探究美國STEM與STEAM教育的發展

培育21世紀具有國際競爭力的人才，成為許多國家教育改革的重要目標，跨（學科）領域課程（Interdisciplinary Curriculum）「科學、科技、工程、數學」（Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, 簡稱STEM）的倡議成為教育改革良方。1990年代美國首倡STEM教育，歷經三任總統頒布教育政策，國會立法STEM法案，以提升全民STEM素養為目的。近年受到「STEM到STEAM」運動影響，納入藝術（Arts）成為STEAM教育新風潮。本文探究美國STEM與STEAM教育的發展，以文件分析法剖析此一跨領域課程的實踐歷程及結果，希冀成為我國推動教育改革之參酌。本研究分析架構，首先蒐集白宮或國會相關法規文件及學者論述，依據政策時間軸梳理STEM與STEAM教育的發展；其次，理解STEAM教育的中、小學案例為橫軸，分析其課程與教學；再次，剖析STEAM教育面臨的困境及因應；最後，從研究的經緯取徑，綜合歸納研究結果，提出我國未來推動STEM與STEAM教育政策及學校實踐可資借鏡之處。 Cultivating talents with international competitiveness in the 21st century has become an important goal of education reform in many countries of the world. The interdisciplinary curriculum has developed vigorously. Integration of the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has been proposed as a good way to reform education. STEM education policy was initiated in the 1990s in the USA, and then carried on by three presidents of the United States. They promulgated relevant education policies and regulations, and then passed the STEM Act in Congress to improve American's STEM literacy. In recent years, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) added “Arts” to “STEM” to advocate the “STEM to STEAM” movement, and which caused worldwide movement towards STEAM education. This paper explored the development of STEM and STEAM education in the United State and analyzed the results of STEM and STEAM as interdisciplinary curriculum practice by the method of document analysis. The research results and suggestions can be proposed for STEM and STEAM education promoted in Taiwan. The framework and procedure of this study are described as follows. Firstly, the researcher collected the scholars' academic papers and regulatory documents published by the White House or Congress. The researcher stratified the development of STEM and STEAM according to the policy promotion period as the vertical axis. Secondly, the researcher investigated the cases of the primary and secondary schools implementing STEAM education in the United States as the horizontal axis to explore the STEAM curriculum and instruction. Thirdly, the researcher analyzed the dilemma and response of the STEAM education. Finally, the suggestions were proposed for implementing STEM and STEAM as the educational policy in Taiwan.