What was the first thing that caught your attention – was it the meaning of STEAM?

If you’re curious, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. It is an approach to education that focuses on student questions and thought processes. It aims to engage students in the classroom through a series of premises that are grouped into the 5 C’s: Choice, Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.

STEAM is not a new-age methodology, there are giants in education who have been practicing this type of education since the 1960s. They introduced this approach to learning being aware of what inspires children to engage in didactic and problem-solving activities. Traditional lessons are teacher-centered, this provides authority to the adult while teaching. STEAM Education is student-centered, providing the adult the opportunity to listen to the student’s questions and thought processes and, by being close to them, the teacher becomes a guide and mentor.

STEAM Education encourages the student to focus on the process rather than the outcome. The curricular courses are designed to allow them to freely choose among projects to design, execute and redesign their strategies. Students develop their capacity for persistence by focusing on the problem rather than the outcome, as Albert Einstein once said, “It’s not that I’m smart, it’s that I stay with problems longer.” An education with open-ended models leaves the limits of solving to the children’s imagination.

If we were to visit a STEAM education classroom, we would find that students are in groups, some work on computers watching videos and answering questions, others use a microscope to advance their practices, and others deliberate on the recycled materials they will use to build an automated robotic hand. Polish scientist Marie Curie proclaimed that a scientist in her lab is not a mere technician, but a child who is confronted with natural phenomena that impress her as if they were fairy tales; Marie Curie was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and received two Nobel Prizes for her discoveries. STEAM education is the perfect approach to building collaborative relationships between students of all cultures, genders, and ages. STEAM encompasses a broad area of knowledge in which children can find a platform to build healthy relationships among their peers.

When a reporter asked Thomas Edison about the light bulb and when he was going to get a working prototype, he replied, “I have not failed. I’ve only found 10,000 ways for it not to work.” The most productive scientists in history have one characteristic in common, perseverance. STEAM aims to enlighten students with the notion that they are geniuses and by proposing inspiring options in their curricular activities they can develop their talent, guided by a caring teacher.

The world we live in today requires creative and perseverant professionals to devise and build innovative solutions. With radical technological advances, humanity has reached a point where the opportunities for our lives are limited only by our imagination. We need to encourage our children to keep their spark alive, as they will be the ones to build the world of tomorrow. At RaceHub, we provide students with the key foundations on how to leap forward by rounding out their curriculum and teaching complex thinking skills. Our program framework inspires perseverance, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration with teachers, students, and community members. We offer a year round core curriculum, along with camps (summer and holiday), along with specialized programs.