The time in which we are existing is the time of the 4th industrial revolution, and even though it seems like a surge of opportunities for students, it’s not. The truth is that there’s a constant increase in unemployment because the traditional education practices are losing their relevance. So, the only solution to that is creating opportunities for students and bringing a revolution in the mainstream education system.
In the early 2000s, the concept of STEM emerged that many countries adopted and helped the youth create new career options for them. But in 2021, STEM is not enough, and we need an updated, evolved, and complete education system, i.e., STEAM. But before we explain to you how STEAM can help grow students and eventually a country, we have to understand the basic concepts of both STEM and STEAM. We will discuss the similarities and differences between the two and tell you how STEAM is so advanced.
What is STEM?
You might be wondering what STEM is and how it is so important. STEM is the short version or abbreviation for four main subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The main focus of STEM education is to link all the study as mentioned earlier, branches and take out interdisciplinary solutions for modern-day problems. In the previous two decades, STEM benefitted many countries in bringing up the wave of revolution in the education sector. The education system instilled the idea that school is a state of mind rather than a place.
STEM formation was to deal with the shortage of technological knowledge and lack of skillful people. And that’s valid because if, after studying for 16 years, a student cannot get a job that can sustain him, he should be able to create a job for himself that never existed before. Countries like China and Japan incorporated STEM in their education system, and now all of the smart devices are either made in China or Japan.
But now, in 2021, where the pandemic has caused a sudden forced digital and technological shift globally, STEM is not enough. Besides, STEM also is an incomplete and faulty system if you think beyond technology because every student doesn’t want to be a technical expert. We need more career options that can empower a nation, and luckily, an improved 2.0 version of STEM named STEAM is the solution.
What is STEAM?
STEAM education represents five fields; Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. And by combining all these real-world learning approaches, STEAM guides students in a way that helps them sharpen and polish their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. STEAM education is relatively newer in the world but slowly dominating the institutes because of its efficacy. According to research, STEAM education is super beneficial for high poverty institutes.
You must have heard of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous quote that ‘The study of science is arts, and art is nothing but science.’ And that renders and depicts the whole concept of the STEAM education system that both science and arts need to get merged to formulate new concepts. It is an education where cramming is out of the question, and students think critically and creatively about issues. And then, they properly analyze it to find the best possible solutions.
STEAM education helps students to evaluate their options and then take mindful risks critically. The education approach also gives way to collaborative work, meaningful discussions, and problem-solving appreciative activities. We can say that STEAM education is responsible for awakening the curious learning in long-dead students. After being in STEAM training, the solutions that students suggest are so creative and out of the box crushing the conventional thought process.
Anyway, several years later, a modified, upgraded, and 2.0 version of the previously STEM approach came in the market with STEAM education. And that concept filled all the gaps in STEM. There was an added ‘A’ to the approach, abbreviated for the arts. And students started scoring so much better with that. The education industry was shocked for a minute, and then people shifted towards STEAM. They realized the value of arts as a discipline that almost every knowledgeable person knows.
When STEAM education became a big thing, boredom got out of the window, and students’ focus increased. It gave teachers the idea to teach students in a way that leaves room for creativity. And when analytical thinking merges with creativity, wonders like iPhone creation happen. The students then started using both sides of their brains and started giving attention to detail, which is the primary goal.
What is the Importance of STEAM?
We have to understand that STEAM promotes the techniques of STEM but with the added goodness of arts which makes it a complete education system. The subjects of arts hold a critical position in supplementing the fields of science and technology. It adds the flavor of creativity that urges students to find out innovative and proactive solutions to problems. A critical survey took place in the United States to compare STEAM and Non-STEAM employment and occupation growth rate, and the former won the competition.
The world is getting smaller, and the population has spiked up to a whopping 8 billion. And that predicts the shortage of resources and employment options that are already constrained. So, the competition for survival is a must because the world is progressing super-fast, and the need to comply with digital needs becomes mandatory. Moreover, fresh graduates under STEAM training have more chances to succeed in their professions.
The conventional education system is not preparing the students for real-life scenarios. The economic conditions of a country today are equivalent to its power and future possibilities to rise. But if the backbone of a country that is the youth and students, cannot understand the practical difficulties and how to make out ways to overcome them, a nation cannot rise.
Also, remember that the global conditions are quite weary due to the pandemic, and we don’t know how many more unknown problems we will face. So, we need a force that can make ways to prosper and use the dire conditions in favor of the country to survive the best way possible. And for that, we need to train our students by using STEAM education systems to face real-life issues regardless of the profession they choose for themselves.
Concluding Remarks:
STEAM negates all theoretical and conventional study practices and is pretty marginal. It is an entirely fulfilling education system that provides students the ability to be great entrepreneurs and introduce new concepts and ideas in technology and arts.
The debate whether STEM will ever be better than STEAM will stay in the place. But for now, you can say that STEM only focuses on mathematical and scientific concepts, but STEAM is all about merging science into arts. And the latter is better because we do not want to raise robots; we want to raise skilled technicians and good humans. Arts and humanities help students take creative, effective, and considerate decisions, which can be pretty helpful in the 4th industrial revolution.
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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