W11P1: Integrating the Arts

Notes from "Interdisciplinary to Transdisciplinary: An Arts-Integrated Approach to STEAM Education" by Christine Liao



The rhetoric of STEM education starts with the belief that
future economic growth and innovation in the United States relies
on STEM fi elds, yet the number of students pursuing studies in
these areas is decreasing (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.).

Th e promise that STEM holds for the future is based on the idea
that STEM fi elds drive critical innovation and that innovation, in
line with early- to mid-20th-century notions, is explicitly tied to
economics (Godin, 2008).

One of the strongest arguments for STEAM derives from the
view that creativity is the most important ability in the 21st century
(Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

Some educators argue that increasing the number of school
hours dedicated to STEM subjects will not foster students’ interest
and ability in STEM fi elds. Th erefore, they call for an integrated
approach to STEM education as most applicable to the real world
(Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014).

An integrated
approach to STEM education emphasizes that at least two STEM
subjects be used in concert to construct applications, especially
those with real-world implications.

education. In Bequette and Bequette’s
(2012) view, art and design educators should communicate with
their peers in STEM fields to determine how to integrate art with
STEM to create a STEAM curriculum.

Their view on STEAM education is expressed
through creating a class environment where students learn
through creative problem solving. This viewpoint also corresponds
with problem-based integrated STEM education.

Another view
takes the communication between art and STEM educators to a
transdisciplinary space (Guyotte, Sochacka, Costantino, Walther,
& Kellam, 2014) where the focus is applications to social practices.

Silverstein and Layne
(2010) define arts integration as “an approach to teaching in which
students construct and demonstrate understanding through an
arts form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an
art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives
in both” (para. 1). This definition recognizes the importance of
creative production and promotes hands-on learning through
artmaking.

Bringing STEAM directly into the individual teacher’s classroom
is an easier starting point than executing a larger-scale project in
the current general and curricula environments of many schools.

Art educators can begin to implement STEAM education
through an arts-integrated approach, such as the focal
example described in this article. Ulbricht’s (1998) guidelines
for interdisciplinary art education “emphasize art’s unique
perspective and [that it should] not become a handmaiden
for other disciplines.” Further, Ulbricht specifi es that “new
understandings [should be] developed as a result of connections”
and that interdisciplinary art education should be “concerned
with important social and personal issues” and “organized
around important themes.” And, finally, that “art study should be
collaborative” (pp. 16–17).