STEM vs STEAM: What’s the difference?

Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) has been the overriding thrust of education for several years now, all over the world. That is because these subjects were supposed to be tied with the job market. Not just IT, STEM led to jobs in industries such as healthcare, retail and finance. According to a Gartner industrial report for 2021, 80% of project management tasks would be the job of AI by 2030.  

Why did STEAM crop up in a STEM oriented market?  
The over-orientation towards STEM has created a gap in soft skills that a computer is unable to replicate. These skills include teamwork, cooperation, creativity and adaptation to change, among others. This November, the National Bureau of Economic Research of USA reported that it is precisely the prevalence of automation that has created a growing demand for workers with social skills. The STEM subjects alone are not being able to equip workers with all the skills required. As a result, education professionals have now modified STEM to the acronym STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), to move towards a wider area of educational focus. 

What Is the Difference Between STEM and STEAM? 
When we compare STEM vs. STEAM, the main difference comes across in the way they approach scientific concepts. STEM focuses explicitly and exclusively on scientific, technological, engineering or mathematical skills. These are supposed to suffice to drive progress, develop and get new jobs. In STEAM curricula, students leverage both hard and soft skills to solve problems. 

For example, STEM would help in coding an app. But without an idea of Arts, the app UI would probably not be user friendly at all. Given that we are surrounded by examples like this, STEAM has become the need of the day.  

How can STEAM work as an educational approach?  
By integrating the arts into STEM, STEAM-focused curricula would be incorporating the study of the humanities, language arts, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design, new media and more subjects. Students who pursue higher studies in any of these subjects would be able to market themselves very well in future.