Capacity Building: STEM to STEAM in South Carolina
Transcript available upon request
By 2018, an estimated 81,000 STEM jobs will need to be filled in South Carolina. Despite an increase in STEM majors, however, students are not choosing STEM fields. Instead, they are selecting more “transdisciplinary” fields that include the arts. An innovative educational practice called STEAM (where “A” represents the arts) is helping students see the creative and imaginative parts of STEM and increasing their engagement in STEM. The development of an interdisciplinary STEAM ecosystem-including schools, families, businesses, and community members-is being led by a team of Clemson University faculty. The effort aims to increase the participation of South Carolinians in STEM, beginning in elementary school.