From totally devoting the focus of attention to STEM learning, now the space of curriculum has widened further to a new model known as STREAM.
In addition to the STEM model it includes ARTS and ‘Reading & wRiting’ concept into it. This update of STEM to STREAM was important as educators had found that this would actively promote the 21’st century skills in the students. To name these skills, they are collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking that finds justice in STREAM Curriculum.
This infusing of ‘Reading & wRiting’ into STEM model was important because it has been found that writing like any other art helps in teaching an entire range of tools for thinking which are required to be creative in any discipline. By adding the Reading & wRiting in the STEM model it brings forward a multidisciplinary approach that’s good of course and is an agent that encourages cross-curricular teaching process. Thus, such an update was indeed important.
STREAM – the Holistic Package
STREAM curriculum allows students to learn vital skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and innovation along with essential technology skills sets. So if only the STEM curriculum would be stressed, students would only be acquiring technical skills and come up with innovative ideas without evaluating the human aspects.
Humanities is actually a stream that helps students to know more on the human society, ideologies, beliefs and knowing more on humanity expressing itself in terms of art, architecture etc. And although one may not belief so easily but humanities is closely connection with scientific logics. This facet has been agreed by Priya Venkatesan who is a double majored Student in Comparative literature and Biochemistry at Dartmouth College. To quote her significant findings, “While conducting molecular biology research…I have found the parallels between literature and science all too striking. Further, I have determined that being a literary theorist could have advantages in the laboratory- not only in enhancing scientific productivity, but also in more accurately understanding scientific activity.”
Something similar was the view of Nobel laureate and physicist William D. Phillips who says, “I enjoyed and profited from well-taught science and math classes, but in retrospect, I can see that the classes that emphasized language and writing skills were just as important for the development of my scientific career as were science and math. I certainly feel that my high school involvement in debating competitions helped me later to give better scientific talks, that the classes in writing style helped me to write better papers.”
So, what we can understand from the above two findings is that if educators are determined to shoulder the responsibility of assisting students become future ready, following a comprehensive and flawless curriculum model like that of STREM is a fundamental aspect. Innovative and successful scientists only comes up when students are trained to love and cherish writing. It is important because, writing teaches students the art of learning, how to imagine and create something with much thinking. As rightly pointed out by one of the famous writers of National Writing Projects that “Writing is thinking…So We shouldn’t sacrifice the teaching of writing.”
Scientific learning and scientific skills are undoubtedly important and there is no denying to it but without having a human touch that of emotion and feeling in it, the scientific logic is meaningless. Thus to conclude, why STREAM learning has become popular is something that was ought to be and it had valid reasons to become popular. The only thing that needs a big accolade is the fact that, educators and educational philosophers have taken the right decision to turn STEM into STEAM and further into STREAM in order to build a holistic package of modern curriculum. We hope following such a method of curriculum, the future students will turn out to be strongest currents of scientific creative professionals and leaders. Let’s essence of all the disciplines and integrate them into future societal developmental process.
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