STEM is a buzzword in the education world that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The STEM approach to education is designed to revolutionize the teaching of subject areas such as mathematics and science by incorporating technology and engineering into regular curriculum. What STEM also attempts to do is shift the typical classroom environment from being teacher-centered to requiring students to find solutions by actively engaging in problem solving, discovery, and exploratory learning. This is what we are so passionate about at Nomad. Pick up any one of our books and you’ll see that we believe real learning must be active!

Business leaders, educators, industry experts, and others are rallying around the importance of STEM in education. A study by Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce shows that by 2018, 8 million jobs in the U.S. economy will require a college degree in STEM. And our nation’s children are falling further and further behind their international peers in almost every area of STEM education.  And so, even with a 9 percent unemployment rate in this country, science and technology companies are struggling to find qualified Americans to fill STEM-related jobs.

STEM education needs to begin as young as possible. Why? Because, as most of us know, including Anthony Murphy at the national Center for STEM Elementary Education, “Children at birth are natural scientists, engineers, and problem-solvers. They consider the world around them and try to make sense of it the best way they know how: touching, tasting, building, dismantling, creating, discovering, and exploring. For kids, this isn't education. It's fun!”

But teaching STEM topics can be intimidating to an elementary school teacher who does not have a specialized certification in math or science. This is exactly why Nomad is so committed to publishing books that approach STEM topics in a way that is accessible, playful, and stimulating to both teacher and student. This is critical. If kids don’t have a positive experience with math or science at a young age, by the time they get to high school they don’t even want to try.

Again, we are passionate about this! So if you have an opinion about this or any of our blogs, please share your comments. We’d love to hear from you!