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How is this STEM?

By Colin Davitt

I came home to this package the other night. Two feet by four feet and it weighs seventy-five pounds. If you Google the name you will see it is a mattress, a queen sized one to be exact.

We learned a number of things these past two weeks about how STEM is everywhere and to take what is around us every day to help our students realize that fact.

If you took this modern mattress as an example, what would you say?

Here are a few questions I have when I look at the box:

Engineering
     How do they compress the whole mattress that small?
     How do the various levels of foam stand up to compression over time?
     How do they measure the level of out gassing?

Math
     How many variables did they need to account for when designing one mattress for everyone?
     How do they calculate shipping costs and times?

 Technology
     How do they measure the impact of their social media campaign?

By asking these questions it helps me and my own kids start thinking how STEM is everywhere. It helps to focus in on the idea that something as simple as the mattress encompasses many different STEM careers.

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