原标题：【STEAM简史】原来这才是真正的STEAM

STEAM课程在国内空前火热，对于打算把孩子送往国际学校的家长，即使是读国际幼儿园，谈论起STEAM都能说道几句。更有不少所谓的国际学校瞄准家长的心理，对STEAM大肆宣传，甚至夸大歪曲，但在实际教学中虽然打着STEAM的旗号，做的仍然还是传统教育的那些事儿。

所谓STEAM课程，就仅仅是几门字母所表示的课程随意组合起来那么简单么？究竟什么才是STEAM，STEAM课程的核心精髓是什么，北美国际学校资深外籍教育专家Dean，结合本校十几年的教学实践以及美国本土学校的课程设置，从STEAM课程的源头到发展演变一一阐述，帮助国内的家长和教育行业者对STEAM课程有一个全面而理性的认识。

北美国际学校资深外籍教育专家

Dean Owen

U.C. International School, Shanghai

正文开始

STEM/STEAM Education is a hot topic amongst parents and educators here in China. Most people I have talked to know that it is a good thing. But beyond what these acronyms actually stand for and knowing that the core focus would be on subjects that they believe are important, I often find that their knowledge of what STEM/STEAM actual entails is rather limited.

在中国，STEM/STEAM教育是家长和教育者中的一个热门话题。大部分与我交流过的人都知道它的益处。然而，除去这个缩略词所代表的真正含义，以及人们知道要将核心注意力放在他们所认为的重点学科上之外，我发现人们对于STEM/STEAM真正涉及的内容知之甚少。

A Brief History of STEAM

STEAM简史

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) can actually trace its roots back to the late 1950’s. The impetus to start prioritizing these particular subjects actually happened in 1957 when the Soviet Union surprised the World by launching an object no larger than a football into space. That object, a world first artificial satellite called Sputnik 1, disturbed the Americans who well knew that whoever controlled the high ground had a major advantage in combat.

STEM（即科学，技术，工程及数学的缩写）的历史可以追溯至20世纪50年代末。为这些特定学科进行优先级排序的动机源于1957年，当时苏联政府发射了一个比足球还小的物体到外太空，轰动全球。该物体名为Sputnik 1,是世上第一颗人造卫星，让深谙在战争中占据制高点即占得致胜之道的美国人们骚动不安。

President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a year later in 1958 and in so doing, a Space Race had begun. The Soviets had a head start and things got serious when in April, 1962, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. A little over a month later, President John F. Kennedy announced, in front of Congress, the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

一年后，即1958年，（美国）总统德怀特D.艾森豪威尔创立了美国国家航空航天局（简称NASA）,由此展开了一场航空竞赛。1962年4月，苏联拔得头筹，该国宇航员尤里加加林成为世界上第一个进入太空的人类。一个多月后，（美国）总统约翰F.肯尼迪在国会上宣布在未来十年人类将登陆月球并安全返回地球的目标。

In order to feed the necessary innovation, both Eisenhower and Kennedy challenged Americans to excel in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The actual acronym, originally SMET, is said to have started to appear in the 1990’s, and it was an assistant director for education and human resources at the National Science Foundation, Judith A. Ramaley who is credited with changing SMET to STEM because she thought simply that STEM sounded better.

为了取得必要的创新，艾森豪威尔和肯尼迪都鼓励美国民众在科学，数学，工程和技术上不断的推陈出新。据说SMET这个缩略词出现在二十世纪九十年代，朱迪斯A.瑞玛蕾，时任国家科学基金会教育及人类资源方面助理董事，她成功的将SMET改为STEM, 理由很简单，她认为STEM听上去更好听些。

Putting the “A” in STEAM

在STEAM中加个“A”

It wasn’t until 2006 that a fresh Virginia Tech masters graduate named Georgette Yakman started to develop the framework for STEM plus Arts. She initially started implementation of this new STEAM framework very much at classroom level as a middle and high school teacher. Yakman was keen to include Arts as it was plain to her that the relationship between Art and Technology was very often key to innovation.

直到2006年，一位名叫乔治特约克曼的弗吉尼亚理工大学硕士毕业生对原先的STEM架构进行拓展，将艺术元素也纳入其中。她最初大多是在课堂上对初高中的教师进行这项新型STEAM的实践研究。约克曼喜爱加入艺术元素，她认为艺术与技术之间的关系对于革新至关重要。

Art often inspires technology and she knew that one needed a holistic approach to solving problems. Bridge building requires scientists, engineers, geologists and designers/architects. But who would you choose to lead the project? The specialist scientist, the geologist, the architect, or someone who had a good understanding of all the disciplines and how they interrelate? Yakman further prioritized mathematics as, to her; mathematics is the underlying language of everything.

艺术通常能激发技术创新，约克曼很清楚个人需要通过全面综合的方式来解决问题。搭建一座桥梁需要科学家，工程师，地质学家和设计师/建筑师共同完成。但是你会选择谁来领导这项搭桥的工程呢？专业的科学家，地质学家，建筑师或者某个通晓以上各学科及其相互联系的人？约克曼将数学排在了第一位，在她看来，数学是一切事物的潜在语言。

Inciting Passion

激发热情

What was key to this new “project based” learning approach was a fundamental understanding that it is easier to learn when one has a passion for the subject, and that it was the responsibility of the teacher to incite passion.

