Educators often come up against the argument that the skills and concepts they are teaching in class have no real connection to daily life. When it comes to STEAM concepts, there are a million ways to capture the imagination and interest of students who are probably already using them every day. Give your students an opportunity to learn how STEAM skills and concepts are important for everyone.
What Are the Most Valuable STEAM Skills?
Not only are employers looking for employees with an education, but with experience in working with important STEAM skills. Innovators in an increasingly digital world should be entering the workforce with practice in the following valuable STEAM skill areas:
5 Important STEAM Skills to Teach in School:
- Problem-Solving
- Communication
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Critical Thinking
STEAM skills have been traditionally linked to the Math, Technology, Science, Art, and Engineering content areas. The incredibly valuable skills in the list above are foundational to those areas of study and will serve students throughout their lives. Regardless of a student’s direction in career or hobby, STEAM skills will benefit their ability to make data-driven decisions and work through challenges.
5 Everyday Life Examples of Ways to Use STEAM Skills:
These simple, real-life scenarios may provide your students with a little background and reinforce their motivation to learn more about and understand the practical value of STEAM skills they are practicing in the classroom.
Give students the following examples and then ask them to brainstorm a personal example of a time they used each of these STEAM skills in everyday life.
Problem Solving:
Problem-solving requires a student to quickly make sense of an issue by analyzing all the factors involved. Then, their goal is to use the analysis to propose appropriate solutions.
Example: You are hungry and you’ve run out of your go-to snacks.
You might decide to just wait until dinner, or you might decide to problem-solve. First, you consider the last time you ate and what you had. This helps you gauge how hungry you are and what type of snack you’ll need to tide you over. Then, you’ll take a look at what’s available for you to choose from.
Taking into consideration your hunger levels and the available options, you choose a snack that resolves your hunger even though your favorite snack is not available. Problem solved!
Communication:
Communication requires you to share information with another person or group of people using the most effective method and language.
Example: You want to visit a friend’s house, but your parents aren’t home to ask.
You might decide that since you can’t ask them directly you will simply stay home, or you might find the most effective way to communicate your wish to visit a friend despite the complications. There are several things to consider based on your relationship with your parents and the expectations they have set for your communication. You might write them a note for them to read when they get home. You might wait until you get home to tell them where you were. You might also call their cell and speak with them or leave a message.
Taking into consideration the fact that your parents don’t like you to leave without speaking to them, you decide it would be most effective to call them and ask for permission to visit your friend. Communication success!
Creativity:
Growing creative skills or thinking outside of the box requires experimentation and learning from successes and failures.
Example: You want to paint your bedroom but you can’t tell if you’ll like the color you chose.
You might decide to wait and see what the room looks like when you’re done, or you might find a creative way to get a better idea. You have a variety of tools at your disposal, so you decide to use your artistic skills to find out what the paint color will look like in your space.
Using your cellphone camera, you take a picture of your bedroom. Then you upload it onto your computer and use an image editing software to replace the current wall color in the photo with one more similar to your new color. Using that image, you can make a more informed decision. That’s a creative, outside-the-box way to think through a challenge.
Collaboration:
Collaboration requires individuals to communicate and operate as a part of a cohesive team to complete a project or solve a problem.
Example: You were assigned a group project in science class.
Between yourself and 3-4 other classmates, you have to research a topic, write a paper, and present your findings to the rest of the class. Between the members of the group, you have to consider each person’s strengths, interests, and time management skills to assign out the tasks. It’s important that all of the tasks happen in the correct order and that they are completed on schedule.
You sit down and have a meeting where everyone shares their preferred task and how much time they have to commit to the project. Because the workload was evenly distributed and everyone communicated effectively, the project received an A. Successful collaboration!
Critical Thinking:
Critical thinking requires the use of analysis to synthesize information and make objective, data-driven decisions.
Example: You are helping your friend pack up their belongings to move to a new house.
When you’re packing, you have to consider time constraints, how many items you have to pack, the size, shape, and weight of those items, and many other factors.
You take all of those factors and conclude how much time and how many boxes you’ll need. The packing process was more efficient and successful because you analyzed all the observable factors and made data-driven decisions.
More STEAM Ideas & Activities for the Classroom
If you’re looking for more ways to engage students in STEAM learning or the development of 21st-century skills, be sure to visit the STEAM & STEM category page to see what’s new. You’ll find lesson plans, must-have tool suggestions, and more.
Head over to the online store to shop from thousands of high-quality STEAM education curriculum products and tools. You’re sure to find whatever you need to engage your students and foster a lifelong love of learning.
Definitely, we use STEAM approach in day to day activities and decision making.
STEAM approach is not only applicable in the classroom but also in our everyday lives. How we think, solve challenges, interact with people around us should reflect STEAM learning.
STEAM skills is a must in this part of the world to enhance everyday application of what’s taught and increased productivity among teachers and learners.
One good thing about STEAM is that it encourages to think out of the box while trying to solve problem
The use of STEAM in our teaching and learning process is essential to the overall development of the curriculum of our educational services.
We just have to see that STEAM is not just a theory -it is part of our daily lives.
Great impact
All the teachers need to get STEAM education.
While many people must have unconsciously applied the STEAM approach to enquiring, analyzing, and solving problems of their daily life at home, the relevance of the STEAM skills of problem-solving, communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking which cannot be over-emphasized in the modern and dynamic sphere of the workplace should consciously be pedagogized in schools. It should be the foundation of every curriculum build-up.
The skills acquired in STEAM is very useful in our daily life, for example the critical thinking abilities will help in taking decision while with collaboration we can perform better in our work place.
Sharon-Victoria Erewele.
