STEAM in Gifted Education in Korea

Developing an education system that caters for a diverse range of learners while keeping up with the ever-changing demands of a global twenty-first century society is a feat that countries worldwide are grappling with. The South Korean education system in the past decade has seen an upheaval in the agenda set for Korean students in preparation for an economy that will require further creativity and innovation to remain viable. Gifted education in particular has seen significant investment in the further expansion and development of specialised programs and curriculum, with the most recent government plan for the promotion of gifted and talented education (2013–2017) focusing on the utilisation of the STEAM education model. STEAM is an acronym for the educational methods of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, that incorporates the arts with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects. The STEAM pedagogy is based on the belief that students’ knowledge and skills of STEM subjects can be further enhanced through the arts by developing students’ capacity for creativity and innovation while they try to solve real-life problems or design and make science-related products (Ministry of Science and Technology [MEST], 2011a). The second basic plan to foster and support the human resources in science and technology (MEST, 2011–2015). With a range of studies identifying positive relationships between gifted education and STEAM education (An & Yoo, 2015; Kwon, Heo, & Yang, 2015; Lee, Kim, & Moon, 2013), the journey of how South Korea has incorporated STEAM education within gifted education and the ramifications makes for a significant case to explore. Hence, the current status of STEAM education for gifted students in South Korea is presented in this chapter.