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- STEAM education has a positive impact on student learning because it promotes science, technology, engineering, and math engagement as well as artistic and creative thinking, which may steer students to an interest in a STEAM career as they get older.
- The main purpose of STEM education is to “motivate students learning using hands-on science and math skills, as well as to encourage higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills” (Julian & Parrott, 2017).
- Harron & Hughes (2018) found that getting students interested in technology, engineering, and computer sciences is highly beneficial because those are likely to be the creative jobs of the future and the skills learned in STEAM education will be a pathway to those jobs.
From STEM to STEAM
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There is much said about the need to invest in STEM programs for today's students to prepare them to enter a workforce where many of the future available jobs will be in science, technology, engineering and math.
- Various ways in which schools can invest in STEM initiatives in classrooms and in iibrary learning commons, which include:
- providing various information technology devices for students, (desktop computers, laptops, and tablets)
- after-school STEM clubs or programs
- A STEM-focused curriculum, where projects using STEM practices are embedded
- "Bring your own device" initiatives (BYOD)
- STEM days to encourage hands-on exploration within each of these 4 areas of study
- coding programs
- introducing students to emerging technologies such as technologies 3d printers
- robotics programs
- While these types of initiatives are a great start for students to explore these 4 disciplines, they are sometimes lacking the processes of innovation and creativity. Weaving the arts in a STEM program allows students to think critically and creatively, accessing the full learning opportunities from STEM education (Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM [IAS], n.d.).
"STEAM is a way to take the benefits of STEM and complete the package by integrating these principles in and through the arts. STEAM takes STEM to the next level: it allows students to connect their learning in these critical areas together with arts practices, elements, design principles, and standards to provide the whole pallet of learning at their disposal. STEAM removes limitations and replaces them with wonder, critique, inquiry, and innovation." (IAS, n.d.).
