Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exhibiting Steam: Curating Community Conversations Through Library Collections, Stefanie Hilles, Ginny Boehme, Rachel Makarowski

The STEAM Journal

This article discusses the successful collaboration of an art librarian, a science librarian, and a special collections librarian in their efforts to engage the community in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) conversations through the curation of a STEAM-based exhibition of artist books. The exhibition was an opportunity to showcase STEAM’s interdisciplinarity through library collections that, until this point, had remained unexplored. The goal was to demonstrate how scientific principles have inspired both contemporary artists and those throughout history, dispelling the myth that artists are not influenced by science. The Libraries’ Special Collections proved an excellent resource to investigate …

Embracing Imperfections, Raja Gopal Bhattar

The STEAM Journal

A window into my meditation practice.

Centering The Arts In Stem, Fay Cobb Payton

The STEAM Journal

A reflection on a STEAM initiative: NC State University Alumni and their children attended free STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) family workshops at D.H. Hill Library. This program was a collaboration between Dr. Fay Cobb Payton, professor of Information Systems/Technology and University Faculty Scholar at NC State, the NCSU Libraries, and Arts NC State

And The Stars Look Very Different Today, Amy Rogin

The STEAM Journal

A personal reflection about synesthesia

Drawing Parallels In Art Science For Collaborative Learning: A Case Study, Karen Westland

The STEAM Journal

This research paper explores drawing as a tool to facilitate interdisciplinary practice. Outlined is the personal experience of PhD researcher [name removed] in their physics/craft research project, combined with thoughts and opinions from collaborators gathered through group discursive interviews. Interdisciplinary projects face interpersonal and conceptually ambiguous challenges which can be addressed through adopting drawing techniques for educational purposes. Findings highlight that drawing can assist across a breadth of applications as a learning tool for everyone, regardless of drawing ability, to improve the functionality of collaborative projects. Specifically, drawing combined with other communication techniques develops a performative communicative approach that enriches …

Metaphorical Cities - Behind The Cover Art, Elana Melissa Hill

The STEAM Journal

This is a reflection on how cities function like organisms. An artist's interpretation of the spaces surrounding them.

Metaphorical Cities, Elana Melissa Hill

The STEAM Journal

This is a reflection on how cities function like organisms. An artist's interpretation of the spaces surrounding them.

Topical, Trista Hurley-Waxali

The STEAM Journal

This is a piece to start the discussion of how the lightening of pigmentation through melanin manipulation evolved from the demands of cover art photography.

Combining An Intuitive Art Workshop And Neuroscience Rituals To Make Us Happy, Audrey Gran Weinberg

The STEAM Journal

One might wonder how intuitive art can connect to neuroscience and how this could be accomplished. In this descriptive article, research connecting art therapy and neuroscience has been collected and a workshop on Intuitive Painting has been described in detail. The connection was made by the author based on an article by Barker (2017), ‘4 Rituals to be more Happy,’ who writes a popular science blog. The rituals: gratefulness, expressing negative emotions, decision making and human touch were combined with Dr. Pinkie Feinstein’s method of Intuitive Painting in a small group setting. Although subjective, it would seem that at least …

Nature In Deconstruction, Russell Chowdhury

The STEAM Journal

This 'desconstructive photography' shows how humans interact with nature.

Science And Sentiment: Affecting Change In Environmental Awareness, Attitudes, And Actions Through The Daily Nature Project, Elizabeth D. Haynes Poronsky

The STEAM Journal

Knowledge about what motivates pro-environmental behavior is important to organizations that seek to encourage environmental stewardship. Research suggests that targeting emotions and beliefs about nature can be more effective in changing environmental actions than increasing knowledge. Daily Nature, a site on the social media platform Facebook, features a daily nature photograph, a quote from a notable historical person and a related lyrical written passage. The popularity of this site lends credence to the appeal of interdisciplinary formats, and underscores the benefits of encouraging emotional and aesthetic ties to nature.

Getting Girls In Stem & The Dangers Of Forgetting That Science Is Art - Someone Made It Up, Heidi Therese Dangelmaier, Camilla Hermann

The STEAM Journal

Encouraging girls to participate in STEM is a hot topic that has captured the concern of the world’s academic, business and scientific communities. The intention is noble, however the strategies being deployed are reinforcing the very bias society seeks to eliminate. If we wish to advance our evolutionary journey as a species, a shift from “feeling sorry for disadvantaged girls” to “fearing STEM without girls’ reformation” is imperative. This piece discusses the rise to an initiative to redesign culture: Girlapproved.

The Wonder Of A Child, Shraddha Chaplot

The STEAM Journal

A personal piece on the wonder of childhood and the continuation of curiosity into adulthood.

Fire – The Enigma That Continues To Blaze, Sara Kapadia

The STEAM Journal

How did humans first discover fire? What stories do we pass down to explain the discovery of fire?

Hands 2 Paws – A Canine Artist Story, London Labrador, Leza Labrador

The STEAM Journal

Artwork made by London, a canine artist.

Acting Is Repetition, Job Barnett

The STEAM Journal

A short discussion of repetition in acting.

Animals In The Wild, Brittany Samson

The STEAM Journal

As a photographer, I am extremely interested in the concept of perception and I let this concept drive most of my artistic work. I present four images from my photographic series “Animals in the Wild,” which explore this idea of perception. These four images: Giraffe, Dinosaur, Buffalo, and Bunny—are drastically varied photos that include no real animals, but instead beg the mind to perceive shapes, colors, figure, and coincidence as an animal.

L.A. River Project, Erin Payne

The STEAM Journal

A field note that reflected the artists' experience of the city and the making of art through an activity at the L.A. River.

Relationships, Michael Goodman

The STEAM Journal

No abstract provided.

The Actor: An Emotional Science, Jake Lane Bassi

The STEAM Journal

Acting is a form of storytelling through the given circumstances in the story. A truly good actor unleashes very controlled energy into a powerful emotional roller coaster that takes physical and mental tolls on the body much how real emotions can affect our behavior and drain our energy; such as being exhausted after a strong verbal disagreement with a loved one or dealing with grief from losing someone close.

Magic Bullet, Karen Haydock

The STEAM Journal

Two of the most powerful types of corporations in the world today are those that produce pharmaceuticals and weapons. While the corporations are concerned with increasing their profits, we wonder if their products have any magical powers.

[India ink on rag paper]

This poster explores the military-industrial complex. The weapons industry profits through imperialism. The pharmaceutical industry profits through by taking advantage of people’s illnesses.

The poster has multiple interpretations, hopefully encouraging the viewer to participate by asking relevant questions, such as:

“What is that person drinking?”

”Are they pills or bombs?”

“Medicines cure us - how can a pill …

Ecoscience + Art Initiative: Designing A New Paradigm For College Education, Scholarship, And Service, Changwoo Ahn

The STEAM Journal

The paper presents a new initiative, EcoScience + Art, which blooms at George Mason University. The creator explains the background, history, and recent activities of the initiative, and also introduces an on-going special project called “The Rain Project”, a student participatory project to design, construct, and monitor a green infrastructure (i.e., floating wetland) for sustainable stormwater management on campus. The special project is geared to design and present a new paradigm to integrate college education, scholarship, and service. The relevance of the initiative and the special project to STEAM education is discussed.

The Art Of Personal Science, Jeff Fajans

The STEAM Journal

Quantified Self isn’t really about finding answers or solving problems—it’s about asking new questions.

From The Inside Out, And Through., Dominique Ovalle

The STEAM Journal

These photographs describe “Science” born of consumerism, hijacked by me, economically disenfranchised, or rather—temporarily embarrassed, artist. I was putzing around Malibu—my old college stomping ground, looking for free food; maybe a sample of some gourmet $5 chocolate, and all I got were these photographs.

The Art / Crime Archive: An Anti-Boredom Space, Paul Kaplan, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Dan Salmonson

The STEAM Journal

This paper reports on an ongoing web-based project devoted to the study of deviant art and creative crime called the Art / Crime Archive: www.artcrimearchive.org. The Art / Crime Archive (ACA) is a collaborative laboratory, teaching center, and web-based platform devoted to the study of this space. The ACA is organized by an artist, a criminologist, and a computer engineer. The working process of the ACA involves locating, archiving, and discussing visual, audio, and text artifacts that support this shadow space. The work product is a dynamic archive which can be configured for a multiplicity of contexts—art exhibitions, academic …

The Efficacy Of Mathematics Education, Eric Geimer

The STEAM Journal

Evidence supports the notion that mathematics education in the United States is inadequate. There is also evidence that mathematics education deficiencies extend internationally. The worldwide mathematics education deficit appears large enough that improving student performance in this educational problem area could yield great economic benefit. To improve the efficacy of mathematics education, education’s root problems must first be understood. Often supposed educational root problems are considered and contrasted against potential deficiencies of mathematics methodologies and curricula that are based on mainstream educational philosophies. The educational philosophies utilized to form early-grade mathematics methodologies and related curricula are judged to be the …

The Quantified Self, Behind The Cover Art, Leslie Love Stone

The STEAM Journal

We lead quantified lives. The information we send and receive through our computers, CD players, and smart phones is coded in ones and zeroes. We exist as numerical accounts, license numbers, and login IDs. Anyone who has ever waited on hold for a live customer service representative understands the desire to be treated like a person, not a number. We each want acceptance for our inherent peculiarities and consideration for our circumstance—conditions we believe extrinsic to numbers.

90° To 360°, Holly Paronelli

The STEAM Journal

When I hear STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Art I think of Math and value. Even though there is value in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) the value as a whole cannot be fully calculated. Art is too indefinite, to vast, too infinite to be calculated, but aspects of STEM can be. Yet even then what we think we know comes down to interpretation, fact is fact for only a while.

Art Meets Science! Get Over It . . ., Stephen Nowlin

The STEAM Journal

The news headline, when such projects garner attention, usually goes like this – Art Meets Science! Or perhaps Art Merges with Science! or maybe they combine, or art collides with science, or they fuse, join, bond, or unite. And ‘art’ in the phrase usually precedes ‘science’, perhaps because their integration is more typically initiated from the art side of the equation. But whatever the order of the two terms, and whatever verb is used to link them, the tenor of the declaration is typically the same – this is a story worth reporting on, it announces, because …

A Reflection: Art And Science In A Museum Gallery, Kaileena Flores-Emnace

The STEAM Journal

Art education in a public space can be a venue for the blending of art and science. As a Contemporary Art Start educator for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, I have experienced the many ways in which transdisciplinary education creates deeper student understanding and engagement. At MOCA we use Visual Thinking Strategies for student tours, a research-based teaching method that invites students to direct gallery discussions. We visit a few artworks for ten to fifteen minutes each to foster critical thinking and encourage students to bring personal knowledge and experience to the conversation.