Testing robots at a STEM presentation
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STEM Minor

STEM — short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is a national movement to grow and nurture creative students who are problem solvers, innovators, inventors, logical thinkers, and strong oral and written communicators. STEM education is rooted in an active, hands-on inquiry and design process.

Helpful for educators — and everyone else, too

The STEM minor is an interdisciplinary program open to all St. Kate’s undergraduate students and is composed of courses from several departments. Especially appropriate for elementary and middle school education majors, the program is designed to give future educators the confidence and comfort level needed to teach areas of STEM in elementary and middle school classrooms and to contribute to a larger STEM-literate society.

3M grant supports program development

St. Kate’s received a $240,000 grant from the 3M Foundation to support the development of a STEM minor. The grant enabled a team of faculty from several disciplines to immerse themselves in research on STEM, curriculum design, learning theories and teacher preparation and then develop the content, pedagogical design and evaluation techniques for the STEM minor at St. Kate’s.