Legislators make bipartisan call for integration of art and science education in latest issue of CGU’s STEAM Journal

The second issue of Claremont Graduate University (CGU’s) STEAM Journal has launched, featuring a column by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D) of Oregon and Congressman Aaron Schock (R) of Illinois that emphasizes the importance of educating students in the arts as well as the sciences.

The STEAM Journal is published by a team of CGU graduate students, alumni, and faculty. It explores the intersection of the arts and the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

In the Spotlight feature of the new issue, Bonamici and Schock explain that our increasingly technology-driven economy demands a workforce that is proficient in both the concepts and techniques of the STEM fields as well as in extending those skills into new applications and innovations.

“Throughout history, the sciences and the arts have informed and enhanced each other, and both have advanced and enriched the human experience in myriad way,” the pair wrote. “The relationship between these disciplines is symbiotic, not static. Both are, at their core, fundamentally human pursuits that seek answers to the deepest questions of our nature.”

Bonamici and Schock are co-chairs of the Congressional STEAM Caucus, which aims to encourage innovation and creative thinking by integrating arts and design with science, technology, engineering, and math education.

In addition to the column by the representatives, the latest issue of the STEAM Journal features dozens of editorials, articles, and artwork centered around the STEAM movement.

It is available at http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol1/iss2/.