The STEAM Lessons and Ideas Blog was create to help with writing lessons that integrate the Arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The conception of this Blog was to aid in exploring alternative possibilities in teaching, specifically Visual Art. The intent is to provide a seed of inspiration for teaching through engaging and innovative ways through the resources within. Lessons are posted. In order to find lessons quickly please use the label or search feature on this Blog.
From cave drawings to the Sunday paper, artists have been visualizing ideas -- cartoons -- for centuries. New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly walks us through the many stages every cartoon goes through, starting with an idea and turning into something that connects us on a deeply human level.
Summary
Creating torn paper biomes integrates science and visual art in a performance task that assesses students’ knowledge of the characteristics of the biomes of the earth. Students who have difficulty communicating their knowledge in writing can show what they know through art.
Lesson: The Exploration of Rocks, Crystals, and Fossils Through Cartooning- 2nd Grade
Unmotivated, underachieving students pose a huge challenge for teachers. One way to motivate and stimulate student interest in a topic is to use humor. Humor can help students make new connections in learning and improves retention of information (Garner 2006). In this article, the authors describe how they integrated art and literature with science to encourage curiosity through the exploration of rocks, crystals, and fossils; to fuel interest with science trade books; and to translate newly acquired science information into funny cartoons. The cartoon-making activities engage students while they learn Earth science concepts and develop their abilities to visualize and combine ideas in new ways.
Lesson: Gyotaku 2nd Grade to 3rd Grade (Visual Arts and Science)
Gyotaku: The Ancient Japanese Art of Printing Fish- K. Erica Dodge
In 19th century Japan, fishing boats were equipped with rice paper, sumi-e ink, and brushes in order to create gyotaku: elaborate rubbings of freshly caught fish. K. Erica Dodge recounts the story of this competitive fishing culture, plus some tips on how to make your very own etchings.
In this lesson, students grow both sunflowers and their knowledge of sunflowers in science and art. After exploring the work of Van Gogh and other artists using sunflowers as their subject, students create their own sunflower-based artwork.
Additionally, they observe and record the growth of a sunflower, journaling its growth with their personal life experiences during that same time period. They reflect on this growth experience through creative writing.
In this lesson students are introduced to and encouraged to explore characteristics of the wind through poetry and van Gogh’s paintings. Students will utilize this information by learning how to classify and measure the wind by studying the Beaufort Scale and building an anemometer. Then, they will reinterpret characteristics of the wind by representing them through pantomime and painting.
Students will learn about how weather influences culture, daily life, and mood by examining paintings depicting different types of weather. Students will demonstrate their understanding by painting a picture depicting a particular weather condition.
Below you will find some awesome resources for STEAM lessons. I have included Arts Integration Lessons as well as they can be easily modified to be assessed in both the Arts and Science, Technology, Engineering or Math with some ingenuity one teacher or teachers part.
This site allows you to use a Lesson Finder to search their data base to find lessons that are by grade, an art and another subject. Great lessons for STEAM and Arts Integration.
STEAM Education aims to bring FUNctional literacy to all. It promotes bridging the gap between business and educational goals to create a more productive and sustainable global culture based on teamwork. This educational framework is for all disciplines and types of learners with the goal of being more engaging and naturally successful for all members of any educational system. Schools Shift From STEM to STEAM Teachers in the district's three iSTEAM3D academies work together to teach different aspects of the same topics. For instance, when students at the DeSoto West academy studied futuristic societies, they had to create new ones for science class, use scale and fractions to design their societies for math class, and create brochures incorporating persuasive techniques and graphics to sell the public on the value of their societies for reading class, explains DeSoto West teacher Yvonne Lowry. 16 Ways to Add steAm to STEM- The Teaching Palette
Wonder how Art fits in the STEM learning model? Most likely, if you’re an art teacher, you’re already teaching using Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Often, it just takes identifying how you incorporate these concepts as part of your art curriculum.
The maker movement has the opportunity to transform education by inviting students to be something other than consumers of education. They can become makers and creators of their own educational lives, moving from being directed to do something to becoming self-directed and independent learners. Increasingly, they can take advantage of new tools for creative expression and for exploring the real world around them. They can be active participants in constructing a new kind of education for the 21st-century, which will promote the creativity and critical thinking we say we value in people like Steve Jobs.
Imagine a school where kids could do the following: clone jellyfish DNA; build gadgets to measure the electrical impulses of cockroach neurons; make robotic blackjack dealers; design machines that can distinguish between glass, plastic, and aluminum beverage containers and sort them into separate bins; and convert gasoline-burning cars to run on electric power. STEAM Reaches Brevard Schools
Thanks to a partnership with NASA, students will be designing prototypes in engineering classes, deconstructing space garments used in fashion design courses, testing material in chemistry labs, and writing about the project for English assignments.
One of the best ways to discover how STEAM is best presented and taught to students is to understand the nature of STEM. Some of these talks are more relatable to STEM but can evolve into STEAM. And some are great ideas that can become lessons with some ingenuity of the teacher and students.
Mae Jemison's TED Talk
Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
An insight of how the eduction system was set up initially and how it is currently outdated. Sir Ken Robinson sheds insight on how we can use STEAM to provide a well rounded education.
Georgette Yakman - STEAM- Learning That is Representative of the Whole World
STEAM stands for "Science & Technology interpreted through Engineering & the Arts, all based in Mathematical elements," and aims to bring FUNctional literacy to students. Founder/teacher Georgette Yakman describes how her immigrant grandparents, brother with Asperger syndrome, and artistic stepfather led her to bring Arts into STEM.
Mitch Resnick- Digital Natives- TED Talk
Mitch Resnick is skeptical of the term digital native, pointing out that while young people are comfortable using technology, they aren’t necessarily fluent with technology. He argues that it’s important for them to learn to create with new technologies. It’s like the difference between being able to read and write.
Just How Small is an Atom In this animated video, produced by Cognitive Media, Jon Bergman explains just how teeny-tiny an atom is, debunking misconceptions reinforced by textbooks that provide illustrations not properly to scale. This video is part of a series on TED.com, which features lesson plans for teachers across a range of subjects.
The Life Cycle of a Droplet of Water by Chris Turner The video depicts the revolutionary nature of the life cycle of a droplet of water and it's cyclical journey through a pop-up book animation. The project was a three-fold collaboration between Chris Turner, Helen Friel and Jess Deacon. To view the video with more information visit the following website: http://io9.com/the-lifecycle-of-a-water-droplet-depicted-by-a-stop-mo-1507280187
