8  What is STEM?

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Throughout this book we’ll explore all variety of ways in which we use communication in STEM fields. So before we get started, it’s worth taking a minute to consider what we mean by STEM, a convenient acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics.1

  • 1 The related term STEAM, which adds Art into the mix, seems like an attempt to address a perceived lack of artistic sensibility in technical fields. The term has yet to catch on but can be found in course listings of various institutions.

    • Each of these terms are themselves convenient catch-all terms for an almost boundless number of materials & methods. The broad diversity of these materials & methods are unified under the banners of being quantitative, evidence-based, reproducible, explainable, transparent and amenable, among other terms. In this way, the four terms, although each broadly defined, have much in common.

    In STEM fields, a naive, literal, understanding of Materials & Methods describes the conditions of an activity:

    Materials are the what: The equipment/tools, measurement devices, items (subjects) being investigated, etc.

    Methods are the how: The processes, (standard operating) protocols, reproducible recipes, algorithms, experimental design, etc.

    A bit of probing brings us to a deeper, more revealing understanding of Materials & Methods:

    Materials are the physical, and Methods are the mental elements which define and limit the scope of a discipline. The mental includes:

    • Analytical thinking
      • Identify, label and describe the component pieces of a complex system
      • Imagines a complex system is equal to the sum of its parts.
      • cf. Reductionism
    • Creative thinking
      • The ability to employ materials & methods in an unexpected context
    • Critical thinking,
      • Imagines a complex system is more than the sum of its parts.
      • cf. Holism & Systems thinking
    • A simplified version of the complex reality.
    • Stored completely in our minds.
    • Dictates what we expect to happen.
    • Limits what we imagine can happen and thus our interpretation of observations +/ acceptance of validity reality.
    • Deductive
      • Conclusion follows from a set of premises with clear certainty.
      • Valid premises = Sound conclusion
      • A general rule \(\rightarrow\) specific conclusion (always true).
    • Inductive
      • Conclusion follows from a set of premises with some probability.
      • Strong premises = Cogent conclusion
      • Specific observation \(\rightarrow\) general conclusion (may be true).
    • Abductive
      • Incomplete observations \(\rightarrow\) best prediction (may be true).
      • A method for arriving at testable hypotheses
    • Reductionism
      • Attempts explanation of entire systems in terms of their individual, constituent parts and their interactions. - Interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.
      • Foundation for most of modern science, e.g. physics, chemistry and biology.
      • Biology can be reduced to chemistry, chemistry can be reduced to physics (cf. hierarchies \(\rightarrow\) Smallest units are the most fundamental and top of the hierarchy, from which all else follows).
    • Holism
    • Attempts explanation of entire systems in terms of integrated wholes, individual, constituent parts and their interactions.

    8.1 The STEM Ecosystem

    It’s helpful to have a mental model of what STEM includes and to treat each of the four components as part of a cycle.

    Figure 8.1: STEM Ecosystem

    There are many differences between STEM fields and non-STEM fields, but I think that viewing STEM in the kind of ecosystem presented in Figure 8.1 highlights what is probably the major distinction, and what I feel is also a considerable thing to consider for communication. STEM fields set out to not only understand the world, but to manipulate the world. Many fields can lay claim to being quantitative, to using logic, and may even employ similar philosophies of reductionism, but it is firnly within the realm of STEM that we see the manual of how to now change the world in systematic, predictible ays provided.

    This is quite an important point to acknowledge in the context of communication. Under ideal consditions, that is closed-systems, or controlled laborartoyr conditions, we have the privilege of claiming objectivity