这项新型的“基于学科”的学习方法关键是一种本质理解，即：当一个人对一门学科有了学习的热情后则更容易学好，而老师的责任在于激发这样的热情。

STEM, or STEAM, is not just about having fun with high tech toys. In actual fact one can and should employ STEM/STEAM teaching techniques from preschool onwards and the only equipment needed might be a few building blocks or pieces of rope. It is a more interactive method of teaching.

无论是STEM或STEAM, 都不只是关于从高科技玩具中获得乐趣。事实上，一个人可以并且应该从幼儿园就学会STEM/STEAM教学技巧，而唯一所需的装备可能只是一些积木或几根绳索。这是一种更具互动性的教学方法。

With traditional teaching methods, you would have a teacher at a whiteboard and the student sitting quiet at their desks absorbing facts, figures, and formulas. STEAM classrooms, called STEAM Labs, are often boisterous hives of activity with students on their feet observing, testing, solving, and altogether learning through a more hands on approach.

在传统的教学模式中，老师通常站在白板前授课，学生静坐在课桌前吸收知识，理解数字和公式。而在STEAM的课堂上，也被称之为STEAM实验室，通常由一些精彩纷呈的活动组成，学生们通过活动去观察，实验，并解决问题，所有的学习都是通过手动操作来完成。

STEM vs STEAM

STEM与STEAM对比

Often debated amongst educators, STEM proponents argue that the inclusion of Arts can detract from the much-needed focus on sciences. STEAM proponents argue that its exclusion will limit ones ability to see the answer to a problem. If one believes left brain vs right brain theories where the left is said to be more logical, analytical, and the right more creative, then surely a more holistic approach to education and how all these disciplines interrelate would be an better way to exercise and utilize the whole brain.

教育者之间也时常出现争论，STEM的支持者认为，加入艺术会分散人们在科学上所需的注意力，而STEAM的支持者则认为，去除艺术会限制人们看清问题的能力。在左脑与右脑相类比的理论中，如果人们倾向于相信左脑更具逻辑性，分析性，而右脑更具创造性，那么务必有一个更全面的方法适用于教育并且能利用到全脑的机能。

That is not to say that the World does not need specialists. Whichever approach one favours, the beauty of STEM/STEAM is that it allows students to find their passion and very often students may go on to specialize in one discipline.

这也并不是说世界上不需要专家，无论人们更喜爱哪种教育方法，STEM/STEAM的美就在于它能让学生发现自我的热情所在，并在某一学科里精益求精。

I am a STEAM proponent. But taking it a step further, I believe that the framework that Georgette Yakman and her incredible team at STEAM have created and continue to develop is a framework for teaching that works for whatever basket of subjects.

我是一名STEAM方法的拥护者。更进一步看，我相信乔治特约克曼和她的STEAM团队已经创造的并且继续开发的STEAM框架能适用于任何一门学科的教学。

At its core, STEM, or STEAM education is all about inciting passion. The STEAM company slogan is “FUNctional Literacy for All”, with an emphasis on FUN. It’s about finding the beauty in a typically dull subject like maths and making it fun. No matter how brilliantly smart the teacher, they will not teach well if they cannot incite passion, and for me that applies to any subject.

无论是STEM或是STEAM，其核心要素都是有关激发热情。STEAM公司的口号是“全民趣学”，强调的是有趣。即：在一门典型枯燥的学科里，比如数学，找到它自身的美并使之变得有趣。无论老师有多么聪明非凡，如果不能激发学生的热情，就不能有效的教学，在我看来，这点适用于任何学科。

原创声明

本篇文章属于北美国际学校资深外籍教育专家Dean Owen原创内容，如有转载发布，请注明文章来源，谢谢合作！

如果有对STEAM课程感兴趣的家长或者朋友，并且想和Dean关于该话题进行深入讨论，或者进一步了解北美国际学校STEAM课程，我校可在近期举办一场小型沙龙，时间会根据报名情况而定，报名方式如下：

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4008213446

021-34202997

021-34685649

北美国际学校

北美国际学校（UC.International School），始终坚持“融中西文化、育世界英才”的办学理念，为学生提供一流的国际教育。学校采用北美先进的教学理念、教学模式、教学大纲以及课程设置。自2004年迄今，已有13年的办学经验，培养超过1500名学生成功升入哈佛大学、加州大学伯克利分校、牛津大学、帝国理工学院、多伦多大学、滑铁卢大学、悉尼大学、墨尔本大学、香港大学等世界名校。

校址：上海市闵行区老沪闵路2060号

市中心接待处：上海市徐汇区漕溪北路331号中金国际广场A座新华中心1楼

学校网址： www.uscaedu.com

咨询电话： 4008213446

021-34202997

021-34685649

1、北美国际学校，与世界名校零距离

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3、只要来到北美，你就能迈进顶尖艺术大学的校门

4、盛夏中的凉爽，7月16日有一场你不能错过的招生会！

5、【曝光】一个初中生的“约会”日记！

6、放弃了高考，我们去了另一个地方

7、想去国际学校，一定要先参加体验课…

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