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I don't understand the point of STEAM. From what I can tell, the use of STEM is to describe the math-y type pursuits. Art, etc.. doesn't fit at all. It's not a
by spencerflem 9y ago
I don't understand the point of STEAM. From what I can tell, the use of STEM is to describe the math-y type pursuits. Art, etc.. doesn't fit at all. It's not a bad thing to not be a STEM field, just different. I absolutely think that we should emphasize art more than we are now, but that doesn't make it STEM.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y agoYou could make a good philosophical argument that a significant portion of the technology industry for most workers today is art. Code structuring and design is art. Becoming a good leader is an art. Scientific research is an art form. Teaching properly is art. We should not discount the creative aspect in what we do.
- gogopuppygogo 9y agoArt is a form of expression. Software is a form of expression. The two are vastly different forms of expression. Personally I don't think that Art should be part of the process for a STEM degree. That said, it benefited Steve Jobs and Apple greatly to merge the two.
- JSONwebtoken 9y agoSo if everything is already an art, why include it in the acronym?
- snakeanus 9y ago> Code structuring and design is art No, it's applied mathematics. You could argue that mathematics are "art" but then you would need a really wide and probably useless definition of "art" as almost everything would be art.
- clentaminator 9y agoI see this a lot and never quite understand it. Code structuring to me seems more like a craft, something that is improved through experience and wisdom and not abstract rules.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- JadeNB 9y ago> You could argue that mathematics are "art" but then you would need a really wide and probably useless definition of "art" as almost everything would be art. I don't think that everyone (maybe not even every mathematician) would call math an art, but I think that it can be done without doing undue violence to the term. For me, what makes mathematics an art is its capability for creating and exploring unusual, surprising, sometimes delightful patterns, in visual and other senses of the term. I'm not sure I'd call that a definition of 'art', but I think that it's not so broad as to be meaningless. (A quick Google for "math is art" turns up many other (probably better) arguments along the same theme. Here's one: https://hackernoon.com/mathematics-is-art-all-the-mathematicians-say-so-d0d569f89976 https://hackernoon.com/mathematics-is-art-all-the-mathematic... .)
- adrianN 9y agoThere is a useful distinction between art and craft. I'd argue that the things you mentioned can be crafts, but I don't think we should call them art.
- pyroinferno 9y agoYes, I suppose if we redefine the word "art", then technology would be art.
- nsxwolf 9y agoThose "Beautiful APIs", though
- Mefis 9y agoI should think most great scientists had a good appreciation of the arts.
- TezlaKoil 9y agoSo what? You could equally well observe that most great scientists were men, but that doesn't mean that STEM education for women can be improved by sex reassignment surgery.
- Mefis 9y agoMy point is that a well rounded education probably makes for a smarter person. If all you do is code or solve calculus your world view might end up being rather narrow.
- greglindahl 9y agoIf you go to Tech Shop or Maker Faire in the bay area, you'll see a lot of people doing art as an integral part of what they're doing with STEM. Totally fine if that's not you.