Why STEAM Education Matters In Schools

Whether you’re a veteran educator or this is your first year teaching, STEAM education can play an exciting and vital role in your curriculum. In this article, you will learn all you need to know about why STEAM matters, plus some expert tips and tricks on how to implement successful STEAM education in your school.

Why STEAM Education Matters in Schools

STEAM-based curricula have taken off in classrooms all across the country and for good reason: the building blocks of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) are fields in which it is vital for young learners to develop proficiency. Beyond the classroom, there’s an increasing demand for workers that have a strong foundation in STEAM knowledge. Due to that demand, jobs in many STEM fields garner the highest earnings.  These employees are well compensated because companies know that STEAM combines five diverse fields to create well-rounded, 21st century learners that can think creatively and collaborate well with others. The ability to innovate while engaging with technological and mathematical concepts is a valuable skill for students entering higher education and the workforce.

Well before students graduate and eventually start their careers, STEAM education establishes the foundation for success by… 

• Fostering a love of creating
• Enhancing problem-solving skills
• Reinforcing and expanding on concepts and ideas taught in school
• Providing delight and inspiring curiosity
• Encouraging self-expression
• Developing a growth mindset and resilience

By focusing on how to solve problems creatively and collaboratively, STEAM education prepares students for the future. As they engage with and learn about technology, they understand real-world applications of educational concepts. This type of contextual learning will help them retain and transfer their knowledge well beyond the classroom.

To learn about six essential attributes of STEAM learning, download and share the STEAM Superheroes Classroom Kit.

The Key Components of Effective STEAM Instruction

While STEAM-based curricula can sometimes feel complicated to plan and implement, there are a few key things to remember when planning any successful STEAM lesson: 

1. Prioritize Relevance: Using everyday materials and real-life examples, teachers can easily access the tools needed for fun STEAM projects and show students that they can draw from their own lives and household/classroom materials. Asking students to solve problems related to their own lives helps them form connections between the classroom to the real world.
2. Encourage Failure: Yes, you read that right! In a successful STEAM classroom, failure isn’t only accepted--it’s encouraged. Productive struggle teaches students resiliency, creative ways to approach problems (again and again), and that learning is a journey rather than a one-and-done process.
3. Foster Collaboration: Teamwork is a vital component of STEAM education. When students work together throughout the duration of projects, they learn new approaches, are exposed to new thought processes, and strengthen their communication skills.
4. Utilize Project-Based Learning (PBL): PBL provides tangible results when students work together to complete physical, real-world projects!
   

Easy-Prep STEAM Lessons (OR How to Make STEAM Simple)

Maybe you’re excited about getting STEAM education started in your school, but you’re not quite sure where to begin. 

As rewarding as a STEAM-based curriculum sounds to most educators and administrators, the thought of planning and implementing all the project components can feel, well, quite daunting. Creating a STEAM classroom culture that is engaging for students and practical for teachers takes balance.

TinkRworks is dedicated to helping more students access STEAM curricula by making it as simple as possible for educators to effectively implement it in their schools. At TinkRworks, we provide all the resources needed to create an easy-to-plan, fun, engaging, and successful STEAM culture in your school. See for yourself! Try an introductory package in your classroom:

• Art Electric: Where students combine elements of design, art, and programming to bring a piece of artwork to life!
• LaunchPad: Where students see coding principles come to life by programming a circuit board to be an electronic board game, a light and sound show, a musical instrument, a speed reaction game, a balance device, or anything else they can think of!
  

Get Started with STEAM Education

Although the thought of implementing STEAM education in your school or classroom might be overwhelming, TinkRworks has exciting and innovative curricula to help make it more manageable. 

STEAM Superheroes

This incredibly fun, engaging introduction to STEAM draws students in and gets them excited about learning STEAM concepts by tapping into their love of (you guessed it) superheroes! Students will learn all about the STEAM Super Squad: Captain Collaborative, The Incredible Innovator, Inquisitive Investigator, Technology Titan, Problem-Solving Pro, and Agent Persistent. They’ll see how the members of the squad assemble to solve problems, think creatively, and collaborate on projects!

Learn more and access exclusive STEAM Super Squad downloads now! 

High Performing STEAM Classroom PD Kit

Initiating a STEAM-based education program at your school can be a challenging task for any administrator, whether experienced or newly hired. That’s why TinkRworks has developed resources to help make it easier to train and manage a group of incredible STEAM educators at your school. 

Download the High Performing STEAM Classroom Professional Development Kit to learn more about… 

• The 5 characteristics of high performing STEAM
•  How TinkRworks helps educators meet these important STEAM characteristics 
• Resources for planning high performing STEAM projects

In Summary

You want your students to learn all the skills they need to be college and career ready, and you want your teachers to feel empowered by the work that they do. Through STEAM education, you can meet both of these needs easily. A STEAM focus helps turn learners into innovators who are hungry for knowledge, eager to understand how the world works, and excited to play a role in solving problems collaboratively and creatively. As a leader in STEAM education, TinkRworks equips teachers with resources and projects that make STEAM simple, engaging, and fun for both students and teachers.