Science, is the study of the natural world, including the laws of nature associated with physics, chemistry, and biology and the treatment or application of facts, principles, concepts, or conventions associated with these disciplines.

Science is both a body of knowledge that has been accumulated over time and a process — scientific inquiry — that generates new knowledge. Knowledge from science informs the engineering design process and helps the development of technological artifacts. We could say that Science is involved in almost all fields of STEAM.

Technology, while not a discipline in the strictest sense, comprises the entire system of people and organizations, knowledge, processes, and devices that go into creating and operating technological developments, as well as those developments themselves. Throughout history, humans have created technology to satisfy their wants and needs.

Much of modern technology is a product of science and engineering, and technological tools are used in both fields.

Engineering, is both a body of knowledge — about the design and creation of human-made products — and a process for solving problems. Is defined as “design under constraint,” where the constraints include the laws of nature, cost, safety, reliability, environmental impact, manufacturability, and many other factors.

While science attempts to discover what is, engineering is concerned with what might be — with extending human capability through modifying the natural world. Indeed, engineering is responsible for many of the most significant improvements in our quality of life.

Engineers identify and then solve problems using a highly creative and repetitive design process. While engineering requires the application of mathematics and scientific knowledge, it is this design process and the practical nature of the problems tackled that best distinguish engineering.

Art, is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing works of art (artworks), expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.

Arts are a great learning tool and can serve as an on-ramp to STEM for underrepresented students. Engaging students’ strengths using art activities increases motivation and the probability of STEM success. Art can be viewed as a way of offering more diverse learning opportunities and greater access to STEM for all types of learners.

Arts include the four main disciplines of dance, drama and theater, music, and visual arts and may also include support for the various other art forms, including folk art, film, video, the writing of plays, prose, poetry, and scripts.

Mathematics, is the study of patterns and relationships among quantities, numbers, and space.

Unlike in science, where empirical evidence is sought to warrant or overthrow claims, claims in mathematics are warranted through logical arguments starting from basic assumptions. The logical arguments themselves are part of mathematics along with the claims.

As in science, knowledge in mathematics continues to grow, but unlike in science, knowledge in mathematics is not overturned, unless the foundational assumptions are transformed.