Sunday, May 13, 2018

Why The "STEAM" Fad In Schools Isn't About Better Education

This is great.
Mullarkey is, IMO, right on target with a lot of this.
Seriously worth a read.

posted by Winston Smith at 10:02 AM

2 Comments:

Blogger Aa said...

The STEAM movement aside, I have no problem linking arts with the sciences. There is an incredible amount of art in science...developing the hypothesis, creatively trying to develop experiments and interpret them (Look at Millikin's oil drop experiment...sheer artistry), developing often creative models to explain the experiments. And art, texture due to chemicals, redefing shapes with new materials, etc, etc., we all influence each other.
Oh, and that philosophy thing, underlying it all (a bit tongue in cheek there with the flippancy, FWIW).

2:13 PM  
Blogger Winston Smith said...

I disagree, but only really because (a) I think it's too much of a stretch, and (b) I think that knowing about just about *any* other legitimate discipline could help practitioners of just about any discipline. I doubt that art is of any more help to the average scientist or engineer than philosophy or history or econ or literature would be.

I mean, it *might* be--but it's an empirical question. If they showed me data that learning art helps STEM folks more than it would for them to learn something else (e.g.: MORE STEM), I'd be fine with it.

Well, actually, I wouldn't, because we all know what's coming first: a massive wave of lame studies alleging to show that art helps STEM. There's just no doubt that there'll be a flood of that shit before people settle down. Imagine the grant money to be had by "finding" such a link!

Also, I think that the sense in which experiments like the oil drop experiment are artistry is a rather different sense.

But, obviously, I could be wrong about all this.

2:26 PM  

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