Strengthening STEAM Education

Mills Hall, Mills College.

In late October of last year, I was in attendance at the Bay Area Regional STEM Education Summit, hosted by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, and held at Mills College campus in Oakland, CA.

Julia Morgan's
"El Campanil"

The purpose of this summit, as written by our most honorable host, was "to strategize policies, partnerships, and investments to strengthen STEM education throughout the Bay Area".

Here, I share some of the ideas that were addressed at the summit by the various panelists, and present some thoughts on strengthening STEAM education.

New to education in California this school year are the Local Control Funding Formula (LCAP), the Academic Plan Alignment, and the Student Accountability System.

Assm. Susan Bonilla hosted

Bay Area STEM Education Summit.

These are three areas to keep an eye on as educators, parents, and community leaders begin to see the impact of their implementation in schools and districts.

As for the future of education, will every student have a personal education device? and if so, can the schools and districts become prepared for the infrastructure required?

How will 20+ smartphones function efficiently in a classroom while sharing WiFi? or over 200 students in a school trying to connect to the same site at the same time?

Panelists at the

Bay Area STEM Education Summit.

Does your school site or district have the infrastructure necessary (in terms of hardware, bandwidth, and speed) to accommodate all students?  What is the next step in the integration of STEAM education, and how will we get there?

It was also mention that there is a need for fluency in science literacy, the continuation of the "Hour of Coding", and more access to proven programs, like MESA, that may be successful but, due to limited funding, can only accept a limited number of participants.

There is also a great need for professional development and leadership for educators on the integration of STEAM and the Common Core State Standards.

Additional clarification and understanding of what STEAM education is and how it looks like in schools and classrooms is also needed.

There have been many changes which have taken place in education recently.  Education has shifted away from test taking instruction to teacher oriented instruction.

Panelists at the
Bay Area STEM Education Summit

A generational shift has taken place in vocational education and schools must look to upgrade instruction and curriculum in this area.

The curiosity over the Common Core State Standards (which have been more than 15 years in the making) has also shifted from "What is it?" and "How do we use it?" to one of questioning the functionality of them ("do I believe in the Common Core?" "Do I support it?").

STEM Summit Exposition

As educators, it is our responsibility to continue to become educated on the changes that take place in education. These changes affect the way in which instruction is conducted and what will be required of the students of the 21st century.

If STEAM education is the grand vision we see in our classrooms, schools, and districts, then we must become active in the decision making process that will determine the design, construction and maintenance of the pathway students will take.


Written by: Manuel R. CortezRodas - Chief Educator & Founder, MRCR Education.

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