In the early 2000s, the state of science, technology, engineering, and math education troubled policy makers in the United States. Together, these four subjects became known as STEM. In more recent years there has been a shift to add arts into this focus, making the acronym now STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math). However, there isn’t a clear outline or framework of what exactly a STEAM education is, or how schools and classrooms are supposed to be implementing this learning. Even among the academic articles about STEAM, there is disagreement about STEAM, its definition and implementation.
STEAM Education and the Lego Model
In recent years, there has been a shift to an argument for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), for the inclusion of the arts as one of the subjects that need to be focused on. In fact, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes the arts and music as part of a “well-rounded education,” which are eligible for receiving funding from the government. Changes in legislation have led to a push for wider adoption of this framework for education, but some educators feel that they do not have the training necessary to implement these new practices. Companies like LEGO Education are creating models and projects that make integrating arts and creativity with STEM practices easy in the classroom.