COURSES to promote STEM education in China were announced yesterday as the first STEM Expo was launched in Shanghai.

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — using an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Hundreds of teachers are to be trained in STEM methods of education.

Courses are based on Connecticut Science Center STEM curriculum units, but will be localized and made available to Chinese educators via the Massive Online Open Courses system, said United Technologies Corporation, which launched the STEM promotion program in 2015 with China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development.