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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Am I the only one who does not get why the A was added to STEM? I thought stem was supposed to be a focus on science tech math engineering. Adding the arts now means everything? Isn’t that just “school”? What am I missing?? STEAM as an acronym seems really stupid to me.[/quote]
The "A" was added in education because some kids would come into a STEM activity and be immediately turned off and unwilling to approach the activity.  By adding art to STEM activities more kids are interested in the activity and it's supposed to be a gateway to getting kids interested in STEM.   It's supposed to make math and science less intimidating and provide relevance to something kids want to learn about.[/quote]

It is not merely a matter of "some kids."  When it was merely "STEM," it began to be viewed through the lens of gender equity.  Viewed in that way, there were too few women and girls attracted to STEM, but likely this was also an effect of girls not being welcomed / implicit biases by both male students and male teachers.

One method of correcting that historical injustice was to make STEM more inclusive.  Hence, the logical and equitable result is STEAM. [/quote]

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