Education Week Are Stem and Liberal Arts at Odds
STEM education creates an increased focus on science, technology, technology, and mathematics, but it shouldn't be that alone. The foundation of a true Stem education is using all that is known about how learning takes place, and that certainly should comprehend and embrace the liberal arts. An assumption that schools based on the principles of STEM diminish the focus on subjects other than those four is a disquisitional misunderstanding. Perhaps the proper name itself is a starting point for confusion.
By calling this kind of education STEM—or STEAM, as some now refer to information technology, with the addition of the arts—we take pulled our 20th-century mindset toward the subjects central to advancement in the new century. It may be natural that some schools take begun their programs with the narrow estimation of STEM as an accent almost solely on science, technology, engineering, and math. Some have even limited Stalk education to the higher grades, or to enrichment classes, extracurricular clubs, or special events. Simply education and learning in these subjects, and developing the abilities and qualities of mind to principal them, holds the promise of engaging all students and closing the gaps that exist between those who enter schools exceptionally prepared for success and those who do not.
The misunderstanding about STEM and the potential for a transforming shift from 20th- to 21st-century school blueprint goes beyond the boundaries of schools. In his recent book In Defense of Liberal Education , the journalist Fareed Zakaria exposes the public'south narrow view of STEM, writing that the move toward this educational emphasis on scientific discipline, technology, engineering, and math is motivated past arguments stressing the demand for more than vocational training. That may be true, in part. But, as Zakaria points out, learning how to write clearly, express yourself assuredly, and think analytically is a byproduct of the liberal arts. Creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, and storytelling, he says, all flow from development of the capacity to continuously learn and relish learning, which is a hallmark of the liberal arts.
All of these capacities are the foundations of a true Stalk learning environs. All of them. Every bit Zakaria notes, a long listing of America's pioneering tech leaders—Steve Jobs, Nib Gates, and Marking Zuckerberg amidst them—have had liberal-instruction backgrounds. How many successors to Jobs, Gates, and Zuckerberg are sitting in today'due south public school classrooms? How many more can be developed? That is the crux of the issue. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our public schools, the burdens of the poking and prodding they take been subject to over the past half-century, and the new vision of possibility for all students is the key.
STEM offers a broadening of possibilities for learning. The schools and leaders we learned from while doing research for our book The Stalk Shift were not creating a narrower focus. They were expanding the possibilities for all students to reach beyond, suspension ceilings, and run across with successes unimagined. Their focus was to use all the potential that springs from a STEM learning environment to narrow the achievement gap, with some offer a Stem environment beginning in elementary school, and others starting in middle or high schoolhouse. Many, nosotros found, have plans to abound from their beginning point to the other grade levels over fourth dimension. Nothing, however, takes the place of becoming a confident reader, writer, thinker, problem-solver, mathematician, scientist, artist, musician, and historian in the early years. It is more possible when the surround is based on Stem learning foundations.
What we phone call a STEM shift—a move toward comprehensive and fully integrated STEM education throughout a schoolhouse or district—is the first real and promising development with the potential to re-envision educational orientation from the bottom up. A STEM shift encourages the reimagination of schools, from kindergarten through the 12th class, including the way curriculum is designed, organized, and delivered. Done well, this includes the learning processes of inquiry, imagination, questioning, problem-solving, creativity, invention, and collaboration—and certainly learning, thinking, and writing.
A Stalk shift encourages the reimagination of schools, from kindergarten through the twelfth grade, including the fashion curriculum is designed, organized, and delivered."
The attention that STEM education brings to public schools includes that of business, health intendance, and higher instruction. Partnerships are essential in this expanse. Every bit curriculum moves to include more awarding, the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature of pedagogy requires learning on the part of the teachers and leaders.
Time and money are the barriers schools face in making the STEM shift. Adequate time is needed for pursuing professional person evolution, learning new methods, and planning new means of working with others. Enough money to brand the space for this to happen will exist required. Partnerships and support from outside the school walls, including from communities, offering a solution for providing the needed talent, time, and coin. Partnerships also invite the world of piece of work and application into the classroom. Connections and choices tin can be fabricated, as students interact non just with data, but also with the professionals who apply that information in their daily piece of work.
Stem education is a new and exciting concept. But if we are not conscientious, the baby may be thrown out with the bathwater. Stalk holds the potential for creating 21st-century learning environments for the students who are with us now. Implemented with clarity and understanding, it volition appoint teachers and students in new means. Merely it is not a narrow focus on four subjects. Rather, it is an integration of subjects and perspectives. Arthur I. Miller, in his book Colliding Worlds: How Cut-Border Science Is Redefining Contemporary Art , offers examples of how, in this century and the last, science and art have been interrelated. Notwithstanding, without the kind of STEM mindset we suggest, it is unlikely that discovering this relationship would be function of a public schoolhouse student'due south journeying toward graduation.
When used as the lever for systemic modify, STEM offers a new environment in which all educators and all students are function of a more than engaging, spread-out, and invigorating learning experience. Who wouldn't desire that?
A version of this commodity appeared in the September 23, 2015 edition of Education Week equally STEM Doesn't Narrow the Curriculum
Source: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-stem-should-broaden-not-narrow-the-curriculum/2015/09
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