STEM was the main topic at the 2019 ASTE international conference, with at least 8 posters, 27 oral presentations and 3 workshops promoting STEM classrooms, STEM instruction/teaching, STEM lessons, STEM summer camps, STEM clubs, and STEM schools without providing an operational conceptualization or definition of what STEM is. Some oral presentations advocated for disciplines integration, but the example provided were mainly "inquiry based" and "Engineering Design Process" practices which in fact did not differed from the overly used, poorly conceptualized and epistemologically incongruent hands on/minds off type of classroom activities.

Therefore, it is worth considering:

(1) Why do we call it STEM if it does not differ from practices being implemented for decades (e.g. inquiry, hands on activities)?

(2) What benefits (if any) can this STEMification mentality/trend bring to science education?

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