Voices from the Field: Sally Baker from The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM (Part 2)

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By Sam Piha

We continue our interview with Sally Baker, CEO of The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM.

Q: Advocates for STEAM claim that activities are more accessible for girls and kids of color. Do you agree?

A: Yes, and the research supports it, but with an important caveat: STEAM is only more accessible when it is implemented with genuine intention.

The data on representation in STEM fields is sobering. Women make up only about 28 percent of the STEM workforce, and students of color remain significantly underrepresented in STEM pathways at every level of education. The barriers are not rooted in capability. They are rooted in access, messaging, and whose ways of thinking and knowing have historically been valued in these spaces.

Research tells us that girls begin to internalize the message that they are less naturally gifted in math and science as early as age six, well before they have had a meaningful chance to explore either field. For students of color, the compounding messages about who belongs in STEM fields begin early and persist throughout their education.

This is precisely where the arts become so powerful. The arts are rooted in personal interpretation, cultural expression, and multiple ways of knowing. When students are invited to bring their own stories, perspectives, and creative instincts into the problem-solving process, the playing field shifts. A student who has never seen herself in a science textbook may find her entry point through filmmaking, visual art, or music. A student whose cultural background is rarely reflected in traditional curriculum may find that STEAM gives him a way to address problems that matter deeply to his community.

Arts integration research, consistently shows that integrated learning increases engagement and achievement among underrepresented groups, including girls, students of color, and students from lower income backgrounds. That is not a coincidence. It is evidence that broadening what learning looks like broadens who gets to succeed at it.

So yes, I agree wholeheartedly that STEAM should offer more opportunities for girls and students of color. They are just as capable, just as innovative, and just as deserving of a learning experience that reflects their full potential. The goal of STEAM, done well, is not just to diversify who enters these fields. It is to fundamentally reimagine what those fields can look like when everyone has a seat at the table.

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Q: STEAM seems to favor collaboration and having young people work on teams. How is this reflected in the adult world of science being conducted?

A: The short answer is that virtually every meaningful scientific discovery of our time has been a collaborative one. STEAM is not teaching students a soft skill. It is preparing them for the actual way that consequential work gets done in the world.

It is worth making an important distinction here between working in groups and working in teams, because they are not the same thing. In a group, tasks are divided, completed separately, and combined at the end to produce a final product. The individuals contribute their pieces, but the thinking largely stays separate. A team functions very differently. In a true team, the sum is greater than its parts. People listen to one another, challenge each other's assumptions, bring their unique knowledge and experience to bear on a shared problem, and arrive at solutions that no single member of the team could have reached alone. That is not just a feel-good idea; it is how modern science actually operates.

Even scientists who spend most of their time working independently in a laboratory rarely work in true isolation. They consult colleagues, present their findings at conferences, publish research that others read and respond to, and participate in a living community of inquiry around their area of study. Every individual contribution pushes the entire field forward. Science is, at its core, a deeply social and collaborative enterprise.

When STEAM asks young people to work in teams to solve real problems, it is not simply a classroom management strategy. It is an authentic reflection of how discovery actually happens, and an investment in developing the kinds of thinkers who know how to listen, build on the ideas of others, and create something together that none of them could have created alone.

MORE ABOUT...

Sally Baker

Sally Baker is the CEO of The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM and she has over 25 years of experience in arts education, arts integration, and STEAM instruction. Half of her career has been spent in arts organizations across the country and the other half in public schools and universities. Previous to this job, which she started in January 2026, she served as the STEAM Program Specialist for the Georgia Department of Education, coaching and advising Georgia schools through the STEAM certification process. Sally believes strongly in the transformative power of integrated learning and have seen STEAM programs solve many of education's "unsolvable" challenges. 

The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM is the world’s largest online professional development provider for teachers and leaders using arts-integrated approaches. Founded in 2013 by Susan Riley, a former music educator and administrator, the Institute now serves over 800,000 educators globally each year through its online workshops, resources, courses, conferences and certification.