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.)