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Full-Text Articles in Education

Cultivating Ingenuity In Art Through Steam Picture Books, Julia L. Hovanec Feb 2023

Cultivating Ingenuity In Art Through Steam Picture Books, Julia L. Hovanec

The STEAM Journal

In what creative ways can educators cultivate ingenuity? This article features ten STEAM picture books and their possibilities in the art room and beyond. It equips educators to take on STEAM armed with engaging and inspiring picture books that foster creativity, inventiveness, and more while inspiring students to create, experiment, problem-solve, and construct. There is a focus on one substantive, integrated Art and Science lesson built on the provocative book Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Readers will leave with one complete STEAM challenge-based lesson plan informed by this book …


Creative Learning With Music And Mathematics: Reflections On Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Graham Johnson, Alesia M. Moldavan Feb 2023

Creative Learning With Music And Mathematics: Reflections On Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Graham Johnson, Alesia M. Moldavan

The STEAM Journal

Culturally responsive content, accessible and inclusive tools, and meaningful interdisciplinary tasks can aid in developing equitable and creative learning environments. Music and mathematics are ideal disciplines for interdisciplinary creative learning. In this article, we reflect on our experiences engaging in interdisciplinary music and mathematics tasks with preservice teachers. In particular, we highlight specific efforts taken to design and implement a creative music and mathematics workshop for use in a mathematics methods course. Guided by these experiences, we offer examples of tools and practices that have helped preservice teachers collaborate, engage in inquiry, improvise, develop empathy, and take intellectual and social …


Creating Steam With Design Thinking: Beyond Stem And Arts Integration, Danah Henriksen Dec 2017

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 Dec 2017

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 …


From Stem To Steam: Students’ Beliefs About The Use Of Their Creativity, Ayse Tugba Oner, Sandra Bonorden Nite, Robert M. Capraro, Mary Margaret Capraro Nov 2016

From Stem To Steam: Students’ Beliefs About The Use Of Their Creativity, Ayse Tugba Oner, Sandra Bonorden Nite, Robert M. Capraro, Mary Margaret Capraro

The STEAM Journal

To be successful in a STEM career, not only STEM knowledge and skills but also creativity is required. Therefore, the arts have been integrated into STEM disciplines and subsequently designated as STEAM education (Sousa & Pilecki, 2013). One example of informal learning environments that STEAM education provided is a summer camp. In this study, middle and highs school students’ use of their creativity in the Project-based Learning (PBL) courses was examined to determine students’ belief about the use of the arts in STEM activities. The results showed that students believed that they used their creativity in eight of the nine …


Musings From A Year Of Ste[A]M...How It Looks Walking Down The Path, Ruth Catchen Feb 2014

Musings From A Year Of Ste[A]M...How It Looks Walking Down The Path, Ruth Catchen

The STEAM Journal

This is a follow up article to one in the inaugural issue which describes the beginnings of implementing a STE[a]M curriculum in a school with a high at-risk student population. This article discusses the outcomes and the future after a year of STE[a]M.


Full Steam Ahead: Creativity In Excellent Stem Teaching Practices, Danah Henriksen Feb 2014

Full Steam Ahead: Creativity In Excellent Stem Teaching Practices, Danah Henriksen

The STEAM Journal

This article emphasizes the value of creativity and arts-based learning in the sciences (STEAM education), using one example from a recent research study of creative and effective classroom teachers. The future of innovative thinking in STEM disciplines relies on breaking down the distinction between disciplines traditionally seen as “creative” like the arts or music, and STEM disciplines traditionally seen as more rigid or logical-mathematical (Catterall, 2002). The most exceptional thinkers in fields like science or math are also highly creative individuals who are deeply influenced by an interest in, and knowledge of, music, the arts and similar areas (Caper, 1996; …


Steam With A Capital A: Learning Frenzy, David Rufo Mar 2013

Steam With A Capital A: Learning Frenzy, David Rufo

The STEAM Journal

A student dipped a brush into a bowl of viscous tempera paint and in a few quick strokes formed thick magenta letters on a large display board. Nearby a handful of students were working together to attach string to paper cups and balloons. Across the room a small group of girls were lying on the floor carefully adding multi-colored text to a poster. Two others created characters out of Popsicle sticks for a puppet show...This is how the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math (S.T.E.A.M.) happened with the fourth and fifth graders during the first few weeks of …