STREAM education

10 August 2023

Modern model of education - STREAM education (science, technology, reading, engineering, art, mathematics)

Children are little explorers from the moment they are born. Every day they ask thousands of questions, and every element in their path is of interest. The question "why?", "for what?", "how?" accompanies children at every step, because it follows from the nature of the child and the natural need to explore, experiment, look for solutions and make various kinds of attempts.

Let's appreciate this attitude and behavior of children, because it is thanks to them that the world moves forward. New inventions, tools and technologies are created every day.

In order for the STREAM model to be able to develop the traits of a "pioneer" student, it is necessary to change the traditional school model. The schools that have functioned until now have tended to destroy children's potential and their natural need to discover through action.

Schools are dominated by methods where the teacher is the most important person in the classroom, the transmitter of knowledge. On the other hand, the student should only absorb the information. Without questions, investigations, self-resolution of doubts. Students are expected to "know and master" the material presented to them in class. From this they are evaluated and checked. Unfortunately, with all this, the aspect of creativity, creativity, innovation or finding one's own way to solve a problem is lost.

Here the question arises, should the school, working in this way, educate people with an idea for their own life, creative people who are looking for new, unconventional methods, or will it promote the development of natural talents? Will the school produce students who are flexible and have an idea of their professional life? I am afraid that the traditional model of learning does not offer students the most appropriate choices, nor does it indicate a practice based on experience and experimentation. However, there is hope for a change in current teaching practices. Perhaps the solution will be the use of educational practices based on the STREAM model. Training according to the STREAM concept is a completely new model of educational work, which is based on adapting the method of obtaining knowledge to the needs of the child.

The name STREAM comes from the first letters of the English equivalents of the fields of science on which the model is based:

At the first stage, STEM covered only scientific subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In the next step, art was added to the model, emphasizing the importance of art in innovative education. Currently, STREAM combines the science of science with technology, robotics and engineering, all the way to artistic practice.

Learning according to the STREAM model is based on the possibility of creating something new, researching, checking and testing, that is, it takes the form of projects and workshops. All this means that children are not bored during classes, willingly participate in them, and most importantly, focus on the lesson and enjoy learning.

The student is no longer just a reproducer, he becomes an inventor, a designer who takes control of the creative process. While learning and gaining knowledge, he "plays", asking himself research questions, trying to find answers to the questions he asks himself, in his own ways. By trial and error on your own.

The teacher changes his standard role to a mentor, a person who gives advice, is willing to give advice, but will not give a ready-made solution for assimilation.

An important advantage of the model is that the most important role in the school belongs to children. They set themselves tasks and monitor their proper implementation