STEM is the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and moreover a specific approach of teaching and learning that considers the individual needs and varied interests of students. The acronym was first used in 2001 in the US National Science Foundation. Another term that emerged out of STEM is STEAM which has gained sufficient importance in the present world. STEAM is the incorporation of Arts into the domain of engineering pedagogy. Here’s what makes STEM and STEAM education different. 

Reformation Engineering Education

What is STEM?

STEM is the study of hardcore engineering skills and implementing them in a practical and interdisciplinary manner. It stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics where each of these contribute to building innovative, critical thinking and problem solving skills. Despite taking these four as different entities, it integrates them into one. What makes STEM different from traditional pedagogy is giving students scope to create and build, rather than just replicating what is already known. 

What is STEAM?

STEAM is a term which has evolved from STEM but involves arts as well to solve real life issues. As it incorporates both scientific and soft skills as access points for building student’s curiosity. Leveraging both of the streams not only helps students achieve a better understanding of solutions that work out. Its intersection presents a pedagogy approach that develops students into thoughtful risk takers, experimental learners and  problem solving individuals. 

STEM vs STEAM

• Inclusion of Arts

STEM was introduced to represent a unique approach to learning that equips students to gain the right skills and knowledge in the engineering domains. STEAM involves the teaching of creative and analytical skills while solving engineering problems. This has widened the horizon of the science domain along with giving the educators a way to benefit from hands-on learning and collaboration.

• Difference in approach 

STEM is purely associated with solving the global economy problems across the disciplines of engineering. It would involve the hard core scientific skills to solve a problem or create a new concept. When arts is merged with the engineering field, students get to involve curiosity and creativity at the core. So, the approach becomes slightly different. STEAM involves utilizing both mechanical and soft skills for finding solutions.

• Subjects in STEM and STEAM

Another point of difference in STEM vs STEAM lies in the subjects children study after opting. STEM includes subjects like calculus, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, biochemistry, computer science etc. Whereas STEAM involves studying humanities, music, dance, drama, philosophy, language arts, design, visual arts, media etc. This offers students the right balance of mechanical and soft skills needed. 

The benefits of STEAM Education

Now, coming to the benefits of adapting STEAM education. Here’s are some advantages from implementing STEAM education in classroom:

• Boosts the imaginative growth of students by involving them into the creative process from scratch on paper to an end product .
• STEAM learning contributes to the critical thinking of students as the projects they work on involve interpreting the problem, applying the information and applying them to find the solution.
• As the STEM pedagogy involves the engineering and innovative fields, the fraction of females pursuing it is relatively low as compared to males. With the involvement of arts into the scenario, it encourages female students to explore the field. 

When it comes to combining the world of engineering and arts, STEAM is a great initiative where learning can involve both hard and soft skills. In the modern century, the need for including arts in learning to come up with creative solutions for engineering and mechanical problems is highly elevated. And STEAM education is the right way to achieve the same.

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You might have heard the term STEM quite often in the education sphere. But what exactly is it and what significance does it hold? STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, so the subjects under these fields are considered as the STEM subjects. But in true means, it has more attributes than just covering technical subjects. Let’s get to know about STEM Learning, its implementation and importance.

What is STEM education?

STEM is not studying any one or few STEM subjects but rather it is basically a teaching philosophy that combines Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics into a single cross disciplinary program that includes following a practical and real world based teaching approach. Despite of considering these are four different subjects they are taken as a single entity. In fact, what makes the STEM curriculum most desirable and preeminent is its involvement of real application based learning and inclusion of all four fields. 

Which skills does STEM learning demand?

STEM learning involves Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics so it is obvious that students need to be good in science and mathematics. This does not mean that students not good in these two disciplines will not be able to do well, they might have a hard time doing so. But besides technical and analytical skills, studying STEM also demands creative thinking. This is because, while studying STEM, the students need to find solutions to real world problems. So at the end of the day, no matter how good you are at theory, finding solutions is the prime skill needed along with mastery in STEM subjects. 

Introducing STEM education at school

Studying STEM increases science literacy and enables the next generation of innovators into solving real world problems. When this is initiated during school years, it makes better scope for learning and implementing the STEM learning into applications. STEM education in the top 5 schools in Delhi can make huge contributions in the development of students. When students study STEM subjects in class, it gives room for new ideas and discussion. This develops core literacy and communication skills in them. Moreover, as STEM education has its foundation developed on problem solving, studying STEM from a young age helps them evolve this. Some ways of doing this are:

• Achieving the early learning goals in the play school or pre primary years with the use of magnetic blocks etc. 
• Start introducing basics to the enthusiastic learners at the secondary level employing 3-d printers, robotics etc.
• Encouraging students to think and create solutions at the senior level through competitions. 

With the global demands, STEM education has become necessary to be included in the syllabus of top 5 schools in Chennai. This could be well supported with professional training of teachers for hands-on learning. Many of the established schools in India offer studying STEM curriculum in some or the other manner. But the digital divide and sizable young population makes it challenging to introduce STEM curriculum during school. As India needs to cope up with the pace of STEM learning around the globe, at present schools should start working towards the same adapting modern and advanced learning approaches.Find top 5 Schools in Bangalore with Edustoke.

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