STEAM Modules Module 2: The Arts in STEM

Overview – STEM and STEAM as literate practice

When we add STEM to the Arts (physical, fine, language), we bring spirit to the sciences (STEM), a powerful way we can work with young children to develop STEM knowledge. We can also think of the Arts as part of our pedagogies (the Art and Science of teaching).

We know teaching is complex and sophisticated. And so, what becomes key to our teaching is the interplay between domain and pedagogical knowledge underpinned by a commitment to truly connecting with learners in ways that prioritise relationships with each other and our environments.

In this module we will work through three key focus areas.

Technology and relationships

In the previous module, our experts talked about the role of the Arts in STEM (hence STEAM) for connecting with real issues and interests in children’s lives. Classroom teachers Daniel and Fiona talked about literature as a way to connect to engineering and science principles through technology use in ways that draw out and develop the affective domain. This concept is explained further through the theoretical lens of Self Determination Theory by Professor Daniel Johnson. 

Daniel Johnson is a psychologist and Professor in Games Research and Interaction Design Lab at Queensland University of Technology. Professor Johnson’s research on gaming and other forms of technology assert the aesthetic perspectives on using technology. In this first clip, we learn about motivation, satisfaction, and passion. 

Reflection: Prof Johnson’s insights offer us much to reflect on, both in terms of our own technology use, and the ways our learners engage with it. Picking up the concepts of harmonious and obsessive passion, consider:

  • Do these phenomena only relate to gaming or is it broader? 
  • What examples can you think of where passion can be (un)healthy?

Professor Johnson proposes in a later part of this interview that banning games for someone whose passion has become obsessive is problematic because it removes the primary source of satisfaction. How do you respond to this concept? What might be some ways you could respond in a more supportive way?

STEAM – what’s important?

We asked our experts to describe their favourite STEAM experiences. As you watch these selected examples, consider the following: 

  • What parts of STEM are represented? What’s missing?
  • How does the Arts inform the learning?
  • What differences and similarities can you see in the ways these experts talk about the concept of STEAM?

Let’s start with teacher Claudia who shares her account of an investigation into the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (https://www.sofistadium.com) and its interaction with people, transport, and the environment. Her description and justification are important in sharing the ways a large and complex idea can be used in the classroom.

Next, Dr Pauline Roberts from Edith Cowan University in WA talks about an extended child led task in a prior to school setting. Here, we hear about the ways the children sustained the learning and the educators followed.

Professor Karen Murcia shares a learning experience that emerged from a task with the BeeBots. Interesting in this clip is the ways a child takes control of the learning with a critical lens on the perhaps “constrained” nature of the task and the subsequent action taken to achieve a different aim.

And David has lots of favourites! One of them is “toy hacking” – there’s a research article at the end of this Module that explores this concept some more.

Use a padlet (or other sharing forum). Select a question from the prompts above and post your thoughts. Remember to read and respond to the posts of others as well.

Try this example on Padlet: What’s your favourite STEM experience? 

Selecting resources

Claudia shares insights about the ways she located, critiqued, and selected resources for the SoFi task. Because of the authentic nature of her STEAM task, Claudia was faced with resources designed for adults, including some who were specialists such as architects, builders and so on. Important in Claudia’s explanation is the ways she worked with those resources to maintain the authenticity and relevance of the task while ensuring the resources were accessible to the students.

We are sure you would agree the selection of resources is a big and challenging part of any teaching, not only in terms of availability, but quality and accessibility as well. Aside from commercial resources, which must always be considered within the context they’re made and the purpose/s and motivation for their creation, government documents also offer multiple resources and advice for teachers.

Often these government resources are designed specifically to align with mandated outcomes, guidelines and frameworks. While the resources are recommended, they are not usually mandated, and so it’s an opportunity to do as Claudia did and critique them for their relevance, accessibility and authenticity. The following task is designed allow practice in critiquing resources in terms of their connection with the syllabus (teacher compliance), but also the possibilities and opportunities a resources offers for children’s real learning within and beyond school (teacher as critical thinker).

Thinking about STEM/STEAM knowledge and our focus on children as critical consumers and producers of text, we pose the following questions: What can you see? What’s missing? What might you do in your classroom? 

Select a resource you are considering using to support your STEM/STEAM practice. Review and critique your resource as you work through the process.

  1. Browse the resource, identify different sections to critique and annotate. You might also want to do this with a colleague/s and you could look at different sections.
  2. Review, reflect on, and annotate the document in terms of what’s on offer:
    • How does the resource allow you to meet teaching and learning mandates?
    • What opportunities are there for children to learn within and beyond the walls of the classroom?
    • What do you see as the limitations of the design?
    • What could you add now that you’ve been reflecting on STEM/STEAM with our experts? (Consider the role of the Arts, opportunities for language and vocabulary development, and for children to be critical consumers and systematic thinkers…at any age)
  3. Share your reflections with your colleagues and take up opportunities for professional conversations across the full resource.
    • What opportunities did you notice?
    • What limitations were there?
    • What might you do differently if you were teaching this content?  
  4. Seek some feedback from students if you’re able to. Gathering insights from children always provides a useful perspective!

NOTE: We realise these modules may be used across multiple contexts embedded within different government expectations and mandates. And so, we encourage you to select activities relevant to your context, we have included an example here of the task as it relates to initial teacher education students in New South Wales, Australia.

In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), the NSW Department of Education offers advice to teachers about STEM teaching and learning. In that advice, the Department defines STEM in connection with the broader National STEM School Education Strategy (2016-2026) source. It states that the value of STEM learning lies in the opportunity for students to connect with government documents, classroom content, and their broader lives. Two other sections offer tips for planning STEM tasks and a list of the ‘key skills’ STEM education will offer students: critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, independent thinking, initiative.

You can see more about this advice at the following link: Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 | STEM 

To support teachers to take up the STEM Strategy, the Department of Education also writes and provides through their online portal a range of resources aligned with syllabus outcomes. There are many of offer, however, we have selected for closer analysis a STEM unit of work for learners in their first year of formal school (called Kindergarten in NSW). It focuses on weather and connects with Syllabus Outcomes in Science, Mathematics, and Geography. Along with a teaching plan, there is also a workbook designed to be printed for each child to use in the classroom and at home. The workbook leads through activities and provides spaces for recording their ideas and designs.

We have combined them into a single document and annotated it as an example of the ways you might use this task with your own initial teacher education students. 

 

Module 2 – Readings

Henriksen, D. (2014). Full STEAM ahead: Creativity in excellent STEM teaching practices. The STEAM Journal, 1(2), 15.

Hunter-Doniger, T., Howard, C., Harris, R., & Hall, C. (2018). STEAM through culturally relevant teaching and storytelling. Art Education, 71(1), 46-51

Wohlwend, K. E., Scott, J. A., Yi, J. H., Deliman, A., & Kargin, T. (2018). Hacking toys and remixing media: Integrating maker literacies into early childhood teacher education. In S. Danby, M. Fleer, C. Davidson, & M. Hatzigianni (Eds.), Digital childhoods: Technologies in children’s everyday lives, (pp147-162). Sydney: Springer

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