In STEAM education Arts must be Integrated into the Whole

I was encouraged to hear that the Portsmouth School Committee recently approved awarding certificates to graduates who complete a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) curriculum. Portsmouth is actively encouraging students to pursue the STEAM disciplines in higher education and in their future careers. The five requirements for the certificate are of high standards: four credits of science, four credits of math, 1.5 credits in technology and 1.5 credits in art, in addition to completing a STEAM-related project in the senior year. This is the first of many steps for Portsmouth High School to be a STEAM academy. 

However, PHS has much to do before it can advertise itself as being “in the STEAM business.” I am a member of the group of Aquidneck Island citizens attempting to open a K-8 STEAM public charter school. For the past nine months, I have been researching the STEM-to-STEAM education movement and how to integrate art with STEM subjects. I used to think that STEAM education was simply about adding art activities to traditional STEM lessons, but that is superficial. Neal Overstrom, director of the Rhode Island School of Design’s Nature Lab, explains what STEAM is best: 

“STEAM is much more than simply including the arts with STEM disciplines. It is a synergy between convergent and divergent thinking, subjective and objective observation, and visual and experimental inquiry that helps us explore complex problems in new and innovative ways.”    Visit:  http://web.uri.edu/rinsfepscor/3302-2/ 

Portsmouth High School’s attempt at a STEAM curriculum is commendable, but it is incomplete. Simply requiring a combination of isolated classes in science, math, technology and arts do not fulfill what STEAM education is really about: deep level integration of STEM with the arts to form a new course of study that requires students to develop a form of critical thinking and problem solving different than what they would learn from traditional STEM classes alone. Only in their senior year through the STEAM project will students get the opportunity to even begin developing these new ways of thinking. 

As someone who spent five years in graduate school as a research assistant for the development of Living By Chemistry (an innovative guided-inquiry high school chemistry curriculum used in schools across the country including those in Boston), I acknowledge that developing a genuine STEAM curriculum will be no trivial endeavor for the teachers at Portsmouth High School. It will take many years of collaboration among the science, math, technology and arts teachers undergoing an iterative, experimental cycle of curriculum development before PHS becomes a true STEAM academy. I hope Portsmouth High School stays true to its commitment and embraces fully the STEAM agenda by investing the time and effort to develop genuine STEAM curriculum. By doing so, it will set itself apart in our community as a leader in educational innovation. 

Karen Chang
Newport

The writer is a RI chemistry educator with a doctorate in science education.