A Study of STEAM Education and Related Learning Environments in Elementary Schools: A Case Study of Elementary Schools of Fukuoka City

STEAM education is an educational approach that intentionally integrates and fuses the five disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics to achieve a specific goal through a given task, which has been attracting attention. STEAM education is being promoted widely in countries such as the United State and South Korea. On the other hand, Japan is still less advanced than in other countries, and there is little research on STEAM education and the design of its learning environment. This study focused on STEAM education in elementary schools in Fukuoka city because it is considered one of the areas in Japan where STEAM education is not advanced. The authors conducted a questionnaire to understand the implementation status of STEAM education in public elementary schools in Fukuoka City and interviewed a school who implemented STEAM education to understand the implementation details. Then clarified the kind of STEAM education currently being provided to identify the necessary educational environment for implementing STEAM education.