Abstract
In the past two decades, STEM education has been slowly replaced by “STEAM,” which refers to learning that integrates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The added “Arts” portion of this pedagogical approach, although an important step towards integrated 21st century learning, has long confused policymakers, with definitions ranging from visual arts to humanities to art education and more. The authors take the position that Arts can be broadly interpreted to mean any approach that brings interpretive and expressive perspectives to STEM activities. In this chapter, they present illustrative cases inspired by work in real learning settings that showcase how STEAM concepts and computational thinking skills can support children's engagement in cultural, performing, and fine arts, including painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, music, dance, and drama.
TopBackground
STEAM in Early Childhood
Young children (ages 5-8 years) are at a critical stage in their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical developmental trajectories. Integrated educational STEAM experiences allow children to explore diverse approaches, perspectives, and mediums related to STEM, offering a divergence from the positivist “hard sciences” mindset of 20th century science, math, and construction education. Similar to how representation of diverse religious, cultural, ethnic, and gender backgrounds can support a child’s developing identity, diverse modes of STEAM education support a child’s developing identity as one who does – or is able to do – STEM work.
The arts help teachers engage more thoroughly with STEM, as well. Research shows that despite the global educational trend of bringing novel STEM domains (e.g., computer science, technology, robotics) into early childhood classrooms (Sheffield et al., 2018), pre-service and in-service early childhood educators around the world still indicate insecurity and mixed levels of confidence in their ability to meaningfully teach these subjects (e.g., Dong & Xu, 2020; Masoumi, 2020). In contrast, arts integration has a long history in education, and teachers generally report feeling confident and comfortable with bringing these domains into the early childhood classroom (Bresler, 2007; Hartman & Dani, 2020; Leung, 2020). Arts integration makes STEM more accessible to teachers by allowing them to leverage their experience in arts education to create more engaging and meaningful pathways into STEAM exploration for students.
With the growing focus on technology and STEM education, some critics of computers in education have expressed fear that technology may inhibit children’s natural play and creativity (e.g., Cordes & Miller, 2000; Oppenheimer, 2003). The STEAM integration approach counters this by demonstrating that the flexibility inherent in art practices and how naturally this can be applied to STEM content, therefore making STEM more appealing to young learners as well as accessible for educators (Robelen, 2011).
Key Terms in this Chapter
KIBO: A screen-free programmable robotics kit for young children with blocks, sensors, modules, and art platforms.
Early Childhood Education: Education of children from birth to age 8 years.
Dramatic Arts: The art of the writing and production of plays; drama.
ScratchJr: A programming application for young children to create games, animations, stories, and more.
STEAM Education: An approach to learning that integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics for encouraging student inquiry, dialogue, and problem-solving.
Creative Expression: A broad spectrum of using artistic to engage in storytelling and idea-sharing, sometimes related to expressing aspects of selfhood (e.g., identity, personal experiences). Methods of creative expression include dance, writing, theater, drama, acting, singing, music, broadcasting, digital design, and scriptwriting.
Performing Arts: All forms of creative activity that are performed in front of an audience, such as drama, music, and dance, etc. Also called Performance Arts.
Arts Education: A field of educational research and practice informed by investigations into learning through arts experiences.
Computer Programming: The process of designing and building a stepwise list of instructions (program) for a computer or machine to carry out.