Why STEM Education Needs the Arts, Too

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The national agenda on competitiveness and investing in education is centered on the acronym STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is these subjects that officials say need to be stressed in public schools to drive the future of the United States economy.

But some educators think there is a spelling problem here. Add the arts to this tech/science mix and you get STEAM. The STEAM initiative — making sure arts is an integrated part of the STEM mission — is the inspiration of president John Maeda at the Rhode Island School of Design. Maeda is a designer and former professor at the MIT Media Lab. He says arts and technology drive learning better when they are in a curriculum together. 

This STEAM approach is being tried in settings around the United States. Reporter Rob Manning at Oregon Public Broadcasting spent some time with principals, students, and teachers at a school in the Portland suburbs. Steam, he says, has been producing some real educational heat.

Guests:

John Maeda and Rob Manning

Comments [9]

Joe Schwartz from New Jersey

I've had the good fortune to be a part of this discussion for about two years now, since I contacted John Maeda's office in early 2011. I was later invited to a Congressional briefing he held with Congressman Jim Langevin to introduce legislation that would lead to STEAM being given federal assistance as part of the Obama Administration's current STEM funding initiative. This bill has made it through a couple of committees, but the Republican members refused to push it through until after the election cycle - I don't know its current status.

I've spoken on this subject a few times and have shown Mr. Maeda's efforts as well as the efforts of Mounds View school district in Minnesota, who is making real progress in using STEAM as a teaching tool. I urge anyone I talk to on the subject to investigate it themselves because that's the only way it can gain support.

The sad part about all of this is that the idea of STEAM is an old one that was passed up in favor of book learning and standardized test prep. When Georgette Yakman formalized the STEAM concept several years ago, she couldn't get much support domestically. She had some pockets, yes - but getting this off the ground as a national policy wasn't going to happen at that time. She ultimately wound up working with the South Korean government, who happily adopted STEAM as a national education initiative. I do not know what progress they have made by using the concept, but it is undoubtedly a positive one.

I teach design at the high school and university level and co-founded a non-profit group, the DESIGN-ED coalition. My work with DESIGN-ED has led to a national conversation about using design as a teaching and learning tool, very similar to what STEAM accomplishes. What I've found is that within small pockets, there is a great deal of support and enthusiasm for using art and design as a tool for all curricular areas - but it is still at the outskirts of the discussion, as focus has been on standardized testing, charter schools, parent triggers and other things that take the focus away from actual substantial discussions on national education policy and moving us forward rather than sideways.

STEAM is one very useful way of transferring knowledge from teacher to student, and for students to find their own way to learn new materials. But until we're willing to address these REAL improvements, the focus will be taken away from STEAM and will be directed at those who shout louder and donate the most to political allies, but have no substance to their talking points.

Jan. 17 2013 06:07 PM
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Joe Schwartz from New Jersey

I've had the good fortune to be a part of this discussion for about two years now, since I contacted John Maeda's office in early 2011. I was later invited to a Congressional briefing he held with Congressman Jim Langevin to introduce legislation that would lead to STEAM being given federal assistance as part of the Obama Administration's current STEM funding initiative. This bill has made it through a couple of committees, but the Republican members refused to push it through until after the election cycle - I don't know its current status.

I've spoken on this subject a few times and have shown Mr. Maeda's efforts as well as the efforts of Mounds View school district in Minnesota, who is making real progress in using STEAM as a teaching tool. I urge anyone I talk to on the subject to investigate it themselves because that's the only way it can gain support.

The sad part about all of this is that the idea of STEAM is an old one that was passed up in favor of book learning and standardized test prep. When Georgette Yakman formalized the STEAM concept several years ago, she couldn't get much support domestically. She had some pockets, yes - but getting this off the ground as a national policy wasn't going to happen at that time. She ultimately wound up working with the South Korean government, who happily adopted STEAM as a national education initiative. I do not know what progress they have made by using the concept, but it is undoubtedly a positive one.

I teach design at the high school and university level and co-founded a non-profit group, the DESIGN-ED coalition. My work with DESIGN-ED has led to a national conversation about using design as a teaching and learning tool, very similar to what STEAM accomplishes. What I've found is that within small pockets, there is a great deal of support and enthusiasm for using art and design as a tool for all curricular areas - but it is still at the outskirts of the discussion, as focus has been on standardized testing, charter schools, parent triggers and other things that take the focus away from actual substantial discussions on national education policy and moving us forward rather than sideways.

