STEM vs. STEAM

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

At some point I think you loose focus on the objective, after all, if we're going to include Arts, why not English (or whatever language)? After all, engineers write a lot of notes and other documents when working on a project. Why not throw in Social Sciences too, since technology has such a huge impact on society? Where does it stop? Eventually if you continue down this road, the acronym (STEM) just turns into a synonym for "School".

I think there's a pretty clear division there, even though skills are representative across disciplines. To me, STEAM is about creation of discrete objects and ideas. In science and math, it's creation of new knowledge, laws, and theories that describe our observed experiences in the world. Technology and engineering are about creation in a more obvious way - creating the gizmos and gadgets that run modern life. Art is about creation of media (in all of its forms) that enriches the human experience.

English, Social Studies, etc. are about communication. English is learning the standard methods of communication across all that speak and read the language. Social Studies are "applied communication" in the way engineering is "applied science" - they are communicating ideas, histories, abstract concepts, and observations about the social world we live in and how humans interact with each other (see sociology, history, etc).

Maybe I'm inventing this distinction, it really is more of a gray line than anything else, but I really think art has a place in STEM, and that I'm a better STEM person for including art in my education.