Abstract
Following the Sputnik shock, the hard sciences and mathematics worked to improve education within their disciplinary silos (S, T, E, M). Later, when it became apparent that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics were connected, educators turned to interdisciplinarity and connection focusing on STEM. But STEM, if integration was achieved at all, led to a new silo. Thus, after years of experimenting, it turned out that STEM might be better conceptualized within a broader perspective that also included the arts, giving rise to STEAM. This chapter suggests even more expansion that leads to considerations of education as life-wide and lifelong, and even dealing with institutional problems that result from isolating schooling from other activities that make society. I begin by describing alternative ways of teaching that have arisen in science. These ways are used as concrete materials for developing the theoretical base for the case made. The chapter concludes that education should be organized around solving real “wicked problems,” not sham problems created for the purpose of getting grades. This way, students could contribute to sustainability and society even while learning. The wicked problems require more than STEAM, because they also involve ethics, politics, sociology, and so on.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Lemke, J. (1990). Talking science: Language, learning, and values. Westport: Ablex.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (1997). Science and technology in the public eye. Accessed at http://www.oecd.org/science/sci-tech/2754356.pdf
Roth, W.-M. (2002). Taking science education beyond schooling. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 2, 37–48.
Roth, W.-M. (2007). Toward a dialectical notion and praxis of scientific literacy. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39, 377–398.
Roth, W.-M. (2014). Rules of bending, bending the rules: The geometry of conduit bending in college and workplace. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 86, 177–192.
Roth, W.-M., & Alexander, T. (1997). The interaction of students’ scientific and religious discourses: Two case studies. International Journal of Science Education, 19, 125–146.
Roth, W.-M., & McGinn, M. K. (1997). Deinstitutionalizing school science: Implications of a strong view of situated cognition. Research in Science Education, 27, 497–513.
Roth, W.-M., & van Eijck, M. (2010). Fullness of life as minimal unit: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning across the lifespan. Science Education, 94, 1027–1048.
Saxe, G. B. (1991). Culture and cognitive development: Studies in mathematical understanding. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Roth, WM. (2019). We Need More (than) STEAM: Let’s Go for Life-Wide and Lifelong Education. In: Stewart, A.J., Mueller, M.P., Tippins, D.J. (eds) Converting STEM into STEAM Programs. Environmental Discourses in Science Education, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25101-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25101-7_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25100-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25101-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)