Author: apattonaustinsdnet

With all of the acronyms floating around in education it is easy to confuse them or lose track of what each stands for, especially if they are close. Most educators have heard of STEM as it has increased in mainstream education. STEAM the incorporation of the arts into the STEM model, also seems to be known by many educators as the arts support critical thinking and creativity, two of the skills STEM promotes. 

What about STREAM? STEAMY? Or STEMM? These were all new to me! My first thought was more acronyms, great… How am I ever going to keep them straight, and what do these extra letters stand for.  We will look at each of these acronyms one at a time starting with STREAM. What could start with an R that they added into this that fits… robotics (my initial thought!), but no that is incorrect. The R as I found could have multiple meanings such as reading, research, writing (using the second letter), or in a few instances religion.  I was skeptical about the religion because how would you sell that in public education where issues of church and state are separate. I looked into this further to discover the R only seemed to represent religion in parochial schools. This makes sense as they are founded on religious principals. 

The R in STREAM representing reading, wRiting, or research makes more sense when it comes to public education. The addition of reading and writing to the STEM/STEAM acronym promotes cross-curricular teaching and 21st-century skills. Writing fits into the framework of STEM/STEAM as it has been shown to have a positive correlation on thinking, which is necessary for creativity in all disciplines. Writing links processes together shows a trail in ones thinking if it is documented. 

STEMM with two Ms, very similar to STEM with one M, introduces yet another content area. Like STREAM, there are varying opinions as to what the second M stands for. The reads I have done suggest music, medicine, and manufacturing. My initial thought on this is the music is already incorporated with the arts in STEAM education (it’s a performing art, not visual art, but still an art, therefore included with the A in STEAM). Therefore, I’m not one hundred percent sold that M is for music. Medicine, I found is more accepted in high education for those entering health-related fields, but other than that it doesn’t really make sense to incorporate medicine as a core part of STEM learning.  Manufacturing is the suggested M, that I feel, makes the most sense. By adding the manufacturing component students would learn how all of the other components of the STEM/STEAM model work together in a practical way to create something. Manufacturing technologies are often not taught even at the post-secondary level! FabLabs and similar spaces in the district could play an integral part in making the manufacturing piece of STEMM become a reality. 

What is STEAMY? STEAMY is really no different than STEM, STEAM, STREAM of STEMM. STEAMY is more about the experience of the student as they are participating in the learning. For primary children, this could be authentic play experiences with the via prop boxes, what a great way to introduce careers to young children! For older students, STEAMY might be the creation of something done in a Fablab or similar space. The idea of STEAMY education seems to be relatively new in the terminology, but the foundation of it, authentic learning, has been around for quite some time. 

Regardless of the acronym being used, each model STEM, STEAM, STREAM, STEMM, or STEAMY, each has so much of offer the students of our classrooms by providing an environment to connect disciplines and encourage the mind to think in different ways. The acronym is not important, the learning that comes from STEM   learning is what is important. With so many diverse students there is an ability to reach all of them through the content areas included and variations of STEM! And that is amazing!

The last post, I discussed what STEM is and why it is important.  I would like to dispel the notion that STEM is the newest fad in education.  In all honesty, at one point I had the belief that STEM was just another fad or buzzword in education and would quickly pass once the novelty wore off or the next new thing came about.  After some research and having a STEM timeline brought to my attention by a university professor in a Foundations of STEM course I took, and to say my eyes were opened would be an understatement! It was not only surprising by downright shocking to find that what I thought was a passing fad had extremely deep roots! 

Imagine an education initiative that has survived since the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s! If you are an education, you are probably scoffing at this idea, the phrase “yeah, right” as probably entered your mind as you were reading this. Don’t be too quick to judge, because STEM, though not originally called STEM, has been around since the 1950s. This makes sense though, if one thinks about the concepts of STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math, and recalls their history! In the late 1950s, early 1960s this country was engaged with a national interest in technological advancement, and of course who could forget about the space race. Ah, yes, Kennedy’s vow to put a man on the moon, and how was that going to be achieved? Why through science, technology, engineering and math, of course! The country and education system embraced this and a push for teaching more science and math came to the forefront of education curriculums and STEM found it roots in modern education. 

Although not always in the spotlight of the educational world, STEM has been there and saw another surge in recognition in the 1990s with the help of NSES and NCTM.  How many of you, like me were in high school in the 1990s, and remember going to the tech lab, which was the new and improved version of shop classes? I remember this vividly, as my class was one of the first to have tech lab in our rotation of 9 weeks electives. Guess what, tech lab was and is STEM education. What happened in tech lab, you were given and problem and had to solve it by creating some form of structure, could have been a bridge or something else depending on the problem. STEM is critically thinking to solve problems in a creative way! Currently, we use the term STEM to refer to thinks we have been teaching for years to promote awareness of these skills at a time when many jobs are going unfilled due to a lack in these skills. STEM skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration can be transferred across disciplines and into careers. STEM has deep roots in education and it is here to stay for the long haul. 

If one is unfamiliar with STEM or not in the field of education, they might ask the questions of what is this STEM education everyone seems to be talking about and why does it matter.

The answer to the first part of the question is easy, STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEM education promotes the development of critical thinkers, problem solvers, and a greater literacy for the sciences. The idea of STEM is not new but has seen a rejuvenation in recent years with the integration of technology into the classroom and a push for maker spaces.

Now that we know what STEM is, why is it important? The importance of STEM education reaches beyond the classroom. First, let’s talk about the importance of STEM in the education realm. In the past classes such as art, music, home economics, and shop have traditionally been the creative outlets for students and allowed for creation. With budget cuts, unfortunately, these classes that have traditionally offered students a creative outlet have been cut from many districts taking the opportunities for hands-on creativity tasks with them.  STEM education offers the ability to be creative and complete hands-on tasks through other disciplines such as science or math. The skills students learn through STEM education are transferable to other disciplines and careers. 

STEM education is important because it reaches beyond the classroom to careers in industry or manufacturing. Many of the jobs in these fields are going unfilled due to the inability to find workers with the necessary background and skills in the STEM areas. These shortfalls are expected to increase unless education changes to accommodate the need for these skills. The major competitors of the United States are increasing their instruction in STEM-related areas to increase their economic competitiveness.  If our students are unable to fill jobs due to a lack of skills, how will they be able to compete globally?