Welcome to Part Two of a series bringing you twenty more STEM resources, making STEM down right STEAMIE . In this post I cover STEM and the Arts plus mention ways to Include Everyone in STEM (STEAMIE)! Don’t miss any up-coming posts. Be sure to visit and subscribe to my 21centuryedtech Blog by email or RSS! You can also follow me on Twitter at mjgormans! Now let’s enter a world of STEM.. STEAM… STEAMIE Education! Have a great week – Mike
Update – Watch my freeScratch Webinarhosted at the Siemens Discovery STEM Institute!
Also ,if you missedPart 1 of STEM to STEAM to STEAMIE please click here for 17 more resources!
STEAM– It actually is quite obvious that the Arts be included in STEM education. A look at the works of Leonardo da Vinciwill attest to this! The very first time I heard the idea of integrating the Arts into STEM education was while watching a keynote made by Daniel Pinkat the NECC Conference in Washington DC. Pink presented strong evidence that educators must include right brain lessons in addition to the inclusion of historical left brain activities. A reading of his book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future, is a must for any educator, especially those interested in STEM education. It is evident that inserting the A (Arts) in STEM and creating STEAM allows for true innovation, and it is innovation that will allow students to be successful in a flat world. Bringing the Arts to STEM allows students to remember the creative juices that come with the smell of a Crayola Crayon, the engagement of Tinker Toys, and the creation and remixing of that first Easy Bake Oven. It is the STEAM that allows students to not just be technology consumers, but technology creators! Proper infusion of the Arts will create a STEAM culture that engages and promotes intrinsic learning. In the space below I have included some sites that may just allow educators to integrate the Arts, allowing STEM to become STEAM!
Teacher Vision Art and Math– Great activities and lessons that allow Art to be integrated into the Math curriculum.
NPR Where Science Meets Art– Some exceptional podcasts integrating Science and Art.
Arts Edge– A fantastic resource from the Kennedy Center hosting numerous lessons that integrate Art in the curriculum
New York Times Learning Network– Blog produced by NY times that has some great lessons including Art Integration
National Gallery Kid Zone– Loads of interactive Art tools that can be used for math, science, and engineering occasions
Exploratorium– Take a look at the entire site, but especially explore the Art related material
Science and More To Music– What a wonderful collection of MP3 songs written and performed by Dr. Lodge McCammon. Have kids perform to music using Flip Cameras and digital still cameras
Edsitement– I include this site from the National Endowment for the Humanities because of its vast collection of Art related resources aimed at the Social Studies and Language Arts areas. When doing an interdisciplinary unit with Math and Science one may find a good tie in from this excellent resource.
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STEAMIE– OK, we have integrated the disciplines to create STEM and have even infused the Arts to include STEAM! But somewhere along the way we are not delivering on two goals that were earlier stated by the STEMed Caucus. They include;
1. Technologically proficient workers who are capable of dealing with the demands of a science based, high technology workforce;
2. Scientifically literate voters and citizens who make intelligent decisions about public policy and who understand the world around them.
I advocate that these two goals are only possible by turning STEM to STEAM, and then making it STEAMIE. The important IE suffix adds on the important concept to “Include Everyone”. There are currently a large selection of outstanding extracurricular programs that are a success because kids want to do them. This includes First Lego League, Vex Competitions, and Future City, and that is just naming a few. I believe that these types of programs can be embedded into the school curriculum to benefit all students. In fact, many have programs, curriculum, and matching standards to make this a possibility. I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, regarding White House initiatives in STEM education. He made it evident that STEM must include all students. The National Academieshas emphasized this principle by including Engineering and Technology as a quadrant in a draft for the new National Science Standards. I had the recent pleasure of listening to Pat Galloway, the first woman president for the American Society for Civil Engineers” address the need for including all students in STEM education. One quote I especially enjoyed from Galloway is included below.
“Art was the love of my life and I won several awards for my pencil sketches. I was sure I was going to be either an interpreter for the United Nations or a lawyer! Then I attended a mandatory lecture at my high school on engineering. The professor, from the University of Kentucky, was a structural civil engineer and had brought along several renderings of buildings. These renderings caught my eye because one of the items that I sketched the most was buildings. The professor added that, as a woman, I would have wonderful opportunities in the engineering field and would command a nice salary. I was sold!”
