{"id":1395,"date":"2020-04-21T20:04:54","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T20:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1395"},"modified":"2025-02-07T16:10:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T21:10:52","slug":"from-stem-to-steam-bringing-the-arts-into-the-stem-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/21\/from-stem-to-steam-bringing-the-arts-into-the-stem-field\/","title":{"rendered":"From STEM to STEAM: Bringing the Arts into the STEM Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1395_203971-8c{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1395_203971-8c > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1395_203971-8c dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1395_377c01-18\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1395_377c01-18\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1395_377c01-18\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1395_377c01-18 p1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1395_377c01-18\"><span class=\"s1\">Data is just data without insight, creativity and innovation. That\u2019s why bringing the arts into the STEM field is causing such a stir.<\/span><i> <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Creativity, innovation, curiosity, resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> Important skills in today\u2019s world, especially if you\u2019re a scientist, analyst, or a mathematician.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> Because, while the last few years brought an emphasis on increased training in the STEM disciplines \u2014Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics \u2014 something else has been moving forward: STEAM.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> STEAM, which stands for <\/span>Science, Technology, Engineering<span class=\"s2\">, Art and Mathematics, is STEM with the skills that the arts can offer: being able to take something tangible, like a set of data, or outcomes from an experiment, and moving beyond just that result into something new and innovative. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> Employers have noted they need their employees to embody what is called the soft skills, the key skills of effective communication with work teams, clients, or the public, and to think critically, with innovation and creativity. A recent article in the London Evening Standard makes it clear that the skills for working in the business world in 2020 include soft skills like adaptability, proactivity, resilience, curiosity and empathy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wu-blockquote-row is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><span class=\"s2\">The missing \u2018A\u2019 in a STEM program is the arts. The inclusion of the arts as an important component of students\u2019 preparation for their careers has been driven by the growing realization that creativity has become an essential skill for facing the rapid changes in both the types and meaning of work in the 21st century.<\/span><\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 <span class=\"s2\">Dr. Danny Walker, chair of Philosophy and Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences<\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> Walker notes that Sam Leed, senior vice president of WeWorks, said last year there is both \u201ca science and an art in creativity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">At Wilmington University, he continues, \u201cfine arts courses, <span class=\"s2\">such as those offered in the Art and Drama departments, are aimed at helping students develop skills in conceptualizing and expressing creative designs across a range of subjects and situations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> A McKinsey Global Institute study in 2017 found that the need for developing higher cognitive skills, including creativity, will rise to almost 20 percent in the next decade. Reports from the World Economic Forum and Lin<\/span>kedIn note that creativity has risen in importance to one of the top sought-after skills employers are now seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">Walker says the change in <span class=\"s2\">emphasis with a focus on creativity <\/span>can be attributed to increasing obsolescence of process-driven jobs, repeatable tasks that can be increasing<span class=\"s2\">ly performed more efficiently by automation and artificial intelligence. \u201cThe skills associated with artistic, expressive, imaginative thinking that are developed in fine arts courses can help equip students with the creativity needed to produce <\/span>innovative solutions for future challenges in our rapidly changing world,\u201d he says. \u201cDegree programs <span class=\"s2\">that add STEAM to their STEM will better equip students to benefit from <\/span>these changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">Indeed, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is streamlining physical processes in <span class=\"s2\">business and industry, but it can also be used in the data automation. Dr. John Sparco, director and chair of <\/span>WilmU\u2019s Business Analytics program, is co-chairing an ad hoc faculty committee formulating curricular goals around AI, which he says is connected to STEAM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">Sparco defines AI as something more than simple automation, which a company such as Amazon, for example, is using to great effect in their warehouses to speed product fulfillment. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> He says you should think about automation like this: \u201cI can program the lights to come on at<br><\/span><span class=\"s2\">9 every morning and go off at 5 p.m.<\/span><span class=\"s3\"> But if there are sensors in the room that can collect your pattern of arrival and departure, which may be different from your neighbor next door, the room is learning about when the occupants are there without me having to tell it what to do when. That\u2019s the differentiation between artificial intelligence and automation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> He adds, \u201cartificial intelligence is more about computers sensing and iterating and figuring out things on their own.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> The part artificial intelligence does not do so well, at least right now, is critical thinking \u2013 creativity, being able to move beyond simple mechanics. Sparco mentions the defeat of a world champion chess player by a supercomputer in the late 1990s. In a first match against the computer in 1996, Garry Kasparov defeated the computer, but in 1997, the computer, called Deep Blue, beat the champion.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> \u201cChess is a very structured game, the board is well defined, pieces can only do certain things,\u201d says Dr. Sparco. \u201cAnd it took forever for a computer to actually beat a chess champion. But what they really found is, if you take that computer that can process literally millions of moves in a second and pair it with a human who has creativity, the results are much better than a human alone or a computer alone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> Referring to his field of analytics, Dr. Sparco says that artificial intelligence can use raw data, something that our world now has plenty of, to make all sorts of decisions for us. