This study was proposed to consider the effects of the introduction of museum STEAM program on the invigoration of museums and its social necessity in a changing education environment represented by 'STEAM' education in the school education field. To ...
This study was proposed to consider the effects of the introduction of museum STEAM program on the invigoration of museums and its social necessity in a changing education environment represented by 'STEAM' education in the school education field. To achieve the proposed goals, the effects of the introduction of museum STEAM program on the invigoration of museums have been studied through case research and a nexus of introduction cases of museum exhibit and education were reviewed for possible junctions through theoretical study of museum education, STEAM education, creative experiential activities, and lifelong education theories.
However, there were some difficulties due to the limited number of cases of introduction of museum STEAM programs in its early implementation. Also, utilizing an education theory that has not yet been properly found includes much risk. To overcome these problems, several study cases have been reprocessed to review the significance of museum STEAM program's introduction in this study.
The conclusions of this study is as follows;
First, the introduction of museum STEAM program will no longer be a choice but inevitable. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has announced on strengthening 'primary and secondary STEAM education for the training of creative multi-dimensional talents' as part of the major operational planning in 2011. It has also announced the development of related curriculums, provision of teacher and student field studies and experiential programs, and execution of futuristic science technology classrooms and class model development. Furthermore, due to the initiation of creative experiential programs in the 2009 revised curriculum, school education and museum exhibit and education programs will be connected inevitably. Therefore, the introduction of museum STEAM program will be a necessary requirement to respond to the changing curriculum.
Second, STEAM education has the characteristics of museum education. A major feature of museum education program is that education occurs through viewing actual objects and hands-on experience. STEAM education places emphasis on field learning and experience and the experiments of STEAM classes in school education up to now are quite reminiscent of museum education programs. This means that there is not much difference between museum education and STEAM education. Also, when adding the curriculum-adjusted STEAM factor to the pre-existing museum education program during the case study, cases that changed to school education-linked STEAM programs were confirmed. These cases can be said to represent how the introduction of STEAM program is an adequate factor in the activation of museum education and how it can be connected with the curriculum of school education.
Third, introduction of museum STEAM program broadens the utilization of museum collections. STEAM education is an education that analyses one theme into the five elements of science(S), technology(T), engineering(E), arts(A), and math(M) to induce interest of the student through comprehension and fusion of each element. The introduction of such STEAM education in museums will give rise to opportunities where not only collections on display but undervalued collections can also be analysed using the STEAM elements in a multi-dimensional method. Also, it would enhance the utilization of museum collections and a review of their values.
Fourth, it was confirmed that the introduction of museum STEAM programs lead to collaboration and coordination among museums and external institutes through STEAM education. In this study, cases of coordination among schools, educational offices, Korean Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity, and the Korea Science Center & Museum Association were confirmed as well as the fact that school education fields required STEAM education experiential institutes. Therefore, it has been confirmed that the introduction of museum STEAM programs lead to collaboration and coordination between museums and external institutes and that this would in turn contribute to the activation of museums.
Fifth, from the educational welfare aspect, such introduction of museum STEAM programs have sufficient social necessity. As with school education, STEAM education will create an educationally isolated group due to accessability of the educational institute. However, if museums were to adopt the STEAM program and play the role of the local STEAM educational hub, it can be inferred that these problems can be resolved.
First-priority challenges for the introduction of museum STEAM programs found in this study are as follows; first, research on defining an educational model for the museum STEAM programs must follow. This is due to the fact that these studies on museum STEAM program models will act as a basis for museums to provide systematical STEAM education programs and also provide theoretical grounds for museums to be placed as one axis of STEAM educational institutes.
Second, research on the relationship between creative experiential activity linkage systems such as US' Informal STEM Messy system and museums should be conducted. Research on the relationship between creative experiential activity linkage systems and museums are not only studies on the external connections of museums mediated by STEAM but also related to links with future school curriculums and lifelong-education society through future development of creative experiential activities.