FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

Lori Korschgen
University of Missouri, Columbia

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

Abstract

In our current educational system, a focus is being placed on STEM education for
science, technology, engineering, and math. While these are all important concepts in a childs
education, the arts are just as vital. Over-emphasizing STEM subject matter obfuscates the
necessity of the arts and creative thinking. To do so, would be an injustice to both content areas
that are so frequently intertwined. For students to be prepared to enter the 21st century, it will be
essential that they receive a well-rounded education that does not exclude the arts; but rather
accepts, integrates, and thrives because of it.

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

In a world full of technological advances, there is a great call for future engineers to
continue creating new innovations. Because of this anticipated need, there has been an
implementation of schools focused on science, technology, engineering, and math, hereon
referred to as STEM. The curriculum in these schools is based around STEM, in an attempt
to prepare future students to take on these roles as potential engineers. While this effort is
needed and understandable, its curriculum focus overlooks a vital part to any students
education- the arts. With such an intense focus on STEM, it is only consequential that the
Arts: visual, musical, or theatrical would be overlooked. Without the arts included as a vital
part of a students education, their learning would be off balance.
This is not a proposal to remove STEM programs from being utilized in schools, but
rather an advocacy to integrate the arts along with it. STEM schools, Break(s) the
educational mold by incorporating the disciplines together in project-focused learning. For
example, students may learn algebra and physics to build robots or geometry, physics and
biology to build a working greenhouse (Watson, 2013). The goal for this type of learning
is to give students real-life problems and challenges to tackle. In the 21st century, a real-life
problem or project seamlessly includes the arts when producing an innovative form or
product.
While the creation of STEM schools has been made a priority, the curriculum should
not be so one-sided. For a student to become an engineer or not, their education should not
consequentially or intentionally be about excluding other content areas. Alienating the Arts
from any school would be doing a great disservice to all students, including those that do
want to pursue engineering. Therefore, schools should create a well-rounded curriculum

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

that includes the Arts, transitioning from STEM to STEAM, in order to produce the most
well rounded students who will be prepared for any role they choose in the 21st century.

Art & Science- Better Together.

Art and science have already been coexisting throughout time and across cultures.
Science, engineering, math, and throughout developmental stages of technology have
always been needed for the development of forms and structures. However, humans
always strive to make their creations visually appealing. The integration of artistic form
with engineering principles is exemplified by architecture, with the innovative engineering
methods that are continuously paired with the visual motifs and decorations. Architecture
moved beyond pure functionality, and began to incorporate the desire for an aesthetically
pleasing design.
This continual pairing shows how the development of art and science naturally
helped to develop one another. In so many art forms, science was used as an aide for
creating new mediums. One had to understand science to create new forms of paint, to
make new colors and be able to bind mediums correctly to a surface. Mathematical
concepts such as perspective and proportion were needed to create lifelike renderings in
two or three-dimensional works. Artists would not understand color theory without
scientists understanding the visual spectrum of white light. Without developing the
camera-obscura and appropriate chemicals for a darkroom, there would be no
photography or film. Artists use the tools and knowledge science discovers in their own

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

ways for specific purposes. In doing so, art and science are naturally integrated to help
artists understand scientific processes that once were new and ground-breaking.
Its even shown that using creative methods help students to understand scientific
processes better. Creative expression, such as poetry, helped students understand scientific
observations better. This type of creative outlet, Hones critical skills in imagery, metaphor,
analogy, analysis, observation, attentiveness, and clear communication (Brown, 2015).
These tools are also nurtured in visual arts classrooms, when creating visual texts. The,
Active use of metaphors in this way helps learners understand science, and relies on their
imagination to deconstruct and construct their perception of science (Brown, 2015). This
is yet another example of how art and science can help support the understanding of both
content areas.
Specially, these are comparisons of skills from scientific and engineering practices
as compared to those in the Arts:
Scientific and Engineering Practices

Instrumental and Vocal Music, Art, and Dance

Instruction

Asking questions and defining

problems.
Developing and using models.

Exploring the various ways to create art and

make an informed decision.
Researching and appreciating the work of other
artists, such as an analysis of a Beethoven
sonata.
Making color choices for a mural based on other
works, as well as applying understanding of color
and color variations.
Researching a written work, such as Romeo and
Juliet, and creating a ballet interpreting the
work.
Creating a series of pottery measuring cups,
calculating the amount of clay, and the
amount of kiln-shrinkage to have exact
proportion.

Planning and carrying out

investigations.
Analyzing and interpreting data.
Using mathematics and
computational thinking.

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

Constructing explanations and

designing solutions.

Writing a script based on a current events issue.

From (Sousa, 2013, p33 Table 1.2)

These skills are interchangeable for either practice. With collaboration and integration in a
STEAM program, there would be a better understanding of the science concepts that STEM
schools would be teaching on their own. In conclusion, the arts help support the same
lessons being taught in a STEM curriculum.

Design- Function, Form, Art.

Furthermore, in the 21st century advances in science and technology are occurring
exponentially faster. With such an abundance of materials, the incorporations of art is
necessary to make an object appear unique and enticing to consumers. In the commercial
world, there are many fields where the line between art and engineering has been blurred
for years. For instance, both architecture and industrial design require the knowledge of an
engineer but are driven by aesthetics. With the onset of digital media, the commercial
publishing and advertising worlds now require engineers to have art skills and artists to
have engineering skills (Watson, 2013).
As a result, everything that is created requires design. Design, is undeniably a skill
that belongs to and is developed through the Arts. Not just through the elements and
principles of design, but postmodern principles that become necessary as science and
technology pushes art forward. Developing visually pleasing designs to alter, enhance, or
re-invent a product requires artistic thinking. Without the imagination and innovation

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

taught in visual art classes, along with an understanding of composition and structure, all
products produced would be perceived similarly and thus unattractive to consumers. As
mentioned previously, the unique and striking products, buildings, or structures produced
are the ones that consumers will choose. In a STEM school setting, the focus on the ability
to develop a product will be taught. However to be successful, students need to learn how
to design an aesthetically beautiful product, not just one that functions appropriately.

