: metaliteracy. Well the course was fine and dandy and actually alot of the learning took place outside of the classroom and it was more of a hands-on thing, very different than traditional learning. By traditional learning I mean "...sit here and listen to the teacher". It was quite a shift that I wasn't all too ready for but I believe the format is much more valuable. The problem is that not all courses and classes are like this.

So here's where STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) comes in and it was the topic of the last MOOC talk I listened to. Like how metaliteracy redefined literacy and offered an upgrade to the methods in which literacy is thought of and taught, the discussion in the MOOC talk focused on applying similar skills to teaching the sciences. Now if there's one thing if anything you should have learned from metaliteracy is cooperation and collaboration of different medium to create a better and more unified form of understanding.

STEM education is very important to drive the modern era into more progressive technologies and the ideal thoughts of the future. (Hopefully one where robots serve us instead of hunting us to extinction). But the teaching methods for STEM require an update, and that's where STEMx (or STEM+) comes in. Nevermind the "2.0" name, like metaliteracy, STEMx is just a redefinition of how one should actually learn STEM. As collaboration of literacies define metaliteracy, why not collaboration of the STEM programs form a unified learning? This can actually be applied for all courses teaching in general. Instead of having classes treated as separate subjects in academics and pieces of an educational degree, why can't parts of teaching system work together and collaborate?

STEM taught as separate courses 

STEMx, the modification of STEM into a single unified course.

This is one of the major things that come to mind when I reflect how metaliteracy and the MOOC system catalyzes learning methods beyond memorization. If courses rely on the unity and integration of each other, the applications of the subject matter become more apparent and that becomes much more valuable than memorizing facts.

Think of it this way: in the current educational system we are taught in parts of what constitutes a major. The classes don't coincide with each other, so as the teaching is separate so is the learning. This isn't particularly useful because the value of each course becomes hidden; the connections aren't made. If the educational system becomes updated and not only students collaborate in learning but teachers collaborate in teaching, a greater understanding can be brought out for the applications in real-world situations. No longer things would be thought in hierarchy, but rather a communication of every subject for a single goal.