I do agree. We have definitely been incorporating STEAM unconsciously into our everyday lives. All that is required is for the same approach to be applied to the classroom. It may seem a bit confusing at first but that is why training is necessary.
The skills acquired in STEAM is very useful in our daily life, for example the critical thinking abilities will help in taking decision while with collaboration we can perform better in our work place.
When we incorporate problem-solving, communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking into our everyday life. We make progress steadily
TEAM Skills benefits both the facilitators and the learners.
Education becomes more participative and interesting as the STEAM skills are applied in the classroom.
Everyday life challenges are incorporated into learning process to create a more critical thinking approach in problems solving for learners
Steam skills are applicable in our everyday life experience in solving challenging problems. Actually steam skills makes one go through day to day life challenges effortlessly
Steam education is a broad concept that helps both teachers and most especially the learners acquire knowledge to plan and execute a particular task
Steam skills such as problem solving, communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are a rear tools in handling the challenges we come across in our daily life.
When we work together as a team we can achieve a better goal in what ever we do i.e is collaboration. With STEAM we can achieve a lot
The importance of STEAM in our day to day life scenarios can’t be overemphasized.
STEAM is not limited to the classroom. We must understand the application of STEAM in our everyday lives. The students must com to see that STEAM is not another new and vague concept but a concept they have been using in their everyday life. when this happens they can apply STEAM in their subjects and even outside the four walls of the classroom
Truly steam teaching can be applied in our everyday life
At one point or the other in life, we all make use of STEAM approach to learning when making decisions.
Well, in the labour market, these STEAM Components are the basic requirements; and the students that have them must surely Excel or successful in any given opportunities they found themselves.
STEAM shouldn’t be limited to the classroom, we as teachers must also teach the students to apply it in everyday life.
Creative problem-solving is a crucial component of the STEAM approach to learning. Everyday we come across problems, and we are not to run from the problems rather we are to solve it, and we solve it by engaging critical thinking skills, or get to collaborate with someone else, so as to get the problem solved. By embedding creative problem-solving in the mathematics curriculum through the STEAM approach as a mathematics teacher, will help cultivate critical thinking, enhance students engagement, and develop deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. This doesn’t just only prepare students for academic success, but also equips them with essential skills for the future.
Steam skills makes our daily routine and career very interesting and it also increases out problem solving skills.It helps us think outside the box and not to be confined to a particular spot.
Steam is applicable to our everyday activity.Its easy to practice and it’s effective is innovative
Yes,these skills helps us face every challenges with optimism.
The quality of leaders and youth 10 years from now will indeed be shaped by how STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education is approached today.
STEAM education help both teacher and learners to be well equipped in and out of the classroom.
Steam education help in problem-solving and critical thinking
I’m just super excited that I came in contact with this article and I am looking forward to implementing these STEAM ideas into my classroom to build more effective and functional learners.
“You sit down and have a meeting where everyone shares their preferred task and how much time they have to commit to the project. Because the workload was evenly distributed and everyone communicated effectively, the project received an A. Successful collaboration!”
Collaboration will not only give a passmark but will make the students have this zeal to want to belong or active in any task giving assignment.
Steam education is really used in everyday life. When we bring this intentionally to the classroom, it will definitely help Learners to thrive in this 21st century
The application of STEAM should also be seen in our day-to-day life, not only in the classroom. This would help make the world a better place
STEAM is indeed important in our daily lives
This is an eye opener. As a teacher, you need to be very creative in applying the steam approach.
I am so excited about the knowledge impacted, with STEAM teaching and learning is more productive…
The STEAM program will definitely be an eye opener as it will help learners to see reason why they need to pay attention to all subjects, not some. seeing that the various subjects the STEAM teachers will teach can be applied to solving real life problems
Using the STEAM education approach will make students to see learning as a useful tool in solving real life problem.
The examples given above adequately portray our real life situations. As STEAM teachers we are expected to push this in our teachings, and make it the center of our teaching. This will no doubt enhance the students interest, since it’s situational and applicable, as well as enable them to understand that they can get solutions to their real life challenges even the classroom. Next term, enrollment of students will step-up geometrically.
This STEAM model will help the teacher deliver more, and well enable the students have an unquestionable quest to want to learn
Applied knowledge is actually power. I just fathom some areas that STEAM approach is relatable and can be used in real world scenario.
Definitely, STEAM has been a part of our daily life. Especially the area of critical thinking, problem solving , collaboration and communication. We now have a wider knowledge of STEAM skills in everyday life .
Steam is you, steam is me, steam is the next generation.
STEAM skills are skills we use in our daily life to solve problems, create and make good decisions. This can be applied in various classroom.
STEAM skills is very important for both teachers and students as it involves more of practical and critical thinking.
STEAM has leverage our traditional approach of communication by enabling individuals to effectively communicate and share information with others or group of people through various methods, language, and platforms.
STEAM can be used in every subject and in our day to day activities
The creativity part got me
Wow!🥺
That’s an actual problem solved
Imagine creative educators successfully inculcate this creativeness into a little as 10% of students
The change it will bring to Nigeria, Africa and then the world at large💫
And then the original plan
For all of them!
Mind blowing!!
STEAM skills is a must for everyone as it is essential in our every day life to succeed.
Absolutely, STEAM skills are like life tools, without them it’s hard to keep up, but with them anyone can adapt, grow and succeed in today’s world.
Steam skills help us think critically, make smart decisions, adapt to new situations, and collaborate effectively with others.
Incorporating STEAM in our every day lesson,makes it interesting and understandable
STEAM approach is indeed essential in our every day life making us to make quick, smart inform decisions so as to tackle life challenges.
STEAM activities are all- encompassing in contemporary learning.
Everybody need STEAM education
STEAM is a vital too in all learning process.