The "A" Matters

http://www.edudemic.com/stem-vs-steam-why-the-a-makes-all-the-difference/

The newly implemented STEM program has become very popular in American schools. STEM focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math. The new question is whether or not the arts should also be applied to this program, renaming it to STEAM. The arts are an extremely important part of a student's education. The arts provide a creative outlet for students, allowing them to express themselves in a safe, productive way. Integrating the arts will help create well rounded students; students will certainly be efficient in the maths and sciences, but adding the 'A' will ensure the another possible subject of expertise.
Those who have influenced our society the most today, may agree that the arts are vital. Steve Jobs has created devices that allow people to search the web, join in on a conference call by video, and play all of your favorite games. It does not only take science and technology to come up with something so useful. It is certain that Jobs must have had a marketing strategy, which would include the arts.  The overall design of the products would also need knowledge in the arts -- what would be most appealing to the customers.
If the 'A' was integrated into the STEM program, I would do my best to incorporate that into my history lessons. A simple, yet effective, way to do so, would be to have students research a prominent inventor. They would have to dig deep to discover each aspect of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, that helped create the product. I would then have the students come up with their own sketch of the same product with different designs. This will promote all of the aspects of STEAM into a history class.