STEAM-CT - as integration

The acronym STEAM stands for the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. In the classroom, STEAM transcends the bare addition of those disciplines, as the main idea of STEAM is to integrate and apply meaningful content of mathematics, technology, arts and science in order to search for solutions for engaging, real-world problems/challenges. 

 

Within STEAM education students must recognize what the problems are, how they decompose those problems from the given phenomenon to be researchable, how they can link those problems to concepts of the different disciplines of STEAM and develop possible products as solutions, and how they generalize those solutions to be applicable to most contexts. Different problem solving competences such as Computational Thinking (CT) are needed, and need to be trained in order to succeed.

 

Consequently, STEAM is associated with inquiry-based and student-centered teaching methods wherein teamwork and communicationsare a major focus (The National Research Council, 2011). Throughout a STEAM-CT project, students are engaged in active learning experiences which require thinking, handling and applying content, such as asking questions, exploring, creating new solutions, collaborating with each other, …

 

More about the compatibility of STEAM and computational thinking (CT) in ‘Process: problem-solving based on computational thinking’.