Education is a cornerstone of our society. It decides the future success of everyone in practical life. Nowadays, we make our children learn the significant disciplines of education at a tender age. Children go to schools to know what will help them perform appropriately in society when they grow up. This whole process starts at a young age, and it is not a bad thing.
Educating children is only good if we are teaching them about every career discipline. Now the industrial field follows the STEM concept. But it is not an ideal concept for educating children. It lacks a significant career subject, “ARTS.” That is why every major institution is applying a new and better teaching concept, “STEAM education.”
Why are Arts Important?
Although if we talk about science, technology, engineering and math, it covers most of the available career options. But it does not mean that just these four disciplines are enough to educate the younger generation. Arts represents various career paths, and it is also a significant discipline. But due to current industrial development, people prefer to teach STEM subjects. Therefore, it limits the potential of many children who can do a lot better in arts. STEAM educations challenge this concept by providing kids with a large variety of possible careers. The primary purpose of STEAM is to integrate all of these five subjects. So that the kids will not blindly follow the customary jobs, but they will start thinking out of the box.
Arts and Science
There is a deep link between all five STEAM disciplines. But art is the one that goes hand in hand with science. Since the start of human discoveries, people are using visual arts to document science. Even if we do not talk about this significant link, we can look for other examples. Just take a scientist and an artist. Both of them look at the world with creativity and compassion to find things that others don’t see. A scientist invents new things by observing the world and following his imagination. An Artist does the same to obtain a new vision of the world around us. Both of their careers depend on their creativity and problem-solving.
If we talk about problem-solving, then both art and science follow the same path towards the solution. Out-of-the-box thinking, coming up with new ideas, is what the younger generation needs to become successful. Another prominent example of science and arts going hand in hand is the American soldier camouflage. This tech is without a doubt developed by science, but one idea came from an artist. In addition to this, you can find various scenarios where science and art walk on the same path and STEAM education promotes that.
Voice against STEAM Education
Many people go along with the STEAM education concept, but some oppose art in the mix. Now, if you look at this matter from their view, you can better understand their arguments. Typically, there are two basic disciplines for children to learn and practice. One of them is science which includes STEM subjects, and the other is humanities which has art. Educators think that even with the deep relation among these five disciplines, learning arts and STEM for kids will only hurt their foundation. There is some truth in their arguments, but this thinking is wrong.
If we want our future generation to perform well in society while taking care of the world they live in; STEAM education is the ideal choice. If we look at arts, then we can see that this subject depends on discussions and creativity to find a solution. On the other hand, science also follows creativity, but it depends on pure logic to reach a solution. That is why educators think that it is a burden to kids if we want them to learn both methods of finding a solution. But they don’t understand that if the kids learn through STEAM education, they can develop good problem-solving capabilities.
Bending the rules to step further
All of the previous rules regarding STEM and its related education concept are not good for children. It only teaches them to learn what already exists while it snatches their creativity and limits their growth. If we take a student who learns about science and art, we can see that he is more creative and compassionate. Once a kid discovers all the possibilities for his future, then he began to form out-of-the-box thinking. For example, a scientist knows what DNA is and what its components are. But he also knows that if he keeps looking at it the same way, nothing will change.
It is the same for someone who studies art. Let us take an artist as an example. An artist knows that in front of him, there is always going to be a blank canvas. If he wants to create something, he has to let his imagination run wild before finding what to do. Both scientists and artists come from opposite careers, but their ways of problem-solving are the same. Both of them know that sticking to the old ways is not going to get them anything. They can only create something new by bending the rules and taking inspiration from other disciplines.
How Art can improve Science
As we know, science is all about finding the core of the problem through logic and stats. And for this scientist tends to go deeper in every possible detail to find the solution. It is good and the right way to approach a problem, but sometimes it displays opposite results. More and more threads come out of the problem, and scientists get caught up and lose sight of the solution.
That is why many inventions and discoveries fall out. In such cases, art is the best way to approach the solution. An artist doesn’t linger on small details, but he focuses on the whole problem to find the fastest possible solution. If a scientist uses this thinking and looks at the entire situation before going into details, he can find an efficient solution.
Scientists and Artists share the same Interest
Various studies suggest that both artists and scientists share the same interest due to their respective disciplines. It is easy to make that connection by looking at both of these subjects. Science and arts both focus on first giving the solution then describing it. Therefore, it is no surprise that those who follow these subjects also possess the same thinking. STEAM education gives a chance to students to learn everything that can help them in the future.
Conclusion
Although science and arts walk hand in hand, many think teaching both of these to students is not ideal. But STEAM education is changing this thinking due to the outstanding results from the students. If you want your kids to become successful in this modern-day age, you have to get out of the conventional circuit. Letting kids learn all five major disciplines is the best way to prepare them to tackle our society.
If you are interested to find out more on STEAM Education, you can contact us at hello@epc-education.com, or fill up this contact form.
EPC Education is a provider of ENGINEERING PLUS CODING and computational & design thinking programmes for students in Singapore, China, Taiwan and Bangladesh.
Founded in 2014, we have since established ourselves among parents, students, schools and government bodies like MOE and IMDA as providers of CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING especially for the Code For Fun programme and simple coding programmes using tablets.
Our unique and fun EPC STEAM programmes are designed to ensure students enjoy the learning process while picking up ESSENTIAL CODING AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING SKILLS necessary to harness technology to the fullest using easy to understand practices with links to REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS.
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