Is it really all that important that the "A" in Art education find its way into STEM learning and make STEAM? You bet! And as always there is a movement to do exactly that. I say "as always" because concerned individuals throughout history have attempted to merge the arts and the sciences.
One of those concerned individuals is Jay Young, a University of Houston College of Education Ph.D. student specializing in educational psychology and individual differences. Young studied physics and taught high school math. He feels getting more art students involved in STEM is crucial. He is part of a program through an internship at the Children’s Museum of Houston that evaluates an afterschool program at the museum which integrates art and STEM.
In fact, prior to Isaac Newton and the Age of Rationalism the artist and the scientist were one in the same (perhaps there is no better example than Michelangelo, artist, engineer and biologist!) But in that age's attempt to wrest knowledge away from the confounding influence of religion, Art and Science were separated. Somehow truth became the proper sphere of Science alone and Art seen as nothing more than entertainment.
Fortunately the last century saw a change in this perceived dichotomy. Paul Cezanne, harbinger of modernism, returned the search for truth to its rightful paramount place in art. Albert Einstein’s "thought experiments" proved that the artistic ability to consider things in a new light was necessary to lift nature’s vail.
"After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved," Einstein said, "science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well."
--Remark made in 1923; recalled by Archibald Henderson, Durham Morning Herald, August 21, 1955; Einstein Archive 33-257.
RobotsLAB is truely believe in merging the Arts with the Science. In a matter of fact, we've partnered with Aldebaran Robotics and created Robotic Idol - the first-ever robotic dance competition for high schools, using NAO!