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. \u201cThat frees up time for those other things we need to develop,\u201d using what the computer can\u2019t provide, which is innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">\u201cSTEM and STEAM are tangentially related to the AI\/analytics discussion,\u201d he continues. \u201cI think there\u2019s an aspect of creativity. We\u2019re talking about innovation and coming up with new things out of experiences and intuition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">He mentions the accumulation of data in the retailing world, which is used most often today to predict the purchasing habits of the public as the foundation for marketing to them. These organizations are awash in data, he says. But without a thoughtful way to approach it, the results can and have backfired on companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">\u201cThere was the incident with Target a few years ago where they could predict whether somebody was pregnant based on their purchases,\u201d he says. \u201cThe company got a lot of blowback on that, from using the data in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">In this case, The NYT reported in 2012 that data Target collected of purchases made by new parents had revealed something significant \u2014 buying habits changed markedly around the time a new baby was born. They also knew that with a new baby comes a public birth record, and other retailers barrage the parents with advertisements for their own products. Based on this habit change, the Times reported that Target would then market to pregnant women before other retailers even knew of a new baby: an interesting data-based strategy to capture and keep customers, but not very popular with women who didn\u2019t want their status known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">Dr. Sparco notes that soft skills, one being empathy, perhaps could have helped those making that <span class=\"s2\">marketing decision determine a better way to reach their goal. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\"> \u201cWhen you start to talk about the arts, you understand cultures, you understand aesthetic, you understand a lot of different things, and it brings a different dimension to the way a quantitative thinker views the world,\u201d Dr. Sparco says. The ability to think critically is key.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">STEM programs have been around quite a few years now, thanks to some federal and state initiatives designed to strengthen the country\u2019s foundation of workers trained in technical skills. Wilmington University\u2019s new Biology and Environmental Science and Public Policy degrees, or Business Analytics, among many other programs throughout the University, are there to help build that workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1064674296-768x454-1-750x443.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1064674296-768x454-1-750x443.jpg 750w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1064674296-768x454-1-250x148.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1064674296-768x454-1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\">\u200b\u200b\u200b \u201c<span class=\"s3\">Science programming is a&nbsp;<\/span>relatively new endeavor at Wilmington University,\u201d says Science Chair Dr. Milton Muldrow.&nbsp; \u201cAs such, it\u2019s important early on&nbsp;to establish the style and substance of information that should be conveyed to the student.&nbsp;By taking a more thorough examination of the place of arts in STEM, WilmU is taking that step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wu-blockquote-row is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Creativity is an inherent aspect of science,\u201d he continues. \u201cOur undergraduate research emphasis in both our Environmental Science and Biology programs emphasize this in particular, as designing a new experiment\u00a0is both a technical skill, and can be a\u00a0surprisingly elegant craft,\u201d he says. \u201cI support WilmU\u2019s efforts to emphasize the arts in its programming, and look forward\u00a0to the outcome.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 Dr. Milton Muldrow<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> Dr. James Wilson, vice president of Academic Affairs, notes that for some time there seems to have been in general a deemphasis upon the liberal arts in higher education as budgets have become tighter. However, \u201cthe pendulum is starting to swing the other way,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope the arts will continue to be more highly valued in educating the STEM workforce.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> Also, AI and its relationship to STEM and STEAM has been a topic Dr. Wilson has discussed with the Faculty Senate. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> \u201cI\u2019ve noticed more of a conversation going on about AI among the faculty, and people have commented from time to time about AI, just what they\u2019ve read or seen, and getting a dialogue going,\u201d Wilson adds. After all, he says, part of WilmU\u2019s mission states that \u201cThe University\u2019s programs prepare students to begin or continue their career, improve their competitiveness in the job market, and engage in lifelong learning.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"> The future is something the University is always moving toward, and as society and industry change, so, too, must the programs adapt. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cWhat are we going to be?\u201d Dr. Wilson asks. We are clearly leaders in the region, in a number of fields, including criminal justice, education, computer science, and computer security. We certainly have the science, technology and math, and we have the arts down as well. So it\u2019s all coming together. We\u2019re open to what\u2019s happening in the marketplace for our students.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data is just data without insight, creativity and innovation. That\u2019s why bringing the arts into the STEM field is causing such a stir. Creativity, innovation,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-1395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":632,"label":"Magazine Spring 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1086510402-640x480.jpg",640,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":632,"name":"Magazine Spring 2020","slug":"magazine-spring-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1189,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15260,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions\/15260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}