STEM integrates Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications” (Hom, 2014). The initial idea behind STEM is connected to real-world problems. However, STEM misses several critical components required for our 21st-century learners. STEAM Education is introduced to fulfil these missing components and provides the exclusive ideas, methods and tools to explore creative ways of problem-solving, data visualizing, creation and linking multiple fields.
I have been working as a teacher-trainer for the last eight years being confined in the area of ICT integration in education. As an M.Phil Scholar in STEAM Education at Kathmandu University, I found myself landed in a much bigger dimension and excited to introduce a new program in my community after the completion of my M.Phil. My new focused area of training and research will be the purposeful introduction of ICT as a supportive tool in the process of meaningful learning through the different learning approaches such as inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, collaborative learning, authentic, active, student-centred and self-directed learning.
I feel honoured as a scholar of Kathmandu University, a well-renowned institution in Nepal. It’s a great and sensational journey, I have started with a support of a great team of well-experienced and highly-energetic professors from whom I am not only practising the subject matter but also a holistic approach of life skills. At last, I was in a dilemma whether to take the course M.Phil in either Educational Leadership or STEAM in Education in the beginning, and now I realized my decision was correct for my context.