In October 2021, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici introduced the Arts Education for All Act (AEFA) in Congress. The AEFA is a comprehensive bill that focuses on expanding both in-school and out-of-school arts education programming. It also supports arts education research that would seek to improve elementary and secondary education. The numerous benefits that arts education provides to youth have been argued by advocates for decades. Americans for the Arts highlights the importance of an arts education to provide a well-rounded education, improve academic performance, and encourage creativity, self-expression, and identity. Today, STEAM (science, technology, education, art, and math) education is gaining speed in the arts advocacy and education spheres. The STEAM approach takes the traditional STEM curriculum one level further. In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed, which included provisions for creating STEAM programs in U.S. schools. Under STEAM’s pedagogy, learning not just how to use quantitative methods and scientific approaches but why and in what context they can be applied is prioritized. As our dependence on technological means of support grows, this skill cannot be emphasized enough.

Workers in most age groups and sectors are being asked to adapt to technological changes as they occur rapidly. Technology is an inescapable part of life. Artificial intelligence, extended reality (XR), and blockchain are just some of the technologies at the forefront of the “4th Industrial Revolution”. This growth in technological development promotes innovation, creativity, and collaboration across disciplines rather than just simply building algorithms. STEAM education offers students the opportunity to engage in collaborative efforts with each other and their community at large by building their critical, civic, and creative thinking skills. A 2020 study found that STEAM programs extended students’ knowledge across individual disciplines and offered transdisciplinary learning skills—because STEAM programs focus on the process through which students learn instead of just the content. A second 2020 study confirmed that STEAM lessons increase students’ creativity, application, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking abilities. 

The demand for STEM practitioners is growing in tandem with the demand for workers who are equipped to think about the social and ethical implications of STEM. Intrinsic values of the arts such as empathy, community, and imagination, combined with the logic of the STEM model, create a more well-rounded experience for youth. Agnes Chaves, a new media artist and founder of STEMarts Lab, advocates that STEAM education practices allow students to understand the ethics behind new technologies and their impact on nature and humanity. Particularly for larger societal problems such as digital inequity, it is crucial that students perceive themselves as caretakers of the planet and global citizens.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the digital divide present in communities around the US and the world. As schools transitioned to a virtual teaching environment, many K-12 students were ill-equipped to receive proper instruction online. The United Nations General Assembly published a road map for digital cooperation in 2020. They found that while 93% of the world’s population live within physical reach of broadband or Internet services, 3.6 billion, or 53.6%, are still without access. In the United States, an estimated 24 million don’t have access. These digital divides reflect and amplify existing social, cultural, and economic inequalities and provide significant challenges for those who are migrants, refugees, internally displaced individuals, older persons, young people, children, persons with disabilities, rural populations, and indigenous peoples. In order to build an inclusive global digital society, the UN recommends taking steps toward building digital capacity. This would include training and skill development that empowers individuals to navigate the digital age confidently. The STEM field gave us the Internet, but STEAM can help make it equitable and accessible. 

Several such initiatives have been implemented around the United States. In 2019, the HE3AT Program was launched to engage juniors and seniors from seven Brooklyn high schools in an experiential learning STEAM model. The program aims to promote student collaboration at the communal and professional level. Students learn about the impact of technology on various sectors including healthcare, education, and agriculture.

The passing of the Arts Education For All Act could provide support to several arts education studies that would further demonstrate the benefits of STEAM programs throughout the country, especially in school districts where access to the arts is limited or nonexistent. While there is no language in the AEFA Act expressly pertaining to STEAM education, the bill does propose professional development for integration of the arts in math, reading, science, and other subjects. Furthermore, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, co-chair of the STEAM Caucus, advocates for the integration of the arts in STEM education to prepare students for the jobs of the 21st century. No further action has been taken by Congress since the introduction of this bill in 2021. However, constituents may reach out to their representatives using the Directory of Representatives.

Investment in STEAM education provides students with a more well-rounded curriculum, which can have a tremendous impact on the whole of society. With the empathetic, imaginative, creative, and equitable lens the addition of the arts provides, the problems of the world can be approached with a new kind of innovation.

Sources
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“About the LAB.” STEMarts LAB. Accessed September 14, 2022. https://www.stemartslab.com/the-lab/.

“Americans Speak Out About The Arts in 2018: An In-Depth Look at Perceptions and Attitudes About the Arts in America.” Americans for the Arts. Accessed September 25, 2022. https://www.americansforthearts.org/node/101584.

Bertrand, Marja G. and Immaculate K. Namukasa. "STEAM Education: Student Learning and Transferable Skills." Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning 13, no. 1 (2020): 43-56. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-01-2020-0003. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/steam-education-student-learning-transferable/docview/2506895851/se-2.

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Hinton, Danielle, Adi Kumar, Blair Levin, Kunal Modi, Anne Neville-Bonilla, Sara O’Rourke, Larry Strickling, and Jon Wilkins. “Are states ready to close the US digital divide?” McKinsey & Company. June 1, 2022. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/are-states-ready-to-close-the-us-digital-divide.

Marr, Bernard. “The 7 Biggest Technology Trends In 2020 Everyone Must Get Ready For Now.” Forbes. September 30, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/09/30/the-7-biggest-technology-trends-in-2020-everyone-must-get-ready-for-now/?sh=307f4cba2261.

“New Lab, Microsoft and the City of New York Launch HE3AT, a STEAM Education Program for Brooklyn South High School Students.” Cision. September 25, 2019. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-lab-microsoft-and-the-city-of-new-york-launch-he3at-a-steam-education-program-for-brooklyn-south-high-school-students-300925232.html.

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