When it comes to STEAM education, many parents only have a vague concept, so what exactly is STEAM education?
STEAM education is a comprehensive education that integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. S stands for Science, T stands for Technology, E stands for Engineering, A stands for Arts, and M stands for Mathematics.
And programming is the soul of STEAM education, why do you say that?
The relationship between programming and STEAM education involves five aspects.
Programming & Science(s).
Programming teaches children not only the science of programming, but also the science of thinking and solving problems. All sciences have common characteristics: objective regularity, systematization and practical guidance, etc., and programming is one of the important aspects of computer science.
Programming & Technology (T).
Children's programming mastery of programming languages, programming software, programming tools, etc. all contain great technicality, programming itself is a technology, from the current IT industry employment at a glance.
Programming & Engineering (e).
The children's programming project system can realize various software or hardware products, such as robots, which are the embodiment of engineering in itself. The talents cultivated by the programming institute are also engineers. Programming is generally engineering-oriented, teamwork, and jointly implemented engineering.
Programming and Art (a).
Children's programming generally includes art, and modeling is required to make various programming objects, and the character model modeled by 3D modeling tools and other tools at this time contains the art part. In the later stage, such as design**, APP or other product interfaces also contain many artistic components, which require great artistic sense and artistic creativity.
Programming & Mathematics (M).
Although children's programming is simple, it also contains rich mathematical content, such as calculating the randomness of object movement, the most important part of programming is the algorithm (refers to the solution of the problem and a complete description, is a series of clear instructions to solve the problem, the algorithm represents the systematic method to describe the strategy mechanism of solving the problem), and the algorithm requires a great mathematical foundation.
Therefore, children's learning to code has a huge role in basic education, not only to improve basic skills such as mathematics, logic, design thinking and programming, but also to have positive significance in interdisciplinary learning and integration of disciplinary practice. In addition, it also plays a significant role in cultivating children's creativity, teamwork, and higher-order abilities such as computational thinking and system planning.
Why is STEAM education so important?
The real needs of STEAM education.
With the need for talents in economic development, STEAM education has gradually entered people's field of vision. According to the report "The Future of Work: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution", by 2020, the job market will have a much higher need for people with complex problem-solving and social skills than for physical and professional skills, so STEAM education will cultivate interdisciplinary talents will be one of the main needs of the job market.
With the vigorous development of artificial intelligence, children's programming, as an important carrier for the realization of artificial intelligence, has become an educational necessity for parents, especially those born in the 80s and 90s. Then STEAM education, which is closely related to children's programming, has also been put on the agenda accordingly.
The development trend of STEAM education in China.
With the innovation of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technical means, in May 2015, the first "Made in China 2025" was released, the core content is that China will move from a manufacturing country to a manufacturing power. Over time, the talent gap will get bigger and bigger. Among them, the talent gap of the new generation of information technology industry will be as high as 9.5 million in 2025, ranking first in talent demand.
In the face of the talent gap, since July 2017, China released the "New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan", marking the rise of artificial intelligence as a national development strategy.
It is pointed out that artificial intelligence-related courses should be set up in primary and secondary schools to gradually promote programming education. It can be seen that STEAM education has ushered in opportunities in China, and there is a policy escort.
Students who have a good foundation in STEAM education will be more competitive in the workplace and will have more responsibilities than others. Because they can fill the existing gap between supply and demand with their ability to apply technology, they will also be the ones to take on more responsibilities at work.