STEAM: The need of Arts in STEM
steam_learning- The knowledge review

STEAM is not a new term if you are familiar with the technology or educational services. STEM, a traditional focus of the education system in science, technology, engineering and math is being transformed into STEAM which includes the arts.

This initiative is being accepted on an increasing scale by institutions, corporations, and education professionals. STEAM learning is a hot topic right now as it is gaining appreciation and recommendation from various experts and students.

But the question that we need to ask ourselves is that do we really need a STEAM system in schools?

The number of STEM or STEAM jobs in the United States is expected to grow by 14% from 2010 to 2020, a growth that is much faster than the national average of 5-8% across other job sectors, reported by the US department of Education.

However, most popular colleges are not STEAM related and that is making the growth of graduates in the STEM ridiculously slow, only 0.8% annually. So how to increase the graduation rate in STEM colleges? By teaching STEAM, of course. The “Arts” which include writing, music, art, theater and dance paired with science, technology, engineering and math, to foster a relationship between both sides of the brain for maximum human innovation and creativity potential is simply STEAM.

The inclusion of art into STEM makes it more fun to learn and more approachable to students. Students who have never seen computer programming codes will be more engaged and less intimidated if it includes something they are familiar with.

Students need to be engaged while learning in ways that can hold their attention like social media and internet sites like YouTube does. The easiest way to do is of course  by making it more fun and interesting. For most of the students, the inclusion of art will do that. Art education allows students to learn new things in an open way and make them applicable in real life. Art and creativity are the tools that allow technology to be used in real life.

So STEAM learning is important to next generation global workforce and to allow this generation to create more jobs and opportunities.

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