Promote STEM/STEAM amongst children
Are you in pursuit of the perfect curriculum to help prepare your kids’ career? Are you wondering if you really need to indulge your children in arts and STEAM learning for their future? Well, we have the answer for you!
Arts are a vital piece for children’s creativity in the STEM fields
STEM education is traditionally considered the golden path to nurturing individuals to rise above the ranks and tackle the problems we may face daily. However, times are changing, the industry is changing, and we need to adapt accordingly. As you may know, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The missing piece is art, but do we really need it?
The inclusion of arts in STEM produces STEAM learning which aims to teach in-demand skills with a hands-on approach. It prepares young students for the ever-changing industry with their critical thinking and making. The arts ensure advanced self-awareness, thinking, and the ability to connect with communities.
To truly appreciate the importance of art in STEM, let’s take a closer look into the STEM model. Then we will discuss the solutions that arts and LearnOBots bring to the table with STEAM learning.
What is STEM?
In short, STEM is simply educating individuals in the four specified domains, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, with MIT and Stanford being the leading universities for STEM programs.
However, STEM is more than just a grouping of subjects together. It was formally introduced in 2001 and is considered a philosophy of teaching. It teaches the subjects side by side in hopes of cultivating the mind to tackle real-world problems and bring innovation.
This means that students are no longer relying on just maths, technology, or science alone to solve problems or to research, but in fact, they are applying them all simultaneously. Learning by doing is a vital part of STEM. This is why students get to use what they have learned to create real-life products such as robots, electronics, software, and much more.
It is due to STEM that we have been able to get remarkable individuals who help shape our future. Careers that follow STEM range from people in the medical field like microbiologists, helping us deal with organisms that we cannot perceive, all the way up to aeronautical engineers keeping our feets high up in the skies
Issues faced by the current STEM system
That all sounds amazing right? STEM education and its graduates can solve all our problems, it can save the world! Well, not quite.
You see, STEM is quite limited in its variety of subjects. As it is already trying to incorporate so many fields together, students hardly have time for any other subjects which they may be interested in like photography, design, music, etc. This eventually leads them to become out of touch with their creative side. Even worse; lack the originality for novel ideas. As you could assume, for an industry which requires constant innovation for advancement, creativity is a must.
Furthermore, science can become boring. Without the right teaching methodology, most students aged 9 – 13 lose interest in the field of science and end up pursuing other paths. In fact, research was done by IET “found that children’s love for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) is on the decline, with interest in Science amongst 9 to 12-year-olds falling 10%, Design and Technology down 12% and ICT / Computing falling furthest at 14% over the last four years.”
A key factor contributing towards this is that students lack practical experience and only work with theory and have a misconception of what the future may hold. With the constantly changing world of science and technology, the more individuals who can be encouraged to pursue STEM, the better. Therefore, trying to make STEM education attractive can be quite an issue.
Why do arts need to be included in STEM?
STEAM hopes to resolve the current issues with STEM by introducing the arts subject into the mix. But why art?
Without a doubt, arts significantly boost the creativity of an individual. One gets to apply more of what they have learned than simply memorizing boring theory. Not only that, but art also offers a unique way of handling problems and thinking outside the box. Causing one to come up with solutions while remaining engaged.
But where can one apply this in real life? Well, art is everywhere, even in science. It takes a skilled architect to make sure the right materials and the most secure possible building is made. However, it takes a creative architect to make jaw-dropping designs.
Furthermore, origami, the art of folding 2D paper into 3D shapes, led scientists to the origami revolution, a software that can use origami to create any 3D object from 2D paper. The ability to fold 3D objects down to 2D in a reverse fashion to origami was a revolutionary discovery in the fields of micro-robots and space technology.
There was a study by the University of Florida that found the following. “On average, students who study arts for 4 years in high school score 98 points higher on the SATs compared to those who study the same for half a year or less.” Furthermore, “students who took up music appreciation scored 61 points higher on the verbal section and 42 points higher on the math section.”
This kind of creativity does not come from pure STEM. Although it is important to heavily focus on STEM subjects, art is like the missing puzzle piece. It does not matter how large the STEM pieces are, without art they will remain incomplete. Therefore, that is the distinction between STEM and STEAM learning.
Make it attractive with LearnOBots and STEAM
One issue discussed earlier was kids losing interest in science and technology at an early age. LearnOBots hopes to resolve that issue by introducing the concept of STEAM subjects at an early age. But, with a different approach. By providing creative and fun activities alongside a hands-on approach with hardware/software, LearnOBots can develop the interest of the young generation and encourage them to stick with the path of STEAM learning. In fact, LearnOBots is one of the first few to realize the importance and need of STEAM and has been working tirelessly to promote it to the masses.
LearnOBots offers up to 15+ different modules that will equip kids with abundant skills ranging from Arduino and robotics to coding and web design, alongside 3D modeling and various other skills. All of these are kept in mind with what excites children and keeps them engaged. What may seem like a fun playtime for your children would be the defining moment for their successful careers in the future. You can check out their STEAM camps here
