What’s STEM and why is it important?

In Australia, the service industries now provide virtually four jobs out of five while our exports are dominated by primary resources from mining and agriculture. Whatever happened to our manufacturing industries? When we compare ourselves to other developed economies it would seem that we lag significantly behind them as an industrialised nation and this is in spite of many emerging opportunities. Are we too complacent to care, happy just to rely on what we have been doing successfully for the past couple of centuries or so? Do we not value innovation and entrepreneurship sufficiently to make the effort to respond to emerging industrial opportunities?  Most importantly, are our educational institutions, at all levels, failing to focus sufficiently on science and technology and on engineering and mathematics – the so-called STEM subjects - to encourage our young people to seek opportunities in secondary industries?

In this episode of our podcast mini-series, our host Richard Bawden welcomes back the experienced educator Tony Richardson to discuss the nature and significance of STEM subjects, particularly in secondary education. Given the potential for the development of new technologies for renewable energies alone, Australia has abundant opportunities for coming generations of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. STEM certainly demands our urgent attention.