We are hearing a lot about STEAM education these days. What exactly is it? What is the importance of STEAM education in my child’s education? These are the questions that arise in our minds if we don’t know what STEAM education is.
STEAM (formerly known as STEM) education is one of the most talked-about topics when it comes to education nowadays. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics, but there is a lot more to uncover in STEAM education than just knowing its full form. It integrates all the parts of STEAM learning into a single cross-disciplinary educational program. This makes learning more fun for kids as they gain life skills and have control over their surroundings. If your kid is taking an algebra class in school, it means that they are actually a part of the STEAM education learning curriculum.
But getting a degree in mathematics or biology doesn’t necessarily mean they have completed a STEAM education curriculum, even if mathematics and biology are STEAM learning subjects. They have to integrate all the STEAM learning disciplines into their real-life teaching, learning and implementing methods, or they can not be called a student of STEAM education.
If you are still confused about STEAM learning and its importance, you are not alone, many people have difficulty wrapping their heads around the idea of the importance of STEAM education.
What does the future hold for STEAM students?
As you probably know that STEAM students do pretty well financially after college, we have to understand here that STEAM is not for everyone. STEAM learning starts at a very young age, while STEAM learning is different, it’s pretty difficult too. It requires mastery not only in one stream but five streams of learning and integrating them into real-world applications.
STEAM education’s importance is becoming more and more prevalent these days because a majority of jobs are in STEAM fields and there was not nearly enough importance given to it in the school and college curriculums in the past. As all of this is changing now, students and parents are leaning more towards STEAM fields.
Why is STEAM education different?
This is the question that most of the parents have after listening and reading about it from everywhere. STEAM learning is important. It is different from traditional science or mathematics education because it is multidisciplinary. The students will be capable of computational and logical thinking and many more qualities required in real-world problem-solving.
STEAM learning is taught differently in different stages of schooling. While in primary school, they are introduced to STEAM education’s importance and the jobs that are there in those fields. Primary school teaches the basics of what, why and how of STEAM. This provides them with intrigue and curiosity in kids and makes them pursue their interests because they want to and not because they have to or because someone told them to.
While getting aware of the different fields in STEAM continues in middle school, kids learn about them in more depth, in a more rigorous and concentrated manner. In high school and college, students are pretty much aware of what the future holds for them if they pursue STEAM education professionally. From high school onwards, students start to gain knowledge on how to apply the knowledge in real life.
Blix offers kits that are suited for your kids’ needs and interests so that they can discover their passion.
Why is STEAM Education Gaining Importance Now?
STEAM education was always important. It’s just that people were not aware of how important it is. But today, the reason people are becoming more aware is that most of the working population in our society is working on jobs related to STEAM as mentioned earlier. The main goal is to make people more aware and encourage the under-represented and minorities in our society to pursue STEAM learning. Most of the manual jobs will be replaced by machines and people will find jobs to make these machines. STEAM education teaches the children the skills to do jobs that don’t even exist in the STEAM fields today.
Since the industrial revolution started, the technological advancements made were 10 times more than every previous decade. In this new era, we are witnessing artificial intelligence, the internet of things, android robots etc. which were considered impossible just 50 years ago. It is safe to say that these technological advancements have come a long way and have a long way to go.
Difference between STEM and STEAM education
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education is the integration of all these disciplines into one curriculum and teaching the children how to apply the knowledge in real life.
The approach of STEM education is to integrate the four disciplines into one lesson or a unit which helps students to form connections between these streams and help in the development of relevant technologies or create advanced engineering tools through the help of science or mathematics. STEM education’s ultimate goal is to make students interested in these particular fields.
STEAM education stands for science, technology engineering, art, and mathematics. STEAM education is the integration of these five streams to develop the students’ ability of communication, critical thinking, and creativity along with teaching them everything that is taught in STEM education.
The art part in STEAM education was added recently because of the recognition of the ability of arts to break the limits in STEM education. The point of experimental and innovative creativity can do wonders in the STEM fields. For example, for a car to perform well, we do not only take the technical features into consideration but also the design and aesthetic features of the car. The design and aesthetics of a car are what attract the primary crowd.
Studies have also shown that a strong foundation in arts boosts the academic performance of a child academically. Statistically, children who take up an art class like music or painting are shown to do well in verbal subjects and in mathematics significantly as compared to kids who only show interest in STEM subjects.
Arts is a relatively new addition to STEM education, but arts has already been in STEM fields long before its inclusion. Now STEAM education is trying to make the integration a more prominent one so that people recognize its importance and pay more attention consciously for the betterment of both kids and society. STEAM education has already found success in the learning fields and we can only guess the growth of STEAM education in the near future.
STEAM education gives the teachers the power to integrate project-based learning into the learning curriculum. As opposed to traditional classroom learning, children can have real-life experiences of what they are actually learning.
The interconnection between arts and science is something all of us should be aware of. Without the power of imagination, we would not be able to solve complex physics problems or discover new chemical compounds. The next-generation scientists must-have skills to communicate and illustrate through traditional means of writing, speaking, and more illustrative ways like cartooning, videography, animation, model building etc.
Some of the famous people who could be called products of STEAM education are Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Though they are famously known for their paintings and sculptures, they are also renowned inventors, scientists and engineers. DaVinci’s one of the most famous paintings contained a working model of a helicopter, a battle tank and has anatomies of eyes etc. Michelangelo was a famous engineer and architect. These men saw no boundaries of human potential even though they were restricted by the technology of their time.
As the significance of STEAM education is increasing, so is the competition for it. STEAM education makes learning more interesting and innovative as compared to STEM education. It can open new worlds for kids to explore, innovate and give back to society. STEAM education is also considered very helpful in preparing secondary school students to succeed in higher education.STEAM education has also gained popularity among parents, administrators, institutions, corporations, teachers among many others.
Conclusion
As technology advances, the need for people to work physically decreases dramatically. As a result people reluctantly choose STEAM education without actually knowing its importance or having an interest in the field. Introducing STEAM learning and making kids aware of its importance at a young age will affect their life significantly and they will pursue a career in STEAM wholeheartedly.
With the increasing need and competition in STEAM education and its fields, Blix Robotix has a wide range of sets that offer STEAM learning which help your kid to excel in school and life.