Douglas Matute

By Douglas Matute

Today a new ideology is starting to gain reputation. STEAM is a new take on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). STEAM education incorporates the “A” for the arts– recognizing that to be successful in technical fields, we need to teach individuals to be creative and use critical thinking skills, which are usually best developed through exposure to the arts. According to Deron Cameron, former principal of the first STEAM-certified school in the country, “STEAM represents a paradigm shift from traditional education philosophy, based on standardized test scores, to a modern ideal which focuses on valuing the learning process as much as the results.”[1]

I interviewed Eric Gradman, CTO of Two Bit Circus, to learn more.

Douglas: So you’re the CTO of Two Bit Circus, could you please explain to me what Two Bit Circus is?

Eric: TBC is focused on the future of entertainment, wherever that may lead. So many people know of us because of our Steam Carnival, but we do much more than that. In addition to the Steam Carnival we have an initiative called the Story Room Project, and that is all about making interactive adventures—physical interactive adventures for groups of people.

So imagine you’re trying to figure out what to do on a Saturday night. You and a couple of your friends buy a ticket, you come to our facility, and you have to save a scientist who’s gone missing or you have to deliver an alien emissary to his home planet but you’re doing this with physical games, physical puzzles that have to solved. We’re doing some original content, some branding content—and building our own cameras, building our own stitching software. We’re a high-tech entertainment company.

Douglas: Cool. That sounds really sick. Alright, now in terms of my project, just so people will know, what is this “STEAM” and what is the actual purpose of STEAM?

Eric: Well, I think the idea behind STEAM is to help people understand that STEM is great and all, but without the arts, STEM is boring. And even if you have a serious bent, and even if you want to use science and technology and engineering and math to make a change in the world, on your own time you should very much understand the fact that all of those sophisticated engineering disciplines can be used for fun and interesting and artistic outlets and those artistic pursuits will help inspire you and focus you even if you’re doing something serious in the world. We think that especially when teaching kids or when inspiring kids, it’s just not enough to tell them to become engineers. You have to tap into their preexisting interests and often those interests are artistic. People want to make beautiful things, they want to make music, they want to make art, they want to make fashion. If we can channel those pursuits into the pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and math, then we’ll win.

Douglas: Neat. So in terms of a vocation, how can STEAM help an interested student get more involved in this aspect of making a better future with STEM and arts together?

Eric: Well, the more people we can convince to pursue STEAM, the better our culture will be. We need people inventing things, we need people solving problems. I’m an engineer; that’s what I do for a living. I don’t care what your path to engineering is, but if you wind up making things, if you wind up building things, if you wind up inspired to create serious or beautiful or frivolous or entertaining things, then as a culture, we all win.

Douglas: Nice. When you were in the STEAM Carnival, you were explaining how every day you woke up and you went to work in STEM but then you lost interest in it. Do you think that students nowadays feel the exact same way as you did before?

Eric: Well, I think it’s sometimes hard to get excited about STEM without understanding its applications. I think the education system in particular suffers from a lack of project-based learning and without an understanding of why you’re learning these things, so what you’re learning doesn’t have a purpose. And things without a purpose are boring, you know?

When you’re a teenager and you’re going through school, and you’re a middle schooler and you’re going through school, you’re not yet thinking about how you’re going to change the world. You’re not yet thinking about what job you’re going to apply this stuff to, so how can you apply this stuff to your life right now? And the answer is: make art, make music, make robots that play music, make cool stuff, you know? And with that philosophy in mind anybody can be excited by pursuing STEM through STEAM.

  1. Deron Cameron, “STEAM Education,” STEAM Education RSS. Accessed March 02, 2016. http://steamedu.com/. ↑