There's a fear that our educational system is falling behind the rest of the world in STEM topics. That's why we created the nifty acronym, that's why some schools place a focus on the area. Some worry that women are underrepresented in STEM fields, so there's an emphasis on getting women to enter the fields.
Why put the A in there? How does A fit in with the rest of STEM, except to make a newer, even niftier acronym?
The answer seems pretty clear to me. Someone was worried that an emphasis on STEM would diminish the A. Put A into the acronym, and voila!--the arts are saved!
But throwing everything but the kitchen sink into your acronym kinda defeats the purpose of the acronym. You know what I call science, technology, engineering, arts, and math? I call it the curriculum! That school I mentioned, they're going to focus on the entire curriculum. Well, good for them! If everything is your priority, though...
Over at her own blog, Joanne discusses a different interpretation of what STEAM represents:
Integrating art into science and math teaching — turning STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) into STEAM — is “counterproductive” and “pedagogically unsound,” writes Jay Greene in Ed Week‘s arts education package.These crazy educational fads.
“By trying to put the arts almost everywhere, integration is likely to result in arts education almost nowhere,” Greene writes. Separate arts classes taught by specialists will be dropped.
As an art teacher I somewhat understand the need to put the A in STEAM. If we're looking at a student holistically, they are more than just calculating machines. What makes our culture is not just technology but also the ability to integrate it in the human condition. There's no question higher level science and math are challenging intellectually, but then again, many of the same educators that teach these courses will say they something like "I can't draw a stick figure" when approached by an art student or art teacher. The ability to truly render a three dimensional object on a two dimensional surface takes the same kind of spatial reasoning used by architects and engineers. Again, if we are going to educate the entire student, all aspects of their intellect needs to be challenged. I have former AP Studio students who are now engineers, architects, surgeons and more. In most cases, my former students have expressed how having the ability to see things intellectually and visually allows them to be more accurate and more innovative in the way they apply other skills. I understand how some STEM teachers seeing the touchy-feely social issue side of art programs can be dismissive of their importance, but the actual eye-hand coordination skills that visual arts bring to a personality can allow for deeper understanding of how both sides of the brain work together. Leonardo Da Vinci worked on both sides of his brain-he was no slouch.
ReplyDeleteMy point is not that the arts shouldn't be part of the curriculum. My point is that no one is complaining that the US is falling behind the rest of the world in artistic ability--hence the *focus* on STEM. "Focus" shouldn't mean "to the exclusion of everything else".
ReplyDeleteIts kinda like the ESLR's and mission statements all of our high schools have. Ever seen any that don't incorporate technology, life-long learners, communication, multi-culturalism, citizenship, etc...?
ReplyDeleteBy trying to focus on everything we end up focusing on nothing!!
I actually think that we need to focus more on the humanities. If you cannot solve complex problems, consider ethical issues, or communicate effectively, then you will not be making any progress in STEM fields. I also think that as technology progresses, many low-level jobs in the STEM field will be automated. The jobs that will not be automated (at least, not soon) are jobs in the humanities field, that require the human touch. If we are worried about falling behind in science, then we need to focus on both humanities and science, because modern science is past the point where memorizing formulas or bones in the body will be of any use - computers can store and retrieve information faster and more accurately than any human. No, if we want to beat China, then we need to ensure that our students can think critically. I might also add that your blog is mostly devoted to politics, which is part of the humanities. The majority of the skills needed to succeed in politics, or even just to talk intelligently about politics as you do here are found in the humanities - philosophy, debate, rhetoric, anthropology, grammar, logic, ethics. Steve Jobs often discussed how the humanities, especially art, were crucial to his success.
ReplyDeleteI have to correct you, Helen: most of this blog is *not* politics. In fact, if you look at how many post are on various topics, you see the education overwhelms politics (unless you consider my anti-Common Core posts to be political instead of educational, my teachers union posts to be political instead of about education, etc).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree with studying the humanities. In fact, I often point out that my West Point education was probably more well-rounded that just about anyone else's--because we want well-rounded officers in our army. I'm not sure I agree with your view on "think critically", though, as experience has taught me that only those with a lot of information already in their heads can "think critically" about something. This "critical thinking" is a synthesis of a variety of topics, methods, and ideas, and can only happen once learning has taken place. Learning, education, knowledge, these are necessary precursors to critical thinking. Having knowledge, even memorized knowledge, is and will be valuable.
And again, I don't hear cries that Americans are falling behind the Chinese in the humanities (although some knowledge of their own history would certainly be useful).
Actually, due to the removal of hands-on activities has created a situation where many students have problems writing, using hand tools. That translates to spatial reasoning and other visual/mind connections. As a result we ARE falling behind in terms of the ability to decipher and translate the visual into engineering terms. My students from Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico and Pakistan all have much better hand skills and as a result they understand how objects interact. This plays out in medicine, engineering, construction, architecture and a variety of other professions. Would you really want a surgeon that couldn't handle the increasingly advanced tools of the trade? Those hand skills come from writing, from drawing, from observing. My best art student is in residency for surgery.
ReplyDelete