STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
Before STEAM education, there was STEM education, which mainly focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. But then problems arose and many parents, as well as students, realized that STEM was not enough for their kids’ well-rounded development. The emphasis that schools placed upon STEM did not lead to those dazzling results they’d hoped for, which is when educators started to include the arts as an inseparable component of the educational approach.
With that being said, the idea is not about giving equal or greater time to STEM or the arts. Instead, STEAM (after adding Arts into STEM) education aims to incorporate artistic topics, skills, and ways of thinking to teaching and learning technical subjects.
The main difference between STEM and STEAM is that STEM symbolizes a modern approach to science and related subjects focusing on solving problems through critical thinking and analytical skills. STEAM education explores the same subjects, but incorporates creative thinking and applied arts into teaching and real situations.
Art is about discovering and creating ingenious ways of problem-solving, integrating principles, and presenting information. By adding the element of art to STEM-based thinking, educators believe that students can use both sides of their brain—analytical and creative— to develop tomorrow’s best thinkers.