“Mama look!” My son called to my excitedly “I built a truck with stabilizers!” Sure enough, out of his magnet blocks he had constructed a perfect replica of a truck he had seen on a favorite TV show. “Those help it not tip over!” He told me.

The next day I heard the crash of Duplos falling and a frustrated roar from the living room. Then, silence. I peeked in and saw him concentrating hard on something. When he was finished he stepped back with satisfaction. “Mama. Look at my sculpture! It was falling over but then I put a stabilizer on it…just like my truck”

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) is sometimes brushed off as an attempt by “the arts” to muscle in on the popularity of STEM. I think that it is more then that. When you remember the role that STEM can play in the arts, and how the arts can influence people who are engaged in STEM, you see how important it is to link them together.