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Short abstract:

This paper deals how the new paradigm of STEAM is challenging and transforming classical STEM research and education. It is the claim that postphenomenology can be the mediator of transformation. Focus is upon how Arts through the lens of postphenomenology can contribute to the paradigm of STEAM.

Long abstract:

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have had the overall attention within education and related areas for decades, because accordingly necessary to further and enhance innovation, development, and growth in Western societies. It is the assumption that this cyclopic focus on natural sciences and engineering has led to ‘one-dimensional’ initiatives and solutions. At major American universities (Stanford, MIT, Harvard) interdisciplinary approaches have manifested, where Arts have been inserted in the equation, resulting in the acronym STEAM, which is a powerful and strong ‘concept’ pointing at new forces and potentials that are released.

This paper will discuss the relevance of STEAM and at the same time frame how postphenomenology can bridge the gaps between components in the paradigm, because needed to make the paradigm ‘work’.

Postphenomenology has been concerned with science and technology ever since Don Ihde introduced this perspective in the field of philosophy of technology (1990), which makes postphenomenology an obvious ‘tool’ for bridging and combining different perspectives within the paradigm of STEAM. Don Ihde’s focus on the (historical) development of science and techology is highly inspirational on that matter. This paper will focus on how Arts through the lens of postphenomenology can contribute to the paradigm of STEAM.

Keywords: STEM, STEAM, Postphenomenology, Interdisciplinarity, Arts