Emilia Hogg
Department of Science Education, Adelphi University
20 April, 2023
When contemplating the work of a scientist, many may describe their tasks as problem-solving, generating novel concepts, or working together towards global improvement. While this is certainly accurate, what often goes unacknowledged is the process by which scientists develop the skills to become such proficient problem solvers. When examining the traditional approach to teaching science at the high school and early undergraduate levels, the emphasis is often on imparting knowledge of discovered concepts and developing problem-solving skills for test-taking purposes. While students may grasp the concepts and perform well on tests, this teaching approach lacks the ability to provide meaningful learning experiences and fails to inspire students to pursue careers in science and become pioneers in the field. This is where STEAM teaching really creates a strong impact. Students should not have to wait until higher education to truly be ‘scientists,’ this should be a major notion in any science class. Meaning, students can and should learn science, while actively partaking in it. Students should be allowed to explore science and gain knowledge while investigating a phenomena or working towards solving a problem they have identified. Not only does this increase engagement from students, but it lets them gain the skills they need to become what we think of when we hear of “scientists”.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the Maker Movement, the STEAM approach and their ability to transform science education. According to Halverson and Sheridan (2014), the Maker Movement emphasizes hands-on learning and encourages students to create, design, and build things using a variety of low-to-high tech technologies. STEAM education is an approach that integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics to create meaningful learning experiences for students (Bevan et al., 2017). This paper will argue that integrating STEAM teaching into science curriculum is essential for providing students with meaningful learning experiences and preparing them for success as science practitioners. Through an examination of research on STEAM education, this paper will demonstrate the various benefits of this approach, including improved creativity, problem-solving skills, and collaboration, as well as increased interest and engagement in science topics.
Benefits of STEAM Education
There are a multitude of benefits of STEAM education and incorporating making into a science curriculum. Each section will dive further into these benefits: culminating deeper understanding, promoting inclusion in STEM, preparing the 21st century workforce, and promoting civic engagement.
Culminating a Deeper Understanding
STEAM Education provides numerous benefits for students. First and foremost, it promotes a deeper understanding by enabling students to apply STEM concepts in real-world contexts. This hands-on approach helps students see the relevance of STEM concepts in their lives and appreciate their importance in solving real-world problems. By actively engaging students in problem-solving through making, they can learn more deeply than just memorizing and regurgitating information. A hands-on approach can be used to both apply science and allow students to discover new topics by analyzing the science as they produce inventions.
For instance, a study was conducted on the effectiveness of making a simple electrical bell in enhancing students' understanding of energy transformation. After engaging students in this project, their assessment showed that 40% of students had achieved mastery, 30% had attained competency, 18% were developing, 8.2% were emerging, and only 3.8% of students were absent (Rahmawati et al., 2021). Through this project, an overwhelming majority of students were able to understand the target concept. More importantly, by creating the bell, they could actually visualize how energy is converted from one form to another.
One of the key reasons why STEAM Education promotes deeper understanding is rooted in learning through play. Many skills that humans need are learned through play. Whether it is spelling with building blocks, musical games, or playing with sand, children acquire a lot of skills by simply playing and interacting with the world around them. As highlighted in 'Learning through play: a review of the evidence,' learning through play is iterative, socially interactive, joyful, actively engaging, and meaningful (Zosh et al., 2017). This learning approach is effective because it is natural. Students can only learn new content by building on what they already know. Learning through play allows them to naturally observe science in the real world while developing essential skills such as using technology, communication, analysis, and problem-solving. When students are allowed to build and explore in the classroom and play with new technologies, learning constantly occurs as they face and overcome challenges.
Promoting Inclusion in STEM
Another significant benefit of STEAM teaching and learning is that it can have a positive impact on inclusion in the STEAM workforce. According to a survey conducted at Purdue University, only 30% of their engineering students are female, and the overwhelming majority of students identified as Caucasian (Lucietto, Dell, Cooney et al., 2019). Additionally, less than 20% of STEM faculty at undergraduate institutions are people of color, with only 9% being Asians or Pacific Islanders, 6% African-American, 4% Latinx, and less than 1% American Indian or Native Alaskan (Miriti, 2020).
