STEAM Education, Guest Column

In cleaning up my digital files, I found the guest column I wrote in 2017 for the NAEA News Art Education Technology Interest Group (Volume 59, No, 5, 2017). A few weeks ago, I presented at the state conference on “Establishing Maker-Mindsets with Arts-Based STEAM” and it was interesting to see myself still rooted to some of my foundational perspectives, even though I’ve now been teaching STEAM full-time for 4 years.

---

When STEAM Education gained national momentum, concerns circulated among art educators that the Fine Arts would be replaced or diminished for the sake of the STEM core subjects. Art educators already had varying experiences in the treatment of their programs by their respective schools and for some, the fear of being displaced is real.

Personally, I believe that we hold the power to influence how those outside of Art Education perceive our work, and we do a disservice to our programs when we dismiss 21st Century trends without assessing the value it can lend to us. 

By choice, I teach K-6 Art at two schools concurrently in one of the largest counties in the United States. My schools are at opposite ends of the spectrum, one with over 900 students in an affluent neighborhood, and the other a Title 1 with less than 300 students in our county’s poorest corridor. When I started in 2013 as a part-time teacher at my large school, the full-time teacher had established an impactful program. I perceived value as long as I did my job to uphold our program’s standards.

As a result of its size, my Title 1 school had a revolving door of art teachers and the program lacked consistency, presence, and established student skillsets. Due to a strange hitch in scheduling, I was given a weekly rotation of classes on Fridays that already had art class earlier that week. This sounds fabulous, except 6 of the 14 classes had art with a different teacher. Out of respect for her lessons, I devoted the extra blocks to non-assessed STEAM sessions and called it Art Lab.  

My Title 1 students participated in Art Lab experiments observing how things work. We focused more on the process instead of the end product, sometimes operating without a product at all. There were no grades, no obligations to compare craftsmanship, no fear among the students of inadequacy. We had one policy, “You are here to be a creative thinker that can solve problems while having fun.”

It was beautiful. So beautiful, the next year, the principal of my larger school hired a third art teacher for one day to open the art schedule and begin a similar program. We have since expanded to teaching a monthly STEAM block for each class in addition to their regularly scheduled art block. 

However, in 2015, the funding that paid for the second art teacher at my Title 1 school was cut. The scheduling changed to a weekly hour for each class and I was left with a choice. Do I use my precious time for art or give up some lessons to embrace STEAM?

I chose to carry forward with Art Lab sessions as a transition in between projects, then something unexpected happened. Students stopped differentiating between Art Lab and art class. I lost that ability too. Practices and subject matter once reserved for STEAM time bled into my everyday teaching and planning.

I wanted my students to think critically, so I stopped giving them answers to all of their problems. I wanted fearless creators, so I began to judge their projects on functionality and whether it was an honest representation of their ideas before aesthetics. I wanted collaborators, so I made them rely on each other more than me. I wanted students to try their best, so I created a classroom culture where it’s okay to fail, but you have to fail with effort. 

My experiences taught me that STEAM is an organic vehicle to a Growth Mindset, for both teacher and student. I have gained an amazing outlook in my work as an educator. No one questions the art teacher. 

By contract, I am asked to teach one subject, with freedom to choose how I teach it. I choose to explore STEAM and other 21st Century initiatives as tools, not a checklist. I am part of a collective effort to replace traditional education by teaching through the arts, not replace them. 

There will always be differing stances on how to provide an authentic art education program. The reality is all teachers approach education with practices that fit their specific needs, populations, and situations. I am only an expert in what works best for me. 

STEAM positively altered the impact I had on students, and in turn increased my valuation within my communities. My program advocates for itself among my students, faculty and parents, allowing me to bring the arts to the frontline. In the end, there was nothing to fear, and everything to gain.