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
free Scratch Webinar hosted
at the Siemens Discovery STEM Institute!
Also ,if you missed Part 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 Vinci will
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 Pink at
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
Take a look at the entire site, but especially explore the Art related
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
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
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;
Technologically proficient workers who are capable of dealing with the
demands of a science based, high technology workforce;
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 Academies has 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.
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!
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
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
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!
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!
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 update from NSTA.
Thanks for joining me! Make sure you explore the Scratch Series by clicking on this Scratch 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.