It is not a new concept that the demographics of people interested in STEM are highly exclusive. However, a significant part of that stems from the accessibility to be engaged enough to pursue science. This means giving students the opportunity to engage in science and believe that they can make a living out of it. STEAM learning addresses this issue by allowing students to partake in science and become innovators who can make a difference in the world.Providing equal opportunities for all students to engage in STEAM learning is crucial for increasing diversity in the STEM workforce.
Making, specifically, opens up opportunities for young women to become more engaged in science. From a young age, girls face setbacks in their critical thinking skills and adeptness when it comes to science and technology, simply due to how we market toys to children. As mentioned before, humans learn through play. However, playing for girls looks different from playing for boys. We subconsciously push for girls to play with nurturing toys such as stuffed animals, doctor sets, cooking, and dolls, whereas boys are marketed toys such as Legos, building blocks, and cars. Boys are taught to build, make, and problem-solve from a very young age. Because of this, they have years of STEAM experience over girls, and are more likely to keep pursuing making as they become older. Making, however, can help fill this gap and engage young girls in pursuing science.
Teachers can easily create projects that cater to the nurturing qualities that female students possess. Whether that means creating a technology that can reduce plastic in our waters, making a tool to safely capture rodents, or designing an accessible video game, there are limitless possibilities to engage our female student population. It is also essential to remember that making and science are not limited to engineering with technology; the science process is used to make anything, including hairstyling, painting, sculpting, building, sewing, woodworking, and more. Anytime someone is engaging in production where they face and overcome challenges is making, and engaging in these activities puts our students closer to becoming critical thinkers and innovators.
Although it is undoubtedly clear that a STEAM approach can open a door for underrepresented populations in STEAM, we must also understand the barriers that need to be overcome. One major challenge faced in low-income communities is that schools typically lack the resources needed to teach advanced courses in STEM. On top of that, under-achieving schools are prone to pull out funding in engaging, creative subjects like arts in order to fund core subjects such as math and English (Horn, 2016). However, all this achieves is making unmotivated students even less motivated. As discussed, STEAM learning can be extremely beneficial to allow all students an opportunity to engage in and pursue science.
Luckily, not only can making be low-tech, but there are ways to work around a lack of finances: donations, local businesses, recycling, and even using community spaces that have makerspace (Martinez and Stager, 2013, p.188). Additionally, policymakers are enacting policies to ensure funding for STEAM purposes in schools across the United States, including establishing state grant programs (Dell’Erba, 2019). In the meantime, it is important to know that there are a multitude of programs that teachers can apply to receive funding for making. Some of these programs include the National Science Foundation (NSF), Toyota USA Foundation, Siemens Foundation, and American Honda Foundation.
Promoting Civic Engagement
One of the most impactful parts of STEAM learning is its flexibility in developing a meaningful curriculum that can promote not only innovation, but also civic engagement. A popular approach is phenomenon-based learning, where units are planned around the investigation of phenomenon. The learning goal is for students to learn to think about problems and attempt a variety of ways to solve them (Bobrosky, Korhonen, Kohtmaki, 2014). Teaching through a phenomenon based approach gives educators flexibility in making their lessons relevant to students' lives and community. For example, a unit can be designed around windmills and how they create renewable energy. Within such a unit not only can teachers teach students about science topics such as energy and mechanics, but they can also have students live up to civic responsibility and ponder how they can directly help our current energy crisis. From designing windmills that produce the most power to debating how they can bring this resource into urban areas, students can learn the “big picture” behind energy and work together to solve current problems.
As discussed previously, there is an underrepresentation of women and people of color who pursue STEM majors and jobs. Implementing a STEAM-based curriculum that focuses on solving issues directly linked to the community using science opens another path for these students to want to pursue science. In a study funded by the national science foundation, it was reported that students who partook in “place-based environmental science civics projects” led students to begin thinking how they can personally use science to benefit their communities. (Gallay, Flanagan, Parker, 2021). This is a statement all educators should aim to hear from all their students. Science curriculum should inspire students to be innovators and make them feel capable of change and success, regardless of their age. Combining a STEAM approach that is guided by civic responsibility has the potential to impact not only our individual students, but also our communities as a whole.
