Turning STEM into STEAM (original) (raw)
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The importance of adding the arts to STEM education
Souliotou, A. Z. (2016). The importance of adding the arts to STEM education. . In: Proceedings of the Pan-Hellenic Conference «Innovating STEM Education» [HiSTEM 2016]. (original article in Greek) , 2016
The proposed research effort aims to present and highlight the possibilities of the combination of Art and Technoscience (Technology + Science) in education. These possibilities will be explored mainly in and through the STEAM approach, which has recently appeared in the international literature and in education. The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) approach emerged from the need to include the Arts in the set of disciplines that lead to innovation, enriching the former STEM that included Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The proposed research effort will examine the importance of this recent addition of the Arts to STEM practices by promoting the idea of an interdisciplinary approach to concepts as well as problem-solving and problem-seeking to stimulate children's creativity with the ultimate goal of achieving innovation. More specifically, it will be analyzed how the Arts introduce a new way of thinking that should be able to feed the artistic and scientific community, but also society, with interesting and innovative ideas and actions. This contribution of the Arts to STEAM educational practices is also to be explored through the development of STEAM workshops which are currently in their initial design phase.
STEAM-ing: Preliminary Insights in Consolidating Arts with STEM
Asian Journal of University Education, 2022
Science, mathematics, technology, and engineering (STEM) have long been acknowledged as subjects that are fundamental for national progress and growth. Efforts to integrate the "arts" component in the teaching and learning of STEM subjects have begun over two decades ago through the introduction of KBSR and KBSM in the Malaysian school curriculum; however, its implementation received mixed reactions. The reason is that although "art" can and does make STEM subjects interesting and engaging, it could also distract and remove the focus away from STEM components. Realizing the importance of Arts in complementing the learning of science-based subjects in terms of creativity and collaborative focus, this study aims to uncover the views schoolteachers encounter as they try to integrate Arts in STEM teaching. Using a qualitative approach, the study involved teachers currently teaching STEM subjects in local public and private schools. Data was collected via a semistructured interview with four experienced Science teachers. Findings revealed all Science teachers unanimously agree the integration of Visual Arts elements in STEM could ease various pedagogical challenges which include students' thinking ability, practical knowledge, and ability in technology; constraints related to teaching aid and ensuring student understanding of "difficult" topics in the lower secondary Science syllabus.
Using Creativity from Art and Engineering to Engage Students in Science
2016
STEAM education, referring to integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, is a contemporary buzzword that is popular in many schools. In particular, many elementary school teachers who have been tasked to incorporate STEM teaching, because of the requirements of the Next Generation Science Standards, attempt to apply the arts in their science curriculum because they feel more comfortable using instructional approaches that incorporate creative activities such as crafts, drawing, and model construction than the core practices of STEM disciplines. Teachers can use the creative arts activities in two ways to enhance the STEM learning environment: 1) Using creative processes as a way to gain access to students’ ideas before science content is taught, to help guide further instruction; and 2) Using creativity as a means for students to express their understanding of science content. In this editorial, we explore how the arts can help students generate “Big Ideas” a...
Enhancing STEM Skills Through the Art
2017
Nowadays, ensuring the learning of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills allows young people to participate fully in the social life in terms of employability, productivity and social cohesion. However, on the basis of the international surveys, such as PISA and TIMSS, maths and science mean scores obtained by an essential part of European students, are below the OECD average. Although the national educational systems try to promote the interactive teaching of sciences belonging to the STEM field, they fail when compared to the American, because the scientific subjects presented seem to be opposed to the humanities ones. The risk to consider here is that such an approach favors the lost of a great part of an analytical and critical ways of thinking inherent to humanities. In this context, a new educational method, based on a proper balance between humanities and scientific disciplines would allow a more effective development of the logical and critical skills and tools by improving study performance and increasing the mind potential in young people. This point is of absolute importance especially for the children of 5 years old when the natural continuous interactions between the two brain hemispheres determines the predominance of one over the other, i.e. the functional asymmetry which causes a brain to work as a pair of opposites. In the work a new pedagogical approach to the STEM education is presented. As the unifying element, that may assist the harmonious development of both hemispheres, the Art is considered. Authors show, how being a purely intuitive and stimulating the creativity from one side, together with an enormous informational capacity that may encode the vast variety of scientific concepts from the other, Art may be used as an effective educational mean, that aids the development of young student abilities thanks to the simultaneous stimulation of both brain hemispheres with suitable exercises designed.
The science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) movement has its roots back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the formation of NASA and NSF in 1958. The STEM Arts movement is a response, collage, and remix, of previous art education theories and STEM education concepts derived since that time. The STEM arts movement seeks to inspire youth with the multi-modal skills to inspire the next generation of innovators and global citizens. In this paper, I seek to draw
From Stem to Steam in Engineering Design
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA), 2019
Creativity, communication skills, interdisciplinary sensitivity, and cultural and civic responsibility are vital skills and perspectives to inculcate in contemporary engineering students. A number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of exposing engineering students to arts, as studying arts and humanities can open up their minds to creative ideas from great minds outside of science and engineering. In most cases, engineering students are exposed to the arts by taking a few non-technical courses as electives. Many students view these courses as less important and irrelevant to their field of studies. Integrating the arts into the technical engineering curriculum is challenging but critical to engineering design, particularly in early years, and represents a natural opportunity. This paper discusses the approach taken by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa of exposing students to the arts through curricular and extracurricular design activities. These include offering design challenges, a first-year engineering design course and summer internships. This paper also discusses the challenges that arise in delivering such curriculum and the impact of such exposure on the engineering students involved.
STEAM: Using the Arts to Train Well-Rounded and Creative Scientists
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
While the demand for a strong STEM workforce continues to grow, there are challenges that threaten our ability to recruit, train, and retain such a workforce in a way that is effective and sustainable and fosters innovation. One way in which we are meeting this challenge is through the use of the arts in the training of scientists. In this Perspectives article, we review the use of the arts in science education and its benefits in both K-12 and postsecondary education. We also review the use of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) programs in science outreach and the development of professional scientists.
STEM Integration with Art: A Renewed Reason for STEAM
2021
For many years, the arts and sciences have been taught in separate silos. However, with the current move in the United States to see its K-12 students perform at the top of the world in STEM disciplines, the arts are being pushed out of the classroom and marginalized in the curriculum. In addition to the limited availability of the arts being taught in schools, there has been a debate that the arts and STEM fields are disconnected from each other. This research bridges a gap in the literature that the arts and sciences are similar in many ways and indicates how STEM can become STEAM in the classroom. A case study of secondary pre-service teachers (n=58) participating in a Science and Art-integration unit, explored how a silk batik art activity could capture scientific and artistic concepts in the same unit over 5 university class sessions for a three-year time period. The research under study aims to answer the follow research questions: 1) how have the secondary pre-service teacher...