<p>Although STEM education research and practice has been explored for more than ten years in Chinese, it has been difficult to adopt STEM curriculum into the classrooms of primary and secondary schools. This study examined the feasibility of incorporating STEM courses into the Chinese compulsory education national curriculum. A framework for STEM literacy was constructed through the Chinese subject standards for science, mathematics and information technology, and applied the content of the standards to organize the STEM curriculum. In this study, a total of 60 adolescents enrolled in middle school, with an equal distribution of 24 females and 26 males, ranging in age from 12 to 14 years, were selected as subjects. The sample was stratified into two groups: the experimental group, consisting of 29 individuals, who were engaged in a curriculum that incorporated STEM literacy; and the control group, comprising 31 individuals, who participated in a curriculum with analogous content delivered through an activity-based approach. The results of the study found that the students in the treatment group showed significant performance in STEM literacy. The cognitive network analysis found that the students in the treatment group were more connected to the Science and Engineering Thinking Dimension and the Inquiry and Practice Dimension, and that the students’ overall performance improved significantly. The results of this study highlight the importance of STEM literacy objectives within the curriculum. Furthermore, within the engineering context, integrating curriculum content based on a progressive approach to core disciplinary concepts is effective in enhancing STEM literacy.</p>