Preparing the 21st Century Workforce
Technology is at the forefront of our civilization, and the STEM workforce is constantly expanding. According to the US Department of Commerce, "In 2015, there were 9.0 million STEM workers in the United States. About 6.1 percent of all workers are in STEM occupations, up from 5.5 percent just five years earlier" (Noonan, 2017). In comparison to non-STEM related occupations, the STEM workforce is expanding at about five times the rate. With the majority of these jobs opening up in the computer science field, more than ever, we need our students to become technologically literate problem solvers.
We currently cannot say what job opportunities will be available in the coming years, which is yet another reason why the STEAM approach is so critical to implement in our classrooms. The LEGO Foundation put it best by stating, "When children develop the ability to explore their environment, be resourceful about the materials, people, and skills that they engage with, and think flexibly about different approaches to a situation, they are better equipped for whatever challenge next confronts them." This statement unintentionally encompasses everything the maker movement and STEAM approach is all about: exploring problems, coming up with solutions, engaging in creating using different materials and technology, and collaborating with others. These are the skills that we need to foster in our students to ensure they are flexible enough to excel in any field in our world. By allowing our students to engage in this type of learning, not only will they become well-rounded individuals, but they will gain the confidence they need to tackle any problem or feel qualified for any job in this rapidly developing society.
Times Are Changing
Despite concerns from some educators, making and a STEAM approach are critical components of science education in the 21st century. One major concern surrounding making and a STEAM approach in the science classroom is how it connects to standards. Many educators worry about receiving pushback from their administrators because they do not see how making is ‘rigorous,’ or is aligned with what is tested on state exams. However, what many educators seem to overlook is that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include engineering practices within each standard beginning at 2nd grade level (Bilkstein, 2018). These standards were originally created to create standards that are “rich in both content and practice”. They do this by promoting phenomenon-based learning and are created on the basis of three ‘dimensions’ of learning science: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. (National Research Council, 2013) The NGSS is beginning implementation in multiple states. In fact, when you visit the New York State Department of Education website, you will find NGSS science standards provided before the regents standards from 1996.
The need for these new standards is recognized on both a national and state level. In a Q&A shortly following the adoption of NGSS in New York, the Study Council at Syracuse University states, “The development of new science learning standards for New York State was prompted by widespread concerns about the competitiveness of America's increasingly technology-dependent economy”. It is nationally recognized that as technology improves, there is a high need for students to become invested in science education so that they can fill the work field. Syracuse’s Study Council even rationalizes this need for a new science curriculum, saying that it is imperative for all members of society to understand science and to be able to talk to one another about it (National Science Teachers Association, 2013). This is exactly why it is so important for educators to start implementing the STEAM approach in their classrooms. Every school wants to create "life-ready" students who are prepared to enter society, and becoming knowledgeable not only in scientific content but also in the scientific process is becoming a part of the criteria for the type of individuals who will succeed in our rapidly changing society.
Conclusion
Integrating STEAM teaching into the science curriculum is crucial for providing students with valuable learning experiences and equipping them with the necessary skills for success in the field of science. The STEAM education approach combines Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics to create hands-on, practical learning opportunities that help students develop their problem-solving skills through making. Through this process, students can learn more deeply and acquire skills such as communication, analysis, and problem-solving, which are essential for success in the 21st century workforce. Furthermore, STEAM education can help promote inclusivity in science by providing opportunities for underrepresented groups, including young women and people of color, to engage in STEM activities. The benefits of STEAM education are vast and impactful, including enhanced creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration skills, as well as increased interest and engagement in science topics. Therefore, it is vital to continue promoting STEAM teaching and learning as a way to prepare the next generation of science practitioners and innovators who can make a positive impact on the world.
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