STEAM education

  What is STEAM?

STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, is an educational framework for all educational levels which seeks to engage students and teachers in trans-disciplinary learning in a student-centered, collaborative and iterative environment. STEAM is more than a lesson design or a class configuration; it is a culture focused on pushing students’ deep thinking while solving problems which might concern themselves, their school and the overall community. Since STEAM promotes the integration of multiple disciplines beyond STEM, it supports the development of links between science, innovation and arts which have the potential to facilitate the creation of new creative ideas and solutions(1).

In the context of a STEAM setting, students gain authentic experiences through dealing with problems and being encouraged to provide solutions by employing knowledge and skills from different disciplines through innovation, creativity, critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration. Also, STEAM as an approach to teaching and learning, has the potential to produce powerful, authentic learning opportunities for students’ meaningful participation in challenging STEAM fields needed in the future workforce. In doing so, learners are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. These knowledge and skills, which are aligned with the 21st century skills (critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, technology literacy, etc.) are integrated in teaching in ways that help students not only to understand the underlying principles, but to be able to practice and create products needed in daily life. Consequently, STEAM teaching is about the student rather than the subject areas, as it empowers them to envision themselves not just as future scientists or engineers but also as designers and creators.

Building activities is also closely related to the target audience. An activity may work wonderfully for a certain group of students, but may not be optimum for another group. When it comes to designing activities, one size doesn't fit all. Teachers need to be able to redesign activities and choose different approaches based on their students. Some students may love doing science acitvities but not find interest in art-related activities and vice-versa. Likewise, the use of digital tools or hands-on activities may be intriguing for some students but not as interesitng for others. To meet the needs of different target groups teachers need to have options and be able to design STEAM activities with different formats and foci.

Following the two main criteria mentioned above (Focus and target group) there are many different ways to STEAM. In POLAR STAR we propose a methodology in which the different elements of STEAM play different roles. One of the disciplines is the lead discipline and shapes the profile of the activity, while the other disciplines have a support role. So STEAM could be 'Science-focused STEAM', or 'Engineering-focused STEAM' etc.
A Science-STEAM activity for example (STEAM) could follow the Inquiry Based Science Education Approach (IBSE) while clear references are made to technological applications or engineering related problems. An Art-STEAM activity (STEAM) on the other hand, would follow a more open art-based format, where the other disciplines could be used by students to draw inspiration, deploy different technology-related tools and techniques or study in depth the science behind a particular art-related technology.

The POLAR STAR STEAM toolkit offers to teachers a set of different activity templates to support teachers design Science-STEAM, Engineering-STEAM and Arts-STEAM activities.

Technology in terms of technological achievements go hand-in hand with providing solutions to emergining challenges of socieities so it is directly related to Engineering. To that end, a separate template for technology oriented activities is not provided. Instead, the Technology-STEAM part of our toolkit focuses on the deployment of technological solutions and digital tools within the learning process. The toolkit also includes a guide to help teachers get oriented and decide which STEAM option fits their needs best when designing an activitiy or organizing their lesson. 

The Mathematics-STEAM part will also be soon delivered and it will aim to guide Math teachers to introduce Mathematical concepts through concrete examples based on the remaining disciplines.

To facilitate the teachers in using our methodology we have developed an 'Orientation' activity based on the Design Thinking approach. The Design Thinking approach for integrating STEAM in the classroom consists of four phases (Feel – Imagine – Create – Share) and in this context it serves as a guide for teachers when preparing their lessons/activities/projects/school year plan around STEAM education. In each phase, the teacher is prompted to reflect on certain questions that facilitate his/her instructional planning. To get started, click on the 'STEAM Orientation' section below to use the Orientation activity. After the activity is complete visit the remaining sections to learn more about each different STEAM 'flavor' (STEAM, STEAM, STEAM and STEAM )