STEM to STEAMWhere Art and Design meet

Science, Techonology, Engineering and Mathematics

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HELP!

A former student of mine asked if I would help with his Senior Thesis project. He attends the School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas ISD, a school I was privileged to teach at for 4 years.

His request was: would I would lead an educator group in his STEM to STEAM Festival to inform them about the movement and brainstorm with them how to go about adding the arts into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

Here, then, is my journey into the subject.

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The importance of Divergent thinking in the 21st century

Industry, business, and society are all calling for reforms in education, but the loudest protests come from our children: they are demanding that we teach them differently than we were taught.

Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert, questions in this video our standard educational approach and emphasizes that divergent thinking comes naturally though our current paradigm stifles it.

Changing the Educational Paradigms

Rigor and Relevance foster

divergent thinking

We need to create more rigor in the classroom. The Rigor/Relevance Framework is simple, with a straightforward structure, and can serve as a bridge between school and the community.

We want our students to move out of the A & B quadrants of knowledge and predictable situations into the C & D quadrants where problem solving and divergent thinking thrive.International Center for Leadership in Education Rigor/Relevance Framework

The International Center for Leadership in

Education’s tool to help educators

Creativity is the #1 quality employers

look for in an employee

Some jobs that our students will be applying for 5 years from now don’t exist yet. One way to prepare them is by strengthening their creativity and problem solving skills.

The incorporation of the arts into education is a powerful movement across our country. Business and educators are working together to redesign education in order to foster problem solving thinking in our students.

This video outlines the Rhode Island’s STEM to STEAM Council’s mission in bringing the arts into STEM schools.

How do we prepare our students for the jobs of the future?

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The Arts are often the first to go in

budget cuts

We have many economic woes at the beginning of the 21st century, but none are more dire than the cuts to our educational system. When decisions are being made about what to eliminate, the arts are often the first to be pared back or eliminated all together.

Though the arts are not highly valued in our educational system (like science and math), the arts have qualities that are vital to a complete education for our children. The following slides demonstrate that the arts are not frivolous, but are valuable in education.

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Image courtesy scottchan @ Freedigitalphotos.net

Economic woes in the 21st century

Ten Lessons the Arts Teachby Elliot Eisner

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

Image courtesy Salvatore Vuono @ Freedigitalphotos.net

2. The arts teach childrenthat problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

The Arts Fuel Divergent Thinking

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

Image courtesy Rawich @ Freedigitalphotos.net

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

The Arts are Relevant and Meaningful

5. The arts made vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

Image courtesy m_bartosch @ Freedigitalphotos.net

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

The Arts are Founded on Enduring Ideas

9. The arts enable us to have an experience we can have from no other source. Through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.Image courtesy Simon Howden

@ Freedigitalphotos.net

So how do you integrate the arts into your content curriculum?

Make their learningmeaningful and relevant!

Students learn best when they are encouraged to generate their own questions, engage in relevant investigations, and reflect upon their learning process.

Image courtesy photostock @ Freedigitalphotos.net

What’s the Big Idea?

Image courtesy Danilo Rizzuti @ Freedigitalphotos.net

Big ideas, or enduring ideascomprise concepts that have drawn the attention of humans through the ages.

Meaningful integrated curriculum requires a focus, such as an enduring idea, theme, or issue.Enduring ideas are the

cornerstone for meaningful learning!

The Arts are Always Relevant!

The Arts reach beyond a single school subject!

Enduring ideas – The arts are a major repository of human values, beliefs, aspirations, occupations, and achievement.

The arts are a rich resource of objects that invite interpretation of the world in ways that other subject areas do not.

Image courtesy markuso@ Freedigitalphotos.net

Some enduring ideas:

IdentitySurvivalPowerConflictSpiritualityRelationshipsHumans and natureReality and fantasyLife and deathInterdependenceGood and evilLife cyclesRites of passageChange Ritual

are similar to themes, topics or issues that reflect big questions about the human experience and have been investigated over time. They are broad ideas that guide students in understanding what it means to be human, to live alongside others and in the natural world.

Enduring Ideas:

Embrace Big Ideas!

How do I begin?

Sometimes the enduring idea can be the starting point for curriculum design. You can also begin with a choice of artwork for study, a particular curriculum objective, an art-making medium, specific student interests, or a school wide event.

Image courtesy Idea go @ Freedigitalphotos.net

Art21 Art in the Twenty First Century

Art: 21 Educator’s Guide

Contemporary and relevant, Art21 is a great place to begin your search for art and artists organized into enduring ideas.

Art21 has six seasons of contemporary artists organized by theme. Educator’s Guides are available for each season along with online streaming videos and suggested activities.

An Art Resource that’sRelevant & Engaging

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Join the Movement!

In spite of budget cuts and shifted priorities, educators, parents and the community realize that education without the arts is hollow.

I invite you to join in the conversation. There is a fire feeding this new STEAM engine! Be a part of the future - embrace an educational system that educates our whole child and prepares them for their roles in the 21st century.

Christine Millerhttp://tagartteacher.blogspot.com

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Image courtesy creativedoxfoto @ Freedigitalphotos.net

Let’s excite and empower our children!

Resources

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How it Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

Stewart and Walker (2005). Rethinking Curriculum in Art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications

Steam Through Education - http://www.steamthrougheducation.com/

Rigor/Relevance Framework, International Center for Leadership in Education - http://www.leadered.com/rrr.html

STEM to STEAM Rhode Island - http://vimeo.com/30624307 Art21 - http://www.pbs.org/art21/ RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U