Exploring the integrative nature of STEAM through material objects

ABSTRACT

STEAM has gained traction across informal and formal educational settings, but the connections between STEAM disciplines are not always obvious to youth. We argue that an explicit focus on how art and STEM overlap in the world, and how these overlaps connect personally to learner’s interests and concerns, is a way to support the development of STEAM-related identities. We developed a “STEAM objects” pedagogical activity aimed at explicitly surfacing the ways that art and STEM are intertwined in everyday objects, as well as the ways that STEAM is connected to learners’ own lives. We piloted the activity with educators, asking what they took up from the experience. Our results show how the educators made connections to land, historicity, their professions, function, aesthetics, and agency of materials during the activity. The STEAM objects served as boundary objects that illustrated the integrative nature of art and STEM in the world, as well as bridging important aspects of their lives and STEAM. We discuss the importance of recognizing and leveraging the multiplicities of meaning and ways of knowing, as well as implications for the classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• STEAM
• STEAM objects
• integration
• personal relevance
• boundary objects

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the educators who participated in the professional development programmes, as well as the project staff who were essential to the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research, supporting data is not available.

Notes

1. We deliberately do not blind the cultural context of our research setting in an effort to refuse erasure of indigenous peoples from research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was support by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers 1713155 and 1713276. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Blakely K. Tsurusaki

Blakely K. Tsurusaki is a Senior Research Scientist at the Goodlad Institute for Educational Renewal at the University of Washington Bothell. Her research focuses on making connections between youth and educators’ everyday lives and school science, identity, engagement, and equity issues in education, and environmental literacy.

Carrie Tzou

Carrie Tzou is the Director of the Goodlad Institute for Educational Renewal and a Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell. Her research focuses on place-based education, bringing out of school science and cultural practices into science and environmental science teaching and learning, and teacher education.

Laura Carsten Conner

Laura D. Carsten Conner is a Research Professor of Science Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her research takes place in both formal and informal learning settings, focusing on 1) strategies that promote youth identity and engagement in science, and 2) the role of real objects and immersive environments in learning.