Against the backdrop of the global technological revolution and the continued advancement of China’s "New Engineering Education" initiatives, traditional STEM-based engineering education has increasingly exposed problems such as an overemphasis on technical rationality, insufficient attention to humanistic concerns, and a disconnect between technological and societal needs. Promoting the transformation of engineering education from "instrumental rationality" to "value rationality", thereby achieving the deep integration of science, technology, engineering, the humanities, and the arts, has become a central direction of engineering education reform in the new era. With the reconstruction of the value of the humanities and arts in engineering education as its central focus, this paper traces the evolution of STEM and STEAM education, examines their conceptual differences and theoretical foundations, and draws on case studies from China and abroad to analyze in depth the practical challenges involved in integrating the humanities and arts into engineering education in China, including misconceptions, the lack of appropriate evaluation systems, and insufficient institutional support mechanisms. Furthermore, the paper proposes innovative solutions, including the reshaping of educational concepts, curriculum restructuring, and evaluation reform, with a view to providing a theoretical reference for the development of "New Engineering Education" and the localized implementation of STEAM education in Chinese higher education institutions.

Sun Yifan, Liang Jiayi. From STEM to STEAM: Value Reconstruction and Practical Pathways for Integrating Humanities and Arts into Engineering Education. International Journal of New Developments in Education (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 8: 53-62. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJNDE.2026.080807.

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