STEAM education is commonly understood to be a multidisciplinary learning approach for educating K-12 students that is based on a scientific approach. The term STEAM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. STEAM refers to an educational philosophy that is designed to integrate these five key disciplines to support children’s natural curiosity and foster their internal excitement for exploration and discovery. At the same time, children taught via STEAM must demonstrate critical thinking and creative problem solving to build a foundation for later academic achievement (Flinn & Mulligan, 2019). Educating young children for life and their future entails a new method that integrates multiple content areas to cause children to think critically in different ways. Children in the twenty-first century need additional critical-thinking skills to equip them for future challenges (Dell'Erba, 2019; Mitchell & Forestieri, 2018). Education continues to experience increasing pressure to prepare students to cope with recent international problems, especially amid growing global competitiveness (Chao, 2016; Ramírez-Montoya, 2017).
STEAM originated in the United States as a response to concerns over a noticeable shortage of well-prepared students moving into STEM-related professions (National Research Council (NRC), 2012). The term STEM (without the A) was created in the early 1990s to represent four related academic disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math). Initially, the acronym was SMET with science and math as the two major disciplines followed by engineering and technology; an initiative created by the National Science Foundation (Martín‐Páez et al., 2019). However, the proposed acronym was difficult to rally around and there were concerns of SMET’s potentially negative association with the word smut (Bybee, 2013; Catterall, 2017). Therefore, by 2001, the term STEM was widely used as a new perspective for teaching students to be creative problem-solvers in the new millennium (Bybee, 2013).
To incorporate creativity and artistic self-expression, STEM has since shifted to STEAM, with the A representing the arts. The integration of the arts into STEM learning has added spirits of creation and innovation, which can in turn develop imaginations through divergent pathways, in contrast to STEM’s specifically scientific content. Integrating creative subjects such as art with more traditional subjects such as math and science bridges the learning experiences of both creative and logical-mathematical thinkers (Maslyk, 2016). Sousa and Pilecki (2013) have identified several reasons for integrating the arts into STEM. The arts engage the brain, develop cognitive growth, improve long-term memory, promote creativity, advance social growth, introduce novelty, and reduce stress. For young children, art is a natural way to tap into creative production and innovative building skills through playful, hands-on activities (DeJarnette, 2018).
Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices Related to STEAM Education
Teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning approaches have been studied from various perspectives (e.g., Pajares, 1992; Raths, 2001; Valcke et al., 2010; Vartuli, 2005). Fives and Buehl (2004) suggested that teachers’ epistemological beliefs and content knowledge can determine their pedagogical practices and whether they teach effectively and successfully. Teachers' pedagogical beliefs and attitudes about what they can accomplish through their pedagogy influence their teaching actions and behaviors. Teachers with positive attitudes toward innovative teaching—as in STEM education—tend to be more willing to conduct innovative teaching practices. What teachers believe about STEAM education shapes their pedagogical and instructional practices (Chen et al., 2021). A growing body of research has indicated that different factors—such as teachers' knowledge, professional development, preparation, and self-efficacy regarding STEM—impact teachers' STEM beliefs and implementation practices (Burrows & Slater, 2015; DeCoito & Myszkal, 2018; Jamil et al., 2018; Park et al., 2017). Research has also shown that the value teachers place on STEM education influences their willingness to engage and implement a STEM-based approach (Margot & Kettler, 2019).
The STEAM-focused teaching style is built upon knowledge and understanding of how to effectively deliver related instructions to students. In an unstructured way, students are exposed to STEAM concepts in a developmentally friendly and playful environment on a daily basis. A play-based, multisensory experience is a way of teaching young children how to ask questions and think of, search for, and invent their own solutions to relevant real-world problems (Horrace, 2021; Saldaña, 2018). Preschool students are encouraged and supported to discover mindsets and logical thinking within the intersection of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. As teachers in preschool design STEAM practices, they use play as a common ground for transdisciplinarity to integrate content and context (Wahyuningsih et al., 2020). Content integration is a method of blending multiple content areas into a single curriculum to help learners view the connections and relations between different subjects. Through context integration, a teacher focuses on a single component from one discipline and uses contexts from other disciplines to make the content more relevant to learners (Moore et al., 2020; Quigley et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2011).
