educational activities across all grade levels, from pre-school to post-doctorate, and in both formal and informal classroom settings (Gonzalez, & Kuenzi, 2012). While scientific inquiry involves the formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation, engineering design involves the formulation of a problem that can be solved through constructing and evaluating during the post design stage. STEM education brings these two concepts together through all four disciplines.
Bybee (2013) clearly articulates that the overall purpose of STEM education is to further develop a STEM literate society. His definition of “STEM literacy” refers to an individual’s: