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Full-Text Articles in Education

Using Steam To Increase Engagement And Literacy Across Disciplines, Robert L. Long Ii, Stephen S. Davis Dec 2017

Using Steam To Increase Engagement And Literacy Across Disciplines, Robert L. Long Ii, Stephen S. Davis

The STEAM Journal

This paper explores STEAM as a solution to improving student engagement and helping students improve functional literacy across the curriculum. While STEM is a fairly established approach to curriculum, researchers and practitioners are continuing to develop and understand STEAM and its place in school curriculum. It is important that educators foster this holistic approach to education and strive to participate in active research associated with STEAM. It is also most advantageous for stakeholders to understand the importance of arts integration and its use to support collaboration, innovation, and creativity within students. Key strategies can be used to support arts integration …


A Brief History Of Stem And Steam From An Inadvertent Insider, Lisa G. Catterall Dec 2017

A Brief History Of Stem And Steam From An Inadvertent Insider, Lisa G. Catterall

The STEAM Journal

This article traces a history of STEM and STEAM from the perspective of someone involved in arts integration research for the last 35 years, and proposes a vision for the next steps. It also provides an assessment of the risks inherent in current trends of STEAM roll-out in schools, from the lack of resources for professional development to the burgeoning market in STEAM kits and activity books that do not lead to the original learning goals of STEAM.


Challenging Elementary Learners With Programmable Robots During Free Play And Direct Instruction, Kimberly S. Mccoy-Parker, Lindsey N. Paull, Audrey C. Rule, Sarah E. Montgomery Nov 2017

Challenging Elementary Learners With Programmable Robots During Free Play And Direct Instruction, Kimberly S. Mccoy-Parker, Lindsey N. Paull, Audrey C. Rule, Sarah E. Montgomery

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Computer programming skills are important to many current careers; teaching robot coding to elementary students can start a positive foundation for technological careers, develop problem-solving skills, and growth mindsets. This study, through a repeated measures design involving students in two classrooms at two widelyseparated grade levels (first graders aged 6-7 years and fifth graders aged 10-11 years), determined if allowing students to challenge themselves with coding exercises in the experimental condition resulted in greater learning and more positive attitudes than a more structured set of exercises provided by the teacher in the control condition. Background instruction in coding and using …


Examining Natural Selection By Sketching And Making Models Of The Finches Of The Galapagos Islands, Phoebe J. Z. Pittman, Jolene K. Teske Nov 2017

Examining Natural Selection By Sketching And Making Models Of The Finches Of The Galapagos Islands, Phoebe J. Z. Pittman, Jolene K. Teske

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This practical lesson describes how students in six eighth grade science classes participated in a lesson combining the National Core Arts Standards with the Next Generation Science Standards. The goal of the lesson was to provide visual representations of finch beak form and function so students could better understand genetic variation and how environmental pressures influence natural selection. Students sketched a finch with a large, medium, or small beak, corresponding to an experiment they had conducted with picking up different sizes of seeds with different sizes of binder clips. Using modeling with a variety of media, students created bird beaks …


Cinematherapy In Gifted Education Identity Development: Integrating The Arts Through Stem-Themed Movies, Timothy C. Kangas, Michelle Cook, Audrey C. Rule Nov 2017

Cinematherapy In Gifted Education Identity Development: Integrating The Arts Through Stem-Themed Movies, Timothy C. Kangas, Michelle Cook, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Gifted students, because of their advanced development compared to peers, have emotional needs that require differentiated education programs. Asynchronous social and emotional development of gifted students often leads to identity issues. Cinematherapy can be used to help gifted students explore their identities through analysis of the actions of gifted characters in films. This practical article suggests STEM-themed movies with characters facing challenges useful for gifted student identity development. The Autonomous Learners Model is used to classify gifted learners in the movies to assist teachers in matching movies to the needs of gifted learners. Tables of STEM-themed movies with gifted characters …


Middle Level Preservice Teachers Experience A Natural History Arts-Integrated Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit, Carolyn A. Weber, Audrey C. Rule Nov 2017

Middle Level Preservice Teachers Experience A Natural History Arts-Integrated Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit, Carolyn A. Weber, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Curricular demands and best practices for middle school require interdisciplinary units. Arts integration can provide motivation and a new pathway to learning. This unit focused on inquiry into the natural history of artifacts and rocks recovered from the exposed subsoil of an area near Cedar Falls, Iowa that had been bulldozed as part of subdivision development. The described unit involved preservice teachers in exploration of all subject areas (language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) with arts-integrated projects (agate watercolor painting, stone tool graphing, acrylic polymer clay agate keyring making, and stone tool drawings). The content area activities for social …


How The Arts Standards Support Stem Concepts: A Journey From Stem To Steam, Ksenia S. Zhbanova Nov 2017

How The Arts Standards Support Stem Concepts: A Journey From Stem To Steam, Ksenia S. Zhbanova

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This issue of the Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions is focused on the effects of integrating arts with STEM areas, an important and widely-considered topic in education today. This editorial provides an overview of the current state of the arts and STEM areas integration paradigm, an analysis of the benefits of the arts integration with the STEM subjects, and an overview of the history of the arts anchor standards. Comparison and connections between the National Arts Core anchor arts standards, the scientific method, engineering design process, and the 5E learning cycle are also illuminated. Summaries of the practical …


A Comparative Study Of Sat® Scores Of Students From High Schools Of The Arts And Non-Arts High Schools, Debra R. Cahl Oct 2017

A Comparative Study Of Sat® Scores Of Students From High Schools Of The Arts And Non-Arts High Schools, Debra R. Cahl

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

In 21st Century public schools today, many rapid changes in college and career readiness play havoc among teachers and administrators who are attempting to keep up within a fast-paced, global economy. Preparing students to be successful upon graduation from public schools is a prime responsibility of the educational system in America. A tremendous amount of effort has been employed within the last two decades to close student achievement gaps and to improve teaching effectiveness, curricula, and standards in public schools. Due to concerns for failing students, shrinking budgets, and insufficient rigor to compete in a global economy, the arts were …


The Mirror Up To Nature: Identity Exploration Through Drama For English Language Learners, Grace Hudkins May 2017

The Mirror Up To Nature: Identity Exploration Through Drama For English Language Learners, Grace Hudkins

Master's Projects and Capstones

It is widely accepted that language acquisition through content, arts integration, and identity development in concert with foreign or second language development are all important and valid approaches to ESOL education. However, there is a lack of literature addressing these three elements in concert. This project attempts to bridge this gap through the creation of an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) unit that addresses language acquisition, drama integration, and personal and cultural identity development. The unit also promotes intercultural understanding, as students share their personal and cultural identity backgrounds with one another throughout the course of the unit …


Teaching Kindergarten Students About The Water Cycle Through Arts And Invention, Latisha L. Smith, Deepanee Samarakoon Apr 2017

Teaching Kindergarten Students About The Water Cycle Through Arts And Invention, Latisha L. Smith, Deepanee Samarakoon

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Research evidence for the benefits of arts integration is mounting. The purpose of this study was to determine if integration of the arts was an effective strategy for teaching the water cycle to kindergarten students. The study included lessons that supported both a science and an engineering standard of the Next Generation Science Standards and national arts standards. The phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of children as they learned and demonstrated understanding through drawings, watercolor paintings, dramatization of a water cycle poem, and the invention and testing of a waterproof boot. Participants were 12 kindergarten students (7 male, 5 …