What is Steam?
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths.
However,STEAM is STEM + ART = STEAM.
There are three main principles to STEAM found on the stemtosteam.org website;
- to include art and design at the heart of STEM
- to have art and design in the school curriculum
- to encourage employers to take on artists and designers to help with new ideas in companies
Statistics from Edudemic (2015) states that in the USA by end of the year 2018 there will be a lack of skilled workers in the STEM subjects possibly as many as three million. Also in the USA in 2008, a very small percent of degrees achieved were in engineering (4%). Therefore this proves that there needs to be more done in education today to encourage the STEM subjects. One way of encouraging more students to participate in these subjects is to include the arts and for it to become STEAM. The arts is very beneficial to be included within STEM as the arts can ‘build confidence, develop motor skills, and hone their decision making and problem solving skills,’ Edudemic (2015, p.2) Furthermore, STEM subjects tend to lack the creativity and innovation element and this is where STEAM can integrate the arts within STEM subjects and make them relevant for children in society today and help them with their lifelong learning and their future careers.
Educational Closet, (2017, np) suggests that STEAM will create students who are more willing to ‘take thoughtful risks, engage in experimental learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration and work through the creative process.’ This should result in pupils becoming ‘innovators, educators, leaders and learners of the 21st century,’ (ibid,).
The following two videos give an explanation as to why STEAM is significant in the curriculum today and how the arts can be an integral aspect of STEM subjects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70fZeyMulw
Hawkins (2016) acknowledges that there are many benefits of art-science, STEM projects and these should be taught across the curriculum. I feel that indispilinary learning provides many opportunities for STEAM learning. I have been in schools where the children have had to design and build a bridge that would carry a small toy car. This included technology, engineering and art and design tasks bringing a lot of the STEAM subjects together. Also another challenge that a teacher used when I was on work experience was to get the the children to design a bird box for the school garden. Here the children had to work in groups of four, draw their plans, use junk materials to show their design and then the best two were discussed, peer assessed, analysed and were built using proper materials for the school garden. This learning was linked with the real world making it more relevant to the children and purposeful. Using art and design within the STEM subjects to help with these challenges helped the children ‘not to just to make new knowledge but to think in different ways about the problems they encountered,’ Hawkins (2016, p.52).
As a teacher I can see the value of STEAM within the curriculum. It is an ideal opportunity for learning across the curriculum and for subjects to work together. Learning through STEAM is a way of bringing an integrated educational experience that is enhanced through the integration of art and design which will benefit the STEM subjects. ‘STEAM removes limitations and replaces them with wonder, critique, inquiry and innovation,’ Education Closet (2017, np). Furthermore STEAM develops creativity and as Education Scotland (2015, p.51) states that one of the main features of highly effective practise is that ‘ Creativity skills are recognised, articulated and valued by practitioners and learners.’ Creativity is no longer seen just for entertainment but for the progressive development of the learner. Many skills are developed through creativity, especially enquiry, critical thinking and innovation. These skills would certainly be developed through STEAM challenges and projects.
References
Educational Closet. (2017) What is steam? [Online] Available: https://educationcloset.com/steam/what-is-steam/ [Accessed 4 February 2018]
Education Scotland. (2015) How good is our school? 4th ed. Scotland: Crown.
Edudemic Staff (2015) STEM vs. STEAM: Why the “A” Makes a Difference http://www.edudemic.com/stem-vs-steam-why-the-a-makes-all-the-difference/
Hawkins, H (2016) Art -Science and (Re) Making Worlds: Shaping Knowledge, Transforming Subjects, Challenging Institutions. Zurich: De Gruyter
STEM to STEAM (2018) [Online] Available : http://stemtosteam.org [Accessed 4 February 2018]
