Our world is evolving, and as a result, so are its needs. In the past, education was a pretty straightforward path. Individuals would choose a field of interest and then study subjects needed to make a career in that particular field. For example, students interested in commerce would take up accounting, economics, or management sciences.
However, the world today is shifting towards a more open and integrated approach. Experts forecast that in the future, the industry would need professionals with a wide range of skills. For example, the growing involvement of technology with medicinal science may demand a surgeon to have technological know-how. And this is where the concept of STEAM/STEM is emerging.
- What is STEAM/STEM?
To start with, let’s discuss what STEAM or STEM means. The term STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Some educational experts advocate in favor of adding Arts in this group of subjects as well. And hence, the acronym became STEAM after the addition of A for Arts.
Now the concept of STEM or STEAM learning is built on the idea that students need to have a broad range of skills to survive in the rapidly changing environment. Experts believe that professionals must know about the most important fields to become well-rounded professionals in the industry.
STEAM/STEM is an educational discipline that focuses on building science and art skills in children from a very young age. This way, these students can understand varied subjects rather than restricting their abilities to one specific field. Predictably, professionals in the future will require diverse skills such as knowing how to solve problems, gather and evaluate data, and make all-rounded choices.
STEAM works over this idea and aims to broaden the students’ horizons for a successful career. Students studying STEAM/STEM curriculum can move on to choose career paths that interest them most. They can fit into varied career paths since they are well-equipped with multifunctional skills. One excellent resource for looking into engineering career paths is engineeringdegreeguides.org if you know what courses to choose.
- What is the process of STEAM learning?
Theoretically, STEAM seems like a simple process. However, establishing STEAM oriented classrooms is a technically detailed and lengthy process. Teachers and initiators need to stick to a process which gets broken down into a few steps:
- Focus: It relates to giving students a real-life problem to solve, and this problem links to the STEM subjects you have chosen.
- Detail: This step makes students link the problem to the elements that are causing the challenge.
- Discovery: It focuses on teaching students how to find answers to the problems and assess why previously proposed solutions didn’t work.
- Application: Once they have worked over all the past information and come to some conclusions, it is time to implement them and create their plan.
- Presentation: This step is quite critical in the process as it helps build presentation skills. Also, students learn how to process feedback and how to communicate over given inputs.
- Link: This step is where the students can analyze the feedback given and work over the loopholes. Later, students can focus on working out better solutions than one suggested by them in the past.
This process equips students with considerable skills and technicalities relating to the five main STEAM curriculum disciplines.
- Since when can kids be introduced to STEAM/STEM learning?
According to some top-of-the-list educational organizations, STEAM/STEM learning is slowly losing popularity. And this is also why the U.S. government announced aid in boosting STEAM/STEM awareness and convincing students to choose STEAM/STEM-related careers. It is an inevitable fact that STEAM/STEM learning is the future. The industry will need such professionals, and students must learn some form of the STEAM curriculum in their educational institutes.
Children acquire problem-solving skills relating to real-life problems from a very young age. The focus is to build interest in the children to the STEM-based educational structure. Over the years, gradually, in middle and high school, the STEM subjects become more rigorous and extensive. During the high school phase, courses and career paths are accessible for students to pursue. They are also in a position to choose STEM-related career fields at this level.
- What are some of the career paths in STEM?
Due to the massive and fast-paced developments, current jobs are rapidly changing. The traditional job roles are fading, and some newer, more modernized jobs are materializing. As a result, since STEM careers cater to the modern job market, they are expected to become quite popular in the future. Some examples of the STEM career paths that an interested individual can choose:
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- Actuarial Sciences
- Computer Network Architect
- Information Security Analyst
- Medical and Health Services Manager
- Cartographer
- Statistician
Numerous other job roles branch out from the STEM learning system. These jobs are most likely to be high in demand in the future years, which is why STEM learning is an excellent choice for students today.
Conclusion:
Just like every other field, education is also advancing tremendously over the years. There are newer ways of learning. Depending on the changing needs of the industry, unique skills and subjects are developing. One such modern education method is STEAM/STEM learning, which aims to fulfill the growing demand of the job market for individuals that provide a well-rounded skill set. STEAM aims at equipping students with skills in Science, Engineering, Technology, Arts, and Math from a young age. If you wish to provide your children with a skill set fit for the future world, the STEAM/STEM curriculum is the best choice!