A University of Iowa art professor suggests changing STEM to STEAM so that art and design are included.
By Elianna Novitch
A movement seeks to change the STEM model of the 20th century to a new model that incorporates art and design.
Many are familiar with STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math. But a new model, STEAM, is being discussed and adopted around the nation, including the University of Iowa, as people look for innovation that will provide a prosperous future.
The STEAM model adds art and design to the science core.
The movement has been backed by the Rhode Island School of Design backed the movement, which is now being widely adopted by institutions, corporations, and individuals.
One of these institutions is the UI.
“[The STEAM movement] is happening here perhaps at a far greater level than at most institutions, and it has everything to do with how UI is configured,” said UI art Professor Steve McGuire. “Right now, 70 percent of our undergraduate majors in art are double majors, and there is a trend nationally for students who are getting a double major to have it in the traditional STEM fields alongside an art major.
“Students are doing that strategically because more often than not, their task in the career field is to be an individual on a team who can think creatively. Specifically, we have an art and engineering track where we have engineering students taking a set of art courses as part of their elected focus area. A similar thing set up for computer-science majors.”
According to the STEM to STEAM website, the objectives of the STEAM movement are to transform research policy to place art and design at the center of STEM, encourage integration of art and design in K-12 education, and influence employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation.
“I think it’s good that they are expanding beyond the current STEM model. It can seem small and traditional,” said UI STEM student Harper Gagliano. “With art involved [in the model], a different group of people with different ideas that normally aren’t associated with math, engineering, and the sciences become involved.”
McGuire said many of his students are engineering students already.
“Half of my students are engineering students,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with the fact that art shares a creative element with science and engineering that involves getting an idea in your head of what you want to accomplish and then pursing that idea to completion.”
UI art student Lindey Carlson agrees with McGuire’s perspective regarding a shared creative process between STEM fields and art.
“Both art and STEM have to do with creating something that serves a purpose,” she said. “They both use different forms of creativity.”
Though some make the argument that STEM fields are too different from art and that they don’t belong together, McGuire notes the positive results that come from STEM and art coming together.
“Students from various fields bring a diverse set of questions to art courses. Questions that are different in perspective that make the class think in new ways about the work they’re doing,” he said. “When you’ve got engineering and chemistry majors in an art class, you’re getting a range of perspectives that you wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Art and design’s place in education has been questioned before, but Carlson argues its relevance because of its constant influence.
“I think art is still very relevant. You see it everywhere from architecture to advertisements. A lot of people don’t realize the influence art has,” Carlson said. “Like if an architect didn’t know anything about art and designed a building, it would be very boring to look at. Art adds a creative element to everything that makes it all flow better.”
As the STEAM model continues to grow nationally, McGuire has hopes for the part UI will play.
“I think that this university is in a unique position to be able to bring this [STEAM] movement to creation,” he said. “We have historically some of the strongest art programs in the country set side by side with significant science programs.”
