Aesthetics and STEAM education: the case of Korean STEAM curricula at the art high school

ABSTRACT

Scientific reasoning and aesthetics are not mutually exclusive disciplines, as scientists’ achievements are based not only on cognitive ability, but also on creativity, imagination, and embodied thought through various experiences. With the aim of investigating the role of aesthetic experience in the learning processes involved in the integration of art, science, and technology, this study explored students’ experience of creating interactive art, which is the combination of art, science, and technology, within the context of Korean STEAM education. The participants were 19 high school students majoring in art. Each student envisioned their own artwork and constantly held individual consultations on their ideas with technical, artistic, and science education experts. I visited and observed this project for nine months and collected various types of qualitative data, such as conversations between students and technical experts, individual interviews with students, interview with a teacher, and students’ artefacts. These data are used to construct a case study to interpret the meaning of art high school students’ experiences of interactive art creation from the perspective of aesthetics. Through this learning experience, students were able to recognise the limitations of their thoughts and transform their ideas through the application of new scientific knowledge and skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Aesthetic experience
• STEAM education
• integrated learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.