Education Commons^™

Biomimicry A “Natural Lesson” In Steam, Steve Pauls

The STEAM Journal

The introduction of biomimicry as a theme in the classroom has some significant advantages when developing a STEAM curriculum. This growing field has many natural overlaps between the different disciplines within STEAM. There are many fascinating stories surrounding biomimicry connecting nature to simple solutions for many of our most difficult problems, especially related to the sustainability of our planet. Biomimicry cannot but help capture the imagination of our students.

Stumbling Into The Spiral: A Serendipitous Steam Exploration, David Rufo

The STEAM Journal

An artist-educator discovers how a STEAM-based approach to making art brings together a variety of subject areas in surprising ways.

Peace Guardians, Watts Bears And The Maori Haka, Zachariah Fisher

The STEAM Journal

In the summer of 2017, Peace Guardians carried out a summer school program for twenty inner city kids ranging from 8-13 years old in Watts Los Angeles. The program was part of the annual Watts Bears summer school. The Watts Bears are group of student football and track athletes coached by the Los Angeles Police Department. Working in conjunction with the Watts officers and coaches, Peace Guardians and guest teachers spent four hours a day with the students facilitating mindfulness exercises and the Haka as wellness tools to incorporate into their lives in and out of the classroom and football …

Interdisciplinary Summer Institute Offering Steam Activities For At-Risk Middle School Students, Katherine Zaromatidis, Kara Naidoo

The STEAM Journal

A one-week long summer institute was designed for at-risk middle school students with two goals in mind: increasing interest in scientific inquiry through the use of artistic venues and exposing students to a higher education setting to motivate future goals of post-secondary education. Students were brought to the Iona College campus and were led through STEAM activities by a multi-disciplinary team of educators, who were assisted by a group of motivated undergraduate and graduate students. The summer institute culminated in a dramatic performance prepared and delivered by each of the students.

Wonder, Walking, And Water, Rachel Mayeri

The STEAM Journal

Art and Science is a seminar and studio course on science-inspired art practices. We will survey and discuss cutting-edge art-science theory, practice, and institutions in seminar. In studio, we examine art-science topics in hands-on experiments, and guided activities leading to art projects.

Kids Inspire Kids For Steam, Kristof Fenyvesi, Tony Houghton, José Manuel Diego-Mantecón, Elizabeth Crilly, Adrian Oldknow, Zsolt Lavicza, Teresa F. Blanco

The STEAM Journal

The goal of the Kids Inspiring Kids in STEAM (KIKS) project was to raise students’ awareness towards the multi- and transdisciplinary connections between the STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics), and make the learning about topics and phenomena from these fields more enjoyable. In order to achieve these goals, KIKS project has popularized the STEAM-concept by projects based on the students inspiring other students-approach and by utilizing new technologies, tools, open educational resources, and everyday items and materials. Through the students-inspiring-other-students-approach, we have aimed to get participating students developing STEAM activities for other students in their own local …

Science Theater As Steam: A Case Study Of "Save It Now", Christopher D. Davidson, Willard Simms

The STEAM Journal

What are the markers of a successful STEAM program? How and when can educators be reasonably sure that an interdisciplinary unit or project, rich in both the sciences and the arts, has delivered on its implicit promise – by adding value to a student’s education in ways that are beyond the scope of traditional discipline-specific learning? I attempt to address this question with a case study of Theatre of Will’s “Save It Now,” a pilot program for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th graders at eight Los Angeles public schools that integrates theater arts, music and the STEM …

Creating Steam With Design Thinking: Beyond Stem And Arts Integration, Danah Henriksen

The STEAM Journal

This article suggests the value in a broad view of STEAM beyond arts-integration, as well as the potential of design thinking for STEAM. Despite much interest in STEAM it is often challenging for many teachers to integrate into their teaching of school subject matter. I suggest that as an interdisciplinary crossroads, design thinking provides a natural bridge between the arts, sciences, and other subjects. In this it can offer guiding flexible structure and in-road for teachers to design STEAM-based lessons, and to incorporate as an integrated aspect of students’ STEAM learning. I discuss an example of an elementary Spanish teacher, …

Creativity, Laterality And Critical State Balance In Learning, Jenny Rock, Asher Flatt

The STEAM Journal

Understanding the intersecting cognitive pathways that are integral to ways of thinking, creating and functioning in both art and science is an important grounding for a STEAM educational approach. We combine three divergent concepts, including creativity, hemisphere laterality, and critical state theory, to argue for a more balanced approach to learning as part of a modern meaning-centered education in STEAM. Reviewing the concept of hemisphere laterality, or how the two hemispheres of our brain have different (though not disconnected) ways of processing sensory information, we note how these two means of interpreting the world have become unbalanced in traditional modes …

Into The Woods - Environmental Problem Solving Through Steam Lesson Planning, Laura Rachel Fattal

The STEAM Journal

Title - Into the Woods – environmental problem solving through STEAM lesson planning

Abstract

The STEAM conversation takes on new urgency in the preservice university classroom due to its potential for synergistic problem solving of real world problems. The visual and performing arts invite creativity to be understood as social practice and aesthetic flexibility and the assessment of the practice through student/student and student/teacher curiosity building. In this article pedagogical praxis is centered on the critical issue of climate change caused by global warming. The praxis addresses:

• University preservice candidates’ arts-integrated teaching and learning focusing on climate change,
• Provocative rewriting …

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

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.