Preparing For A New Age.

The need for design as a tool for success is just one of many that Daniel H. Pink
claims will be needed in the 21st century. The remaining traits of: Meaning, Symphony,
Story, Empathy, Play, are all senses that will be necessary for achievements in any field.
Design shows the importance of aesthetics impact on humans. Meaning is a search for
purpose and joy in our own world. Symphonic thinkers look for patterns while seeing all of
the small parts in a larger picture. Stories are vital to communicate, learn, and sell products.
Empathy allows people to understand the wants and needs of others. While play, allows
people to freely use their imagination to create new possibilities. These traits, once again,
certainly belong in the art classroom and will allow students to thrive in any career. Pink
claims this is because, The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very
different kind of mind- creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning
makers. These people- artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big
picture thinkers- will now reap societies richest rewards and share its greatest joys (Pink,
2006). He notes this is because, We are moving from an economy and a society built on the

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

logical, linear, computer like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and society
built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of whats rising in its place, the
Conceptual Age (Pink, 2006).
Supporting this transition from information to the development of conceptual-style
thinking, will require the support of art classes to help develop students who can use the
six senses of design, meaning, symphony, story, empathy and play to their full potential. If
focusing too heavily on a STEM curriculum, our society would be at a stand-still, if not
moving backwards.

Understanding Our World.


As mentioned, with the development of media and technology, comes the easy
production of still and moving images. If a STEM school overlooks the necessity of learning
how to decode these visual texts, students would be missing an important literary tool that
supports cognitive thinking. The visual arts are expanding not only in their forms, but in
their influence through connections to the range of social issues, including issues not
always thought of as social in character, such as ecology and conceptions of self As a result,
the visual arts have become fundamental to the cultural transformation of political
discourse, social interaction, and cultural identity that characterizes the postmodern
condition (Freedman, 2003). If students are not taught how to deconstruct and generate
these new transformative means of communication, they will be hindered socially and in
their future profession. The lack of awareness will leave them without an idea of what is
going on in their world around them. Not being able to communicate ideas effectively with
multiple-mediums through metaphors would also leave them at a disadvantage, unable to

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

appeal to people through multi-modals. This would not allow students to reach as many
consumers as possible, unable to appeal to their multiple senses and levels of
consciousness.

For It To Work

To develop a STEAM school, careful, integrated thought should be placed into both
the school setting and curriculum. The school should be collaborative and focused on
project-based learning promoting students abilities to reveal their own knowledge.
Furthermore, To support STEAM, facility designs should create an environment that
promotes collaborative experiences in math, technology, science and the arts, focusing on
project-based curricula, promoting discovery and inquiry (Erickson, 2013). The design of
the physical space should carefully be considered for the function of open collaboration.
Designing every space as a potential lab or studio environment for experimentation is the
STEAM approach (Erickson, 2013). To facilitate the project-based learning one should,
Design a variety of spaces that stimulate discovery (indoor and outdoor), collaboration,
reflection, presentation, lecture, seminar, reference activity and experimentation
(Erickson, 2013). This type of layout will allow students, and teachers, to convert and adapt
the space as necessary for collaborative learning across all subjects. Specifically for
teachers to integrate lessons together, they should be, Free [the teacher] from the
traditional front desk; provide staff planning spaces for collaborative work across
disciplines to support STEAM (Erickson, 2013). Since design and our environment have a
direct influence on our emotions, teachers and students will need opportunities to break
the isolation of standard classrooms and work easily together with multiple subjects at
once.

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

10

Overall, students in a STEAM school will be multi-modal most of the time. Students
will be working with others, multiple subjects, multiple mediums, and searching for
multiple-outcomes. This ability to be multi-modal, will allow students to multi-task,
understand multiple cultures, and cross boarders more easily in the future (Pink, 2006). A
STEAM program gives students the highest holistic education possible, working to
integrate all contents to best support the understanding of every subject. In the 21st
century students will be asked to not choose one path parallel to the other, but to instead
intertwine them continuously. The ability to do so- to combine art and science- will allow
students to seamlessly merge form, function, design, and beauty. This combination gives
them the potential to be innovative, artistic, purposeful problem solvers in the 21st century
of the Conceptual Age. As such, students and society will be prepared to keep driving our
world forward with scientific and artistic advances, in any career, anywhere.

FROM STEM TO STEAM EDUCATION

11

References
Brown, S. (2015). Creative expression of science through poetry and other media can enrich
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Erickson, P. W. (2013). Full Steam Ahead. American School & University, 85(10), 36.
Freedman, K. (2003). The Professional Field: Theorizing Visual Culture in Education. In
Teaching Visual Culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life of art. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
Guyotte, K. W., Sochacka, N. W., Costantino, T.E., Walther, J., & Kellmam, N. N. (2014).
STEAM as Social Practice: Cultivating Creativity in Transdisciplinary Spaces. Art Education,
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Pink, D. (2006). A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future. New York, NY:
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Sousa, D., & Pilecki, T. (2013). Why Stem Should Become Steam. In From Stem to Steam:
Using Brain-Compatible Strategies to Integrate the Arts (pp. 9-35). Thousand Oaks, California:
Corwin: A Sage Company.
Watson, A. D., & Watson, G. H. (2013). Transitioning STEM to STEAM: Reformation of
Engineering Education. Journal For Quality & Participation, 36(3), 1-4.