A Study on the Relationship Between Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning in Primary and Secondary School Mathematics and STEM Education

Abstract

This paper deeply analyzes the conceptual resonance of the two at the common starting point of “integration,” and systematically discriminates their profound divergences in cultural genes, disciplinary logic, and value orientation. Research shows that interdisciplinary thematic learning in mathematics is rooted in the localized soil of “fostering virtue through education,” with the mathematics discipline as its solid home ground; whereas STEM education originates from national science and technology competition strategy, exhibiting distinct characteristics of being engineering-driven and technology-empowered.