Steam technologies in Western education: new approaches to literary text study

Abstract

The article deals with the Western concept of STEAM education which is based on a certain "poly-subject" which includes Science (S), Technology (T), Engineering (E), Arts (A), and Mathematics (M). The practice of this educational approach is focused on the following idea: a student who is familiar with the artistic principles of life (literature, art, music, design) will achieve more in Mathematics, Invention and Natural Sciences. STEAM eliminates the continuous dispute between "physicists" and "lyricists" because within its framework, a lyricist can be talented in engineering (invention) and a physicist can be talented in aesthetic, artistic manifestations such as design. The analysis of Western STEAM models of studying literary text poses questions about the trajectories of modern literary education which is transforming in a sense. An educational STEAM product in the analysis of a literary text is oriented primarily towards the designer solution as the manifestation of the students' creative potential. Ultimately, Western studies present the STEAM approach as a humancentric (not subject-centric) model: the approach prioritizes the student's personality and individuality. STEAM education is a new integrative educational system that integrates the scientific and the imaginative, the documental and the aesthetic, the artistic and the rational principles.