When first integrating PLTW curriculum at the middle school I now teach in, the idea of including all students was essential. Rather then placing it in the Industrial Tech Area, we formed a new block of time for all students. This ISB (Integrated Solutions Block) now serves all students, all three years, integrating the core curriculum with STEM, Technology, PBL, and 21st Century Skills. Included in the STEM portion is a PLTW Gateway Curriculum integration, including all students. This decision has allowed many students to experience and later pursue STEM careers, that may not have had this opportunity or introduction. It has also allowed for all students to achieves the top two goals stated above by the STEMed Caucus. In the space below I have included resources that will assist in the integration of STEM for all students. I have even included some great STEM related programs that are open source and available for free. This also extends the experience to everyone since free open source computer programs can be used at home, with out cost.
PLTW– Project Lead The Way has an great collection of resources for middle and high school. While the high school programs are more structured the middle school programs allow for a lot of flexibility. While this is not a free program it can be written into a lot of grant situations and can be embedded into the curriculum for all.
Scratch– What an awesome program from MIT! It can be incorporated across the curriculum and of course allows for that fine arts integration. It allows for the implementation of 21st Century Skills. You will find a vast amount of information with a mountain of additional resources at my Wiki under the Scratch Navigation Button. Best of all it is free, and at that price it is a better bargain then programs that can cost into the hundreds!
SketchUp– A great Google product allowing you to bring design and CAD into the curriculum for free. Many states, including Indiana, have a free contact even for the Pro Version. It is so much fun to see how it integrates into Google Earth. Imagine the implications for social studies and science integration.
Google Earth– Another Google product that can be used to integrate math, science, and social studies together. It really gives kids an opportunity to travel the world, even create with SketchUp and never leave home. Check out all the lessons in the educational portion!
Claymation at Wichita– I am in the process of creating a new claymation post. In the mean time, take a look at this site from Wichita. I am excited about claymation and what can be done to help kids learn at all age levels. This site provides links to all types of resources, regardless of platform. Remember that clay can be used to mold and form different curriculum together,
GIS From ESRI– Another resource that will bring all the curriculum together, and almost for free. I have included a link to a spot in my Wiki. In this wiki resource I tell educators how to order a book(s) for about $30. It will give access to one year free software from ESRI, plus lessons that incorporate science, math, and social studies. Do a PBL project about your community and post it on-line and the software is free to your school for always! Check it out!
White House Info– Want to learn more about STEM for everyone with a White House perspective. Check out this press release along with related links and a video entitled, “Who Inspired You?”
GPS Loaner Program– It is time to get kids outside and integrate the outdoors with STEM. Brings back my early days of outdoor education. I include this because it provides an opportunity for everyone to participate with GPS Devices. The program gives the opportunity for GPS devices to be loaned out in class sets, for free! Plus, check out all the resources on this amazing site!
Glogster– OK, I had to include a Web 2.o site that I think can apply across any curriculum. It is free and can be used for even a virtual Science Fair! Another chance to include everyone and every curriculum! Great way to make STEM quite STEAMIE! I have included the educational link!
Concord Consortium– I have included this because it contains resources that allow you to use everyones science probes with unique Concord software. I included this link to an article in my Wiki that better describes this free web site. You can even build your own probes! Great data collection, models, and simulations that span across Science and Math for everyone!
New Science Standards Draft– An article from Education Week focusing on new Science Standards Draft including emphasis on Technology and Engineering. A must read for those intent on facilitating STEM education for everyone. You may want to also check this updatefrom NSTA.
Thanks for joining me! Make sure you explore the Scratch Seriesby clicking on thisScratch Series Link. Don’t miss any posts. Be sure to subscribe to my 21centuryedtech Blog by email or RSS! You can also follow me on Twitter at mjgormans Have a great week and I hope you are enjoying a transformational week.- Mike
Above article picture is Creative Commons Picture of Pohutu Geyser in New Zealand.
Link at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanvernon/3632041525/sizes/m/in/photostream/
