Tracking STEM to STEAM
A movement toward “Educating for a Creative Era”
Our current education system rewards students for how much they know rather than how they apply what they learn. To prepare ourselves for the challenges of the 21st Century, we must shift from educating fixed mindsets to cultivating growth mindsets. This builds the creative courage to use hard and soft skills collaboratively in service to meaningful work. By integrating the empathy and imagination of the arts, the problem solving tools of the STEM fields, and the ethics and critical thinking of the humanities, we can drive powerful progress toward sustainable prosperity.
STEAM in Government
In the US Congress, a Congressional STEAM Caucus aims to change the vocabulary of education to recognize the benefits of both the arts and sciences — and their intersections — to the country’s future generations. House Legislation 51 aims to insert the arts and design into federal STEM education programs, including the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act.
STEAM in Organizations
Businesses are often pressured to choose between unacceptable alternatives. Creative leaders use the power inherent in these dualities to invent new assumptions and create new models geared to an ever-changing world. STEAM offers an integrated approach within an organization to help connect ideas from a variety of disciplines and departments – including arts and design – in novel ways.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CATALYST INSIGHT:
While content, curriculum and pedagogy are important, emotion and culture are the crucial elements of change. By engaging all six minds – analytical, design, people, linguistic, body and mindful – educators can instill joy, trust, connection and openness in students to catalyze a whole new workforce for the 21st Century.
FURTHER READING:
Educate to Innovate:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/educate-innovate
Adobe’s The New Creatives Report:
http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/solutions/digital-media/pdfs/adobe-new-creatives-report.pdf
Stem vs Steam – Girl Inforgraphics:
http://education.arts.ufl.edu/resources/stem-vs-steam-girl/
STEM to STEAM RISD:
http://stemtosteam.org