STEAM Actually comming to FRC, and im not happy

[Carolyn_Grace]

Personally I think we need to change it to SCTEAM.

With more of an emphasis on COMMUNICATION, perhaps we'd solve the problem of terrible capitalization and grammar habits on the internetz.

Please for the love of the English language, use apostrophes and capitalize "I"

[Kartoffee]

I'm kind of mixed about this. On one hand, FIRST depends equally on art or photography. Yet, STEM is a very small part of a FIRST team. FIRST clearly is in favor of teams doing more outside of STEM, such as the Chairman's Award. Also, there is a certain weight about the term "science". Science is the laws of the universe. These laws have no room for error. Gravity isn't about 10m/s^2, it is 9.8, and will always be as long as the planet stays a closed system. The same can't be said for arts. Art is purely objective. The STEAM issue is like behavioral science; science is definite, but human behaviors aren't.

That being said, our team (Bionic Blackhawks) is very dependent on our student's concerted effort to produce a public image of our team at every event. I think that the art field is worthy of recognition, but I would not put it on the same plane as science and mathematics.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Kartoffee

Gravity isn't about 10m/s^2, it is 9.8, and will always be as long as the planet stays a closed system.

It's NOT 9.8. It's ABOUT 9.8. Surprise, gravity isn't uniform across the globe. There's small variations depending on where you are. As you can assume this does horrible things with things like accelerometers when you need precision.

[Chris is me]

It just feels like, of all the things FIRST does and can continue to do, we have so much more to worry about than the letters in our acronym or if we have to share a little grant money with a chronically underfunded portion of our educational system. I know it's possible to worry about several things at once, so this isn't really an argument, but we have some inspirin' to do.

Personally, if this leads to even a little bit more respect, appreciation, and incorporation of the arts into FIRST teams, I'm happy for the change. I'm done with edgy kids who think they're better than people with artistic sides, and who think they can just ignore that entire branch of human expression and still be the most effective scientists and engineers they can be.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It just feels like, of all the things FIRST does and can continue to do, we have so much more to worry about than the letters in our acronym or if we have to share a little grant money with a chronically underfunded portion of our educational system. I know it's possible to worry about several things at once, so this isn't really an argument, but we have some inspirin' to do.

Personally, if this leads to even a little bit more respect, appreciation, and incorporation of the arts into FIRST teams, I'm happy for the change. I'm done with edgy kids who think they're better than people with artistic sides, and who think they can just ignore that entire branch of human expression and still be the most effective scientists and engineers they can be.

This spawned a thought for me... FIRST's acronym is, well, FIRST. STEM and STEAM are not FIRST acronyms. They aren't ones FIRST created or controlled. They are ones FIRST can use to help achieve its goals, though.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by s_forbes

I think they really need to add more terms to make it a more forward thinking acronym. Art is important, but Business is just as important, if not more, for sustaining a team. Another core tenant of FIRST is teaching students Responsibility as it applies to project management, and Inclusion of team mates to make a highly functional team.

The new acronym should really be RIBMEATS.

Underrated post.

While I don't speak for everyone, I don't think people who are opposed to STEAM are against Arts, just concerned that moving in the direction of including fields that aren't directly related to STEM is a slippery slope and could result in a loss of focus in STEM as a whole.

As s_forbes pointed out, in addition to Arts, Business could certainly be added as it directly affects STEM (while the other two items he listed make a fun acronym, I don't really see them as "fields of study"), but why stop there? Much of STEM draws from historical examples and research, so why not add History? What about adding Social Sciences since STEM has a profound impact on society? People in STEM fields also take a lot of notes and write technical papers, why not add English/Language Arts? Lots of "STEM" goes in to modern physical fitness, lets add PE too while we're at it. Throw in Foreign language too since, in the modern global economy many things are manufactured in other countries.

STEAMFLELAHPESS

Eventually you end up with this all encompassing mass of fields that is almost indistinguishable from General Education.


Also, this:

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The problem I have with STEAM is that it strikes me as a money grab. STEM education has a clear and concise goal of increasing certain professions with a pretty well defined set of subject matters it caters to. STEAM is far less defined and is rapidly approaching education as a whole. It may be cynical of me, but STEAM just seems like a way for Arts educators/lobbyists to compete for funding and attention that was going towards STEM (grants/sponsorships/scholarships/etc). To me it seems like "the Arts" felt left out of STEM, and rather than advocate their own set of merits and interests, they latched onto STEM initiatives to get their slice of the pie.

Did this CA FIRST Scholarship exist before the switch from STEM to STEAM? Would it have existed without the switch from STEM to STEAM? Did it struggle for applicants as a STEM scholarship? Or are good STEM-field applicants going to be passed over for the scholarship in favor of BA majors?

None of this is to say that Arts aren't important or that the Arts aren't applicable to STEM fields. However, others have pointed out that Business and other fields are also applicable to STEM. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and the relationship between STEM and other fields can be stressed even within the confines of STEM.

[jman4747]

This is what I get from reading up on the links provided by Lil' Lavery:

STEAM initiatives promote art education as a method of improving skills critical to modern and future STEM fields.

I think that goal is fine and believe FIRST does this now even if we need to improve it.

My problem with them:
They seem to lack concern for increasing the number of K-12 students who pursue STEM degrees and carriers in the first place. If more money is pushed to programs that don't do this then I am against these initiatives. Furthermore to the existent that the acronym is used to promote such programs I am against its use.

If the above isn't the case then I wouldn't worry about STEAM initiatives or the use of the acronym.

[Kartoffee]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

It's NOT 9.8. It's ABOUT 9.8. Surprise, gravity isn't uniform across the globe. There's small variations depending on where you are. As you can assume this does horrible things with things like accelerometers when you need precision.

True, I just couldn't think of a better example.

[Gravity]

I personally think we should officially call it Communication Harp-playing Intelligence Education Fundraising Design Elevation Liberation Painting Harmonics and Imagination.

This way we incorporate all aspects of FIRST

[Awesomegamer235]

STEAM could mean we have game peices that are artsy or it could mean that they are going to add an award. If they add an award i think it would be something based on your robot design OR it could mean they are going to recognize the mascots by having an award for the best costume for mascots. thats just what i think i would love to hear other peoples opinions

[hutchMN]

Why don't we just build a wall to keep ART out?

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by hutchMN

Why don't we just build a wall to keep ART out?

No way that can backfire...

And OBTW, STEAMFLELAHPESS => TSHAPELESSFLAME.