STEM vs. STEAM Education and Student Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review

David Aguilera,Jairo Ortiz-Revilla

doi:10.3390/educsci11070331

Abstract

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is an educational approach that is now accompanied by the STEAM (STEM + Arts) variant. Both educational approaches seek to renew the scientific literacy of younger generations, and, with the inclusion of the arts, student creativity is described as a key skill that must receive special attention. A review is therefore presented here of empirical STEM and STEAM-based educational interventions so as to determine their potential to develop student creativity. A systematic search of papers over one decade, 2010–2020, found 14 didactic interventions on the Web of Science and Scopus databases for analysis within the review process. The analysis suggested that: (1) the interventions based both on STEM and STEAM have multiple and even contradictory forms, both in theory and in practice; (2) there appears to be a preference among researchers for the Likert-type test to evaluate creativity; and (3) both educational approaches show evidence of positive effects on student creativity. In the light of the principal findings, it was concluded that arguing for the implementation of STEAM education over STEM education, with a view to developing or promoting student creativity, is not in agreement with the evidence from the empirical studies.

Highlights

Constant scientific-technological advances and rapid social change, all inter-related and with globalized impacts, require creative thought as an essential adaptative skill [1] and guarantee progress toward a more sustainable life [2].Given the social context and drawing from the work of Craft [3], the extent to which the subject matter can limit or can add to the creativity of students from an educational point of view is a key question
Aguilera (2020) [54] found similar results; he noted in his review of the literature that 33% of empirical studies that sought to improve student attitudes toward STEM disciplines never explained their conceptualization of STEM education, despite adopting this educational approach in their didactic interventions
“Smart STEM acronym (STEAM) stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and means learning the fused knowledge of various fields.” (p. 494) “The integration of STEM with the arts, called STEAM, is gaining momentum as a method to increase student engagement in STEM topics through personal expression, aesthetic, and interdisciplinary projects.” (p. 183) “STEM education which is considered as one of the biggest educational movements of the late years is a multidisciplinary approach aimed at training students to integrate their disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Summary

Introduction

Constant scientific-technological advances and rapid social change, all inter-related and with globalized impacts, require creative thought as an essential adaptative skill [1] and guarantee progress toward a more sustainable life [2].Given the social context and drawing from the work of Craft [3], the extent to which the subject matter (thematic context) can limit or can add to the creativity of students from an educational point of view is a key question. Following this strand of thought, there are scarce few studies that pick out the effects of STEM (or STEAM) education on student creativity In this regard, Batdi, Talan and Semerci [6], taking advantage of a meta-analysis to determine the effect of STEM education on the academic performance of students, analyzed the impact of STEM approach on the affective and cognitive dimensions and student skill levels from a qualitative perspective. Batdi, Talan and Semerci [6], taking advantage of a meta-analysis to determine the effect of STEM education on the academic performance of students, analyzed the impact of STEM approach on the affective and cognitive dimensions and student skill levels from a qualitative perspective These authors identify a possible effect of STEM approach on students’ creativity, they do not collect the reasons. The following questions summarize both objectives: 1. Through which STEM/STEAM conceptual approach were the didactic interventions prepared that are used to develop student creativity?

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Conclusion