The increased global attention given to STEAM has created a need to support effective teaching pedagogy and implementation practices in early classroom settings. STEAM-related professional skills have also created new competencies for teaching STEM education (Maiorca & Roberts, 2018). The STEAM educational paradigm has encouraged experts and professionals in the field of teacher education to address scientific thinking, integration skills, and workforce readiness among teachers and to highlight standards for guidance. For instance, the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has composed multiple position statements that support educators who teach STEM-related subjects by emphasizing these subjects’ developmental appropriateness for young children; for example, the guidelines elaborated in National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (2002), National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (2014), and National Association for the Education of Young Children & The Fred Rogers Center (2012).
A hallmark in the development of STEAM was the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. The NGSS are built upon collaborative, state-led efforts to develop standards that are coherent and rich in content and practice across the multiple disciplines and grades involved in science education. Each standard is presented in a framework for K-12 science education, with meaningful connections to math, technology, engineering, environment, society, and literacy. The NGSS have provided teachers with a wide range of practices and performance expectations to consider in their organizational structures that allow students to understand the world through coherent scientific connections (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Younger learners are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiencies for increasing performance mastery levels, which are learnable for children but broad enough to sustain continued investigations throughout their education (NGSS Lead States, 2013, p. 16).
STEAM in Saudi Early Childhood Education
Amid its increasing strides towards globalization, Saudi Arabia has faced real challenges in its efforts to reform its educational system to be on par with those of other nations. Over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia made significant attempts to reform its education system by giving more attention to STEAM content without explicitly mentioning the acronym. King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz’s Public Education Development Project (KAAPEDP) was initiated in 2007 as an urgent call for reforming public education at all levels to keep pace with the country’s widespread economic and social developments (Alnahdi, 2014). The project was known as the Tatweer program—an Arabic form of development—and was intended to reform the traditional Saudi school model into one with an innovative environment and advanced technology. In this project, heavy emphasis was placed on the importance of technology through investments in technology-oriented learning environments and heightened standards for teachers’ qualifications (Alyami, 2014). However, the project said nothing specific regarding actual STEAM curricula.
In tandem with the reforms to Saudi education, including the Tatweer program, and with the cooperation of the NAEYC, the Ministry of Education (MOE) (2015) issued its Saudi Early Learning Standards (SELS) position statement in 2015. The position statement applied to preschool-aged children of 3 to 6 years and was intended to inform educators, teachers, parents, and care providers with the best practices, based on the basic characteristics of a child’s age and developmental stage. The statement addressed seven standards regarding children’s learning across all areas of development. One of the standards is Cognition and General Knowledge, which clearly expresses four related STEAM subjects, organized into four major strands: Mathematics, Science, Creative Arts, and Technology. Although engineering is not explicitly mentioned, the instructions detailed in this standard demonstrate inquiry-based integrations with engineering-specific content. For instance, concepts such as measurement, geometry, spatial sense, and shape dimension are all presented as scientific, logical thinking skills that involve both math and engineering. Each strand of the Cognition and General Knowledge standard is subdivided into the following multiple themes, which are clearly related to STEAM content:
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The Science strand addresses the inquiry skills children need to understand their natural world: Scientific Inquiry, Physical Science, Life Science, and Environmental Science. The relevant instructions proposed by this strand to support developmentally appropriate practices for children would be, for example, “name and identify different earth materials such as rocks, water, and dirt” or “sort and categorize plants and animals by their physical characteristics.”
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The Mathematics strand is concerned with the study of operations that evoke logical-mathematical thinking through major mathematical concepts: Patterns, Functions, Algebra, Data Analysis and Probability, Numerals, Quantity, Measurements, and Geometry. A few examples for teachers to practice with students include “explore the concept of volume, by estimating size; recognize that numbers represent quantity to describe and create simple patterns” and “demonstrate an understanding of simple graphs by comparing two pieces of information.”
