STEM v Makers: Is There A Difference?

This evening while I was cruising my Twitter feed, I came across a question posed by someone I work with. He was wondering how STEM differs from the Maker Movement (if it does). It got me thinking, so I naturally got to Googling it. Much to my chagrin, there was nothing readily available comparing the two. I turned to Old Faithful (a/k/a Wikipedia) for the answers that I sought. Here's what I found:

• STEM is (obviously) an acronym, but the importance lies in its primary focus on education & education policy. Its origins stem (haha) from the seeming "lack of qualified candidates" in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math.
• When teaching or creating policy centered on STEM, it is important to integrate them together, rather than teaching them in isolation.
• There is a great deal of talk concerning STEM from 'educational policy experts'- like the President, Congress, Arne Duncan, Project Lead The Way and The National Science Foundation among others.
• There are laws & policy about STEM.

So, let's say that STEM is focused on education and policy. There is bureaucracy involved and it's a top down operation.

• Maker seems to be more of a grass-roots movement.
• Maker is focused on learning by doing, exploring, learning because you think it's fun and seeking 'experts' from peers and people in your personal network.
• This seems largely informal, something you've rigged up on your own, although there are some more organized, formal opportunities for being a Maker. Makerspaces can be set up by schools and organizations or as Maker Faires.  There are also hackerspaces that offer similar opportunities.

Let's say that Makers are a groundswell sort of personal learning operation...Learning because it's fun.

Can Makers and Makerspaces incorporate STEM into their learning and experience? Absolutely, I think they mostly do. But, they are definitely not interchangeable terms, ideas or concepts. At their core, STEM is top down; and the Maker movement is bottom up.

What do you think about STEM and the Maker Movement? Are you involved with them?

My uber-complicated sources are here and here.

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