As socio-ethno-ecological challenges grow in magnitude, student engagement with mathematics, science, and other tools useful to understanding key aspects of these challenges has never been more critical. Yet that engagement is declining in schools, even though Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education has been a major topic of discussion among politicians, policy makers, and educators for some decades now. This presentation examines this quandary. Oriented by the realization that “STEM” and “STEM Education” have not yet evolved into fully coherent fields of study, I explore one strategy for developing those coherences – namely, honoring the integrity of each of STEM’s constituent disciplines while exploring the ways they can amplify one another when used together to address complex contemporary issues. To develop this perspective, I look into the actual work of scientists, engineers, and other professionals, aiming to interrupt troublesome common sense assumptions about STEM domains.