New book can help guide schools from overemphasis on STEM to 'STREAMS'

LAWRENCE — Many students have the academic abilities to study challenging science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, but they do not feel like STEM is a place for all. The inclusion of arts, or STEAM, helped broaden the field.

Now, in a new book, University of Kansas scholars reveal new ways to help all students feel like they belong in STEM. “STEM to STREAMS: Toward a More Equitable Vision of STEM Education” explores new methods to create more inclusive and equitable ways for all students to enter and thrive in the highly emphasized fields.

“This takes STEAM a step further, adding reading and the social sciences to the mix. We have chapters on how to integrate all of those to the STEM fields,” said Douglas Huffman, associate dean and professor at KU and one of the book’s editors.

Huffman; Imogen Herrick, assistant professor of STEM education at KU; and Kelli Feldman of Virginia Commonwealth University and formerly of KU, are the book’s editors and all contributed chapters. The book contains case studies and real-world examples of how schools, teacher education programs and educators leading their own classrooms can adapt a STREAMS approach.

For her part, Herrick co-wrote a chapter on “estuaries of learning.”

“All streams meet the ocean somewhere. Where fresh and saltwater meet are some of the most biodiverse areas anywhere on the planet,” Herrick said. “In a similar context, how can we bring all the areas of education together in an estuary? All students have different backgrounds and strengths, and we can help bring them all together.”

Herrick shares an example of how she used Photo Voice to blend arts and sciences by taking students to wetlands to photograph biodiversity or have students photograph how they witness or experience climate change in their lives.

The increasing emphasis of STEM education in recent years has resulted in other subjects being overshadowed, to the detriment of all students, the authors said. That can also result in students who may not excel in mathematics or sciences experiencing even more entrenched aversion to the subjects. “STEM to STREAMS” features chapters on adding digital humanities to STREAMS, computer science curriculum for culturally diverse learners and blending robotics and theater.

Similarly, the STEM fields, especially in higher education, have resulted in underrepresentation of women in their ranks. The book examines ways to help encourage learners who have been overlooked or may feel an aversion to the STEM fields find a way in through curriculum that welcomes all.

“We want to help educators help the student that says, ‘I’m not a math person.’ You don’t have to be a math person, but we all need it in some ways, and we can help break down those barriers,” Huffman said.

The book's inclusion of case studies and examples of schools and programs that have successfully blended disciplines can help educators determine how to combine disciplines and, by extension, help train students for careers that may not exist yet by giving them experience in simultaneously experiencing disciplines they might otherwise view as unrelated, Herrick said.

“We look at how solving local challenges through the sciences is a good approach, because they are involved in and invested in these places,” Herrick said of students. “If they are traveling in a boat through a stream and get to the estuary, they can see how their identity relates to the issues in their communities and how the sciences and other subjects can come together to help address those challenges.”

“STEM to STREAMS” also includes contributions from KU scholars Heidi Hallman, professor of curriculum & teaching; and Meagan Patterson, professor of educational psychology, and former KU graduate student Britta Bletscher.

Just as a river is never the same twice, education today should not be the same as it was yesterday, and the book will help educators find ways to guide the flow of students with and through STEM fields while including all and considering a wide range of scholarly pursuits, according to the authors.

“STREAMS is a next generation concept that moves away from the traditional four disciplines of STEM education towards a view that is culturally embedded and multidisciplinary,” Gale Sinatra, professor at the University of Southern California, said of the book. “This is essential given the need to address the challenges of our time. The potential of STREAMS is to recenter the traditional STEM fields in a way that is more inclusive, encompassing and engaging. This repositioning reimagines the STEM fields as approachable for all students.”