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This article presents an approach to STEM education for secondary and high school students, proposed by currently ongoing STEM4youth project (SWAFT, H2020, www.stem4youth.eu). The approach is the result of the cooperation and joint research of 10 European organizations, having deep expertise in science education and science promotion. The ultimate project goal is to develop educational content and teaching scenarios which in effect will make science education and scientific career more attractive to young peoples. To meet this goal, the project places STEM education in a broader societal and economic context, claiming that education should primarily respond to the labor market demands and address concrete societal challenges indirectly associated to science. The project seeks to produce a comprehensive, multidisciplinary series of educational contents -courses presenting key STEM disciplines' topics to support young people in their formal and informal education (extra-curriculum activities, science festivals, university organized lectures and open, web-accessible self-study materials). The content is organized around 6 STEM disciplines: Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine and also includes a Citizen Science Toolkit for Teachers. For each discipline 7-9 challenges (1-2 hours lessons/lectures/demonstrations/hands-on activities) are being developed which were identified as the most important to boost the creativity, competitiveness and innovativeness. The challenges will be largely presented through practical applications and impacts on the everyday life and work. A range of formal and informal methodologies and tools are being employed to present the scientific challenges in an attractive way (learning by experiment, gaming, citizen science at schools). Also, it will show which specific skills and competence STEM education develops and how these skills address the current and future European labour market needs. In lieu of this, the project provides a helicopter view of STEM disciplines and job characteristics associated with these disciplines to help young people undertake informed decisions about their future (subjects of interest, fields of study and finally career paths to pursue). The article presents how the abovementioned general ideas could be practically implemented in STEM education, proposing how to harmonize educational content from different areas, how to structure the courses and finally how to provide practical guidelines for teachers to help them conduct multidisciplinary lessons in a responsive, interactive manner.

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