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The Creative Arts strand nurtures children’s heads, hearts, and hands by fostering holistic interactions between children’s minds, bodies, and actions. Children express their knowledge, thoughts, and emotions through avenues of Artistic Expression, Dramatic Play, Chants, and Expressive Movement. A few examples of practices recommended for teachers to perform with children include “recreate familiar environments, such as the household and classroom” and “use artwork as a way to express thoughts, feelings, and knowledge.”
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The Technology strand addresses students’ basic familiarity with technology and the essential skills and knowledge needed for them to engage effectively with interactive technology and multimedia. Some activities considered to be appropriate to practice with children include “make a mechanical toy work by intentionally pushing buttons, turning knobs, and pulling pull-strings, as appropriate” and “play with mechanical toys and learning games, with some assistance” (Saudi Early Learning Standards (SELS), 2015).
In addition, the Cognition and General Knowledge standard in the SELS statement provides teachers with a range of age-appropriate practices that demonstrate proficiencies and indicate performance expectations for young learners. The practices also encourage students to formulate a basic understanding of natural phenomena and to engage in logical thinking; both processes are based on intersecting concepts of STEAM. Although the term STEAM is not mentioned in the Saudi version of the SELS statement, the concepts presented within it articulate the major content areas of scientific thinking as developmentally appropriate practices. However, the statement presents the pedagogical practices for each discipline separately, with no guidelines for teachers to identify any type of content integration as a STEAM inquiry. Notably, following the release of the SELS statement in 2015, the actual training for in-service teachers did not begin until early 2018.
A recent initiative has presented a strong incentive to promote STEAM concepts in a rich social and digital culture environment. Through a partnership between the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) and the MOE (2015), the Future Trucks initiative has launched educational vehicles equipped with fourth industrial revolution (4IR) tools and advanced scientific materials that allow users to convert their theoretical ideas into concrete prototypes. The trucks target children and public school students, particularly those interested in digital fabrication, and their parents/guardians to introduce a STEAM approach to learning. The 4IR is a fusion of the digital, biological, and physical worlds that utilizes new digital innovations, such as the Internet of Things, robotics, and artificial intelligence (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), 2019, p. 120).
At the global level, the MCIT has organized the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) competition, which was held for the first time in Saudi Arabia. The competition aims to demonstrate a STEAM approach to learning through the power of digital technology; an invented pathway for educating the new generation in this technology-driven world. A large-scale partnership between the MoE, the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, the King Abdulaziz City for Sciences and Technology (KACST), the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, the National Digital Transformation Unit (NDTU), the Saudi Wireless and Remote Control Sports Federation, and the Ensan Charity supports and sponsors 500 trainers to qualify for the competition and work with 800 teams. This massive undertaking is a part of Saudi Vision 2030, a blueprint for the digital transformation of the education sector to develop 21st-century skills and qualify Saudi youth for the future’s new 4IR jobs (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), 2019).
The Current Study
In light of the significant and recent changes within the Saudi education system that are meant to reform its policy for and philosophy of educating young children, the aim of this study is to shed light on what Saudi teachers believe about the roles of STEAM in early childhood education. Indeed, there is a lack of research investigating early childhood teachers’ beliefs about STEAM education and its applications in Saudi Arabia. Although many studies have been conducted regarding Saudi teachers and their perceptions regarding key STEAM content (e.g., Alarfaj, 2015; Aldahmash et al., 2019; Alghamdi & Al-Salouli, 2013; El-Deghaidy & Mansour, 2015; El-Deghaidy et al., 2017; Madani & Forawi, 2019), research on STEAM in Saudi early childhood education is quite limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate Saudi teachers’ beliefs about STEAM education, gaining insight into how teachers perceive and acknowledge the concept of STEAM by analyzing a set of statements. This research focuses specifically on a) teachers’ knowledge of STEAM education and b) teachers’ professional training in STEAM education. The following research questions guided this investigation:
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Q1.
What are Saudi early childhood education teachers’ beliefs about STEAM education?
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Q2.
What is the relationship between Saudi teachers’ knowledge of STEAM education and their beliefs?
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Q3.
What is the relationship between Saudi teachers’ professional training on STEAM education and their beliefs?