Integrating Reading and Writing with STEAM/STEM: A Systematic Review on STREAM Education

Overview & Synopsis

Background: Science, technology, reading and writing, engineering, art, and mathematics (STREAM) education is an emerging form of STEM/STEAM education. STEM education research focuses on how students acquire knowledge and skills. The potential of reading and writing to effectively support students in STEM education has been the focus of research. Although researchers have noted the role of language, they have not explored it in depth. Purpose/Hypothesis: This paper presents a systematic review of STREAM education to clarify how reading/writing is integrated with STEM/STEAM education and explores the level of cognitive goals in instruction. Design/Method: By searching for articles related to STREAM education up to 2021, we coded some important features of STREAM education and highlighted the correlations between two or more features. Results: (i) STREAM education has developed rapidly in the past 3 years; (ii) Writing appeared in STEM education before reading, and the trend of research is spreading from college to lower school levels; (iii) The combination of reading and writing is better in primary school and is underemphasized in middle school; (iv) The cognitive goals of STREAM education in higher education are slightly higher overall than those before college; (v) Current studies focus on the reflection process of the course, while the main process deserves more attention; and (vi) reading/writing activities in the reflection process achieved the highest levels of cognition than in the entry and main processes. Conclusion: The integration of language activities (reading and writing) into STREAM education is a trend toward disciplinary integration, which helps develop students' cognition and form knowledge constructs.