STEAM Teaching Resources

Bring STEM and STEAM learning to life in your classroom with engineering activities for kids, STEM challenges, printable worksheets and more resources designed by teachers for teachers.

This collection of printables and digital activities includes curriculum-aligned resources that will help you meet Australian science curriculum standards while you're getting students hooked on science, maths and more. In addition to being created by teachers, each resource has undergone a rigorous review by the Teach Starter teacher team. That means they're classroom-ready — so you can cut down on planning time!

Looking for tips on integrating STEM into your lessons? Curious about what's in the Australia STEM curriculum? Or maybe you're just trying to figure out how we ended up with STEM, STEAM and STEMM? Read on for tips from the Teach Starter teacher team!

What Is STEM Education?

STEM education is defined by its focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which applies to education from foundation through year 12.

But when it comes to teaching STEM or STEAM skills in primary school, where students are just beginning to understand basic maths and science, we realise you're not teaching Boolean logic or even doing the popular egg drop activity. Primary STEM education is all about laying a foundation for secondary STEM teachers to build on, and that's important too!

Primary STEM education can include:

Introduction of the scientific method
Basic science experiments
Building digital literacy skills
Maths problems based on real-world applications
Coding and algorithms
Critical thinking and problem-solving activities

Although there is no STEM curriculum in Australia per se, the science, technology and maths curricula join together to help students build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as providing the scientific literacy needed to succeed in STEM or STEAM careers.

While there is no engineering curriculum here in Australia, there are aspects of engineering design and problem-solving that are integrated into the design and technology components of the curriculum. The technology curriculum in primary and secondary schools also ensures students explore the use of various technologies, get acquainted with design processes and learn about the impact of technology on society.

What Does STEM Stand For?

Your school may refer to this sort of education as STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Why STEM?

The acronym has been used in education since the early 2000s when the National Science Foundation in the United States began using the four-letter term to refer to the concept of interdisciplinary education.

What Does STEAM Stand For?

STEM isn't the only term for teaching children these concepts, of course!

Your school may refer to this part of the curriculum as STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. You might even see it written as ST∑@M™.

The addition of the 'A' to STEAM to include art is often credited to American educator Georgette Yakman, who has said that STEAM is not a replacement of STEM.

Instead, Yakman says, 'The liberal arts add the ‘who & why’ to the ‘what & how’ of STEM.'

STEM vs STEAM vs. STEMM — What's the Difference?

There is nothing the education system likes as much as a good acronym, so which one should you be using these days? We have touched on STEM and STEAM, but what is STEMM? And which one should you be using?

STEM — short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — is often considered the OG here with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) showing up as a relatively recent addition, but the truth is STEM and STEAM have both been around for awhile.
STEMM is the newcomer here. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine. Educators and STEMM policymakers say the inclusion of that second M should also come with a focus on diversity and inclusion.