STEAM vs. STEM vs. Arts & Crafts

The STEAM Lab is more than just a place for students to do 'arts and crafts'. Yes, there will be popsicle sticks, and yes, students will be able to explore using different art supplies, pursue independent projects, draw, color, paint, and doodle. The essence of the STEAM Lab, however, is to provide support for deep, authentic projects and learning experiences for students, weaving together multiple disciplines to help create a well-rounded project.

So why STEAM instead of STEM? Many people are familiar with the idea of STEM jobs, STEM skills, STEM challenges, etc., but in recent years, specifically in the education realm, there has been a push to add the arts to this list. Partially it's a product of the relegation of art to the 'specials' category, as art funding has been cut from shrinking budgets. Makerspaces like the STEAM Lab are trying to take up the slack to provide students hands-on art opportunities, and supplies and space for teachers to weave in the arts to their regular curriculum.

Here is an excellent short article by the Education Closet STEAM Portal that talks about how to "STEAM With Integrity" :

The pathway to STEAM is exciting, but can also be dangerous without an understanding of what STEAM truly means in both its intention and its implementation.  Like its STEM predecessor, STEAM can stop short of its best manifestation without several core components:

• STEAM is an integrated approach to learning which requires an intentional connection between standards, assessments and lesson design/implementation
• True STEAM experiences involve two or more standards from Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and the Arts to be taught AND assessed in and through each other
• Inquiry, collaboration, and an emphasis on process-based learning are at the heart of the STEAM approach
• Utilizing and leveraging the integrity of the arts themselves is essential to an authentic STEAM initiative

Those of you familiar with Project-Based Learning will notice a common theme there, and also recognize that these kinds of projects take time - time to plan and time to execute - which classroom teachers don't always get. While the ideal STEAM Lab project is deep, authentic, and integrates several subject areas, there are ways to incorporate aspects of STEAM into your existing units to enrich them and broaden your students' understanding of how your content area fits with other subjects and the world. 

Take these projects ideas, for example:

• Student teams take on the role of a renewable energy company, responsible for designing and marketing a clean energy solution for their town in Maine. Their final project consists of a presentation to the town that would include the proposed energy project with backing research, a physical model of their clean energy solution, and polished marketing materials like brochures and websites to enhance their pitch.
• Dan Ryder of Mt. Blue HS in Farmington has his students read Of Mice and Men, and then design and construct a "Tiny House' that meets the needs of the protagonists, using textual evidence to justify the design. Students build model houses to scale and create polished final presentations. 
• Math students exploring angles, symmetry and tessellation create quilts that are donated to Project Linus (pulling in service learning as well!).
• Ancient history students create accurate scale models of monumental architecture from different civilizations, comparing and contrasting building techniques, advances and materials. 
• Students curate multimedia museum exhibits about their town, combining local history, scale models of significant sites, photographs comparing then/now, oral histories from local residents, and art inspired by local geography.

(SDMHS staff, If you'd like help getting a project together, or tossing around ideas, email Ms. Capwell to set up an appointment.)

Giving new life to old junk

One of the neat things about the STEAM Lab is its ability to take items out of the waste stream and repurpose them for educational use. For example, consider this neat project that was recently offered by the Boston Museum of Science. Kids were invited to create a 'satellite' that would hover in a plastic tube over a steady stream of air. For supplies, they were offered plastic drinking cup lids, straws, disposable plastic pipettes, pipe cleaners, some flat foam die-cut shapes, and paper cups. When they were done with the challenge, they then deconstructed their satellite and returned the supplies to the bins where they came from, to be used again.

Plastic grating, canisters, wood pieces, cardboard,
 pipe cleaners, tubing... you name it, we can use it!

You never know what might come in handy for student projects. Whether it's old manila file folders that are cut up to use as stencils and templates, paper towel tubes that become columns on a Greek temple, clean 2-liter soda bottles for rocketry activities, CDs that will be wheels on a mousetrap car, or the remaining pieces from a broken boardgame that become part of a student's Math Game design project, the possibilities are endless.

So next time you're doing your spring cleaning, and you come across that nearly-empty wrapping paper tube, or a half-empty box of coffee stirrers, or an old vacuum hose that is cracked in the end, don't chuck it in the trash - email the STEAM Lab to see if can be put to use!

Thank you!

Created with the new 3Doodler pens,
purchased with our Donors Choose grant.

The STEAM Lab is coming along nicely, in big part because of the support of our community. To the supportive administrators and staff, to everyone who donated their time, supplies, tools, and the awesome folks who helped fund our first Donors Choose grant, THANK YOU!

"Before" ... and the 3D printer!

STEAM Lab organization is under way!

One of our challenges is setting up a usable Makerspace in a room that may or may not be our permanent home. It calls for lots of rolling shelving, plastic tubs and bins, and making use of the space we've got.







We did take a few minutes out of sorting and moving boxes to open up our new Flashforge Finder 3D printer, however. All work and no play makes for a boring STEAM Lab.

STEAM Lab Wishlist

Part of what makes the STEAM Lab great is that students are giving new life to old tools and saving 'junk' from the landfill, all while learning new skills. If you have stuff gathering dust, but you just don't want to get rid of it because it still has use left in it, this is a great opportunity! 

Tools: Screwdrivers, mallets, hand drills, pliers, fasteners, hinges, cutting tools and mats, fabric scissors, soldering iron, knitting needles, extension cords, drop cloths

Clean “junk” to be re-purposed into projects - pvc pipes, old board game pieces, clean empty yogurt and deli containers, clean metal pie plates, foam, plastic grating, pool noodles, cardboard tubes, CDs, tubing and hoses, etc.

Organization/Storage: tool boxes, peg board for tools, milk crates, plastic storage bins with lids (all sizes), etc.

Arts & Craft Supplies: project paint, brushes, fabric and sewing notions, yarn, glue, glitter, art paper, pipe cleaners.

Check out our complete wish list here.

If you have supplies, tools or time to donate to the STEAM Lab, email STEAMLab@rsu20.org.

Heating up the STEAM Lab

This year, Searsport District Middle/High School is creating its very own Makerspace, joining a growing number of libraries and schools around the country. Called the "STEAM Lab", the SDMHS makerspace will provide a work area where students have access to tools and supplies to create, invent, tinker, design and problem-solve. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.

The space can meet a variety of needs and enable students to engage in a multitude of different activities, depending on the space, tools and supplies. This could include:

• computer building and programming
• digital art or video creation
• sewing or textile fabrication
• 3D design and printing
• cardboard or wood construction
• product prototyping
• basic building and crafting
• robotics
• whatever creative tinkering and making they are interested in

A good STEAM Lab or Makerspace is flexible, adding tools and work areas as needed. The STEAM Lab will supplement the tools teachers already have, as well as being a repository of recycled and reusable supplies like cardboard, plastic tubing, fabric, etc.

Tools and supplies could include:

• fabric, yarn and other craft supplies
• 3D Printers
• paint, markers, pencils, crayons
• cardboard, posterboard, paper
• power tools like drills, dremels, saws
• computer repair tools and supplies
• sewing machines, fabric and notions
• computers with graphics or video editing software
• soldering iron & related materials
• LEGO or other building blocks
• computer kits like the Raspberry Pi
• robotics kits and supplies

We recently received a Donors’ Choose grant for some of these supplies, and a Title VI grant secured a starter-model 3D Printer. Community members have donated sewing machines and some hand tools, as well as materials that can be used in projects and crafts.