STEAM is one very useful way of transferring knowledge from teacher to student, and for students to find their own way to learn new materials. But until we're willing to address these REAL improvements, the focus will be taken away from STEAM and will be directed at those who shout louder and donate the most to political allies, but have no substance to their talking points.

Jan. 17 2013 06:06 PM
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Matilda Hynes from New Jersey

I believe without hesitation that any education for a child that does not involve the arts is only half an education. We do a disservice to our future when we stress one aspect of life too heavily over another. Even in an occupation such as accounting, one needs to utilize creativity to excel. Engineering requires skill and also creativity. Imagination, entrepreneurship, and innovation utilize technical, as well as artistic brain cells. In addition, when an education program targets one area too much, you instantly disengage a large portion of your audience. We need students to be interested in learning and we need to offer a variety of pathways to learning. There is always kickback at the extremes and life does not successfully operate in the extremes, rather it often works best in the middle.

Jan. 16 2013 06:43 PM
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Bill Jordan

Florida Virtual School (www.flvs.net) is sponsoring the STEM Modeling Challenge (SMC), an academic competition in which high school students explore a STEM related problem with the opportunity to win cash prizes.

The SMC will consist of five rounds lasting approximately 20-25 days each in which students complete a specific task in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and art to come up with a solution to the STEM related problem.

During the final round, students will apply their accumulated knowledge from the previous tasks and write a computer program to develop a simple predictive model. This should be of particular interest to high school students taking introductory and advanced computer science courses.

The goals of the STEM Modeling Challenge are:
1. To promote awareness and interest in computer science among computer science students and teachers.
2. To demonstrate the critical importance of computer science across the different STEM disciplines.
3. To allow students to explore practical applications of computational thinking.
4. To support implementation of the Common Core Standards.

Ultimately, the STEM Modeling Challenge is designed to help today’s students understand and experience what Dr. Daniel Garcia calls the “Passion, Beauty, Joy, and Awe of Computer Science” because the future of STEM is digital.

Please help us spread the word about the SMC and share this information with students or teachers that you think might be interested.

The deadline to apply is January 31, 2013. Further information can be found at http://smc2013.weebly.com/.

Thank you,
Bill Jordan
FLVS Computer Science Instructor

Jan. 15 2013 09:14 PM
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Skeptic

Do the officials also state that most American employer's are also globalizing the STEM positions? Certainly those firms that participate in the Military - Industrial complex desperately will need highly skilled US nationals with knowledge of the STEM disciplines.

Jan. 15 2013 06:43 PM
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Christine from Westchester

I agree that the arts are an important part of education. I find our local education board spends on 1.) sports 2.) children with a wide variety of disabilities 3.) teaching for test taking (regents, etc.)

In our area, the STEM groups outside of the usually taught courses in science and math are funded by interested groups not the tax payers. That's true of the arts as well. If want these "exras" we find as parents we have to find ways to fund important things like Science Research and dance and theater programs. Maybe we should spend less on football fields and new tennis courts.

Jan. 15 2013 03:55 PM
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Jacqueline Montgomery from bayside ny

HI! we have an after school academy that is designed wwith STE@M in mind!
through Queensborough Community College. Our Kids College program is infused with STE@M! we are so excited to hear that it is here on the air!
Jacqueline Montgomery
Director of Kids College
QCC

Jan. 15 2013 03:54 PM
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Good for you, John Maeda! In this day and age, it's hard to believe the national agenda doesn't include the Arts. If it wasn't for the Arts, we wouldn't have the techies that dream up new tools because they wouldn't be allowed to color outside the box! Training in the Arts gives kids the tools they will need for the future and open minds to help them use those tools. And, as much as I dislike sports, we should be putting more emphasis on health and the physical needs of our bodies. Without that, we won't be around for another millennium!

Jan. 15 2013 03:08 PM
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Larry Fisher from Brooklyn, N.Y.

I have an idea... kids can read old science fiction books and then read about the science that came true decades later...bridge the gaps between the creative arts and science...
I took my kids to the new Math museum in New York; very creatively and artistically put together.

How about a STEAM Punk contest... I don't know what happens here, but how about it!

Jan. 15 2013 01:43 PM
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