STEM教育是一項跨領域、科目整合的教學方式，核心著重於科學(Science)、 科技(Technology)、工程(Engineering)及數學(Math)，後續也延伸出含藝術(Art)，亦稱為STEAM教育。STEM或者是STEAM ? 在國際上除了台灣與香港之外，多用 “STEM “作為整個核心STEM教育的總稱。

STEM教育 / STEAM教育有別於傳統填鴨式教學，揮別單向灌輸知識，採用引導學生進行批判性思考、結合跨領域知識技能，解決現實世界會碰到的問題。培養出主動學習、喜歡學習的下一代。

根據清華大學周淑惠教授定義 STEM 教育的意涵為：針對生活中的問題，透過工程的設計、製作與精進的核心活動，作為課程與教學主軸，歷程中並整合運用科學與科學探究、數學與數學思考、以及技術與工具等，以產生製作物暨解決實際的問題。（周淑惠，2018a，2018b，2020）

美國的STEM教育更注重跨領域的多元性、男女教育或者是貧富的受教權平等，讓孩子透過探索找到問題的答案。

STEM education is an interdisciplinary and integrated teaching approach that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, with the later addition of Art and Reading, also known as STEAM education.

STEM/STEAM education is different from traditional rote learning and emphasizes guiding students to think, integrate knowledge and skills, and solve real-world problems. It aims to cultivate the next generation of proactive and enthusiastic learners.

According to Professor Zhou Shuhui from Tsinghua University, the essence of STEM education is to use engineering design, production, and refinement as the core activity to address real-life problems, and integrate science exploration, mathematics thinking, and technology and tools to generate products and solve practical problems.

STEM education in the United States emphasizes interdisciplinary diversity, gender and socio-economic equality, and encourages children to explore and find answers to problems.