S T E AM

WELCOME TO our S T E A M Flipbook!

Sand Box The goal of this book is to present a brief outline of the world of STEAM.

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

S T E AM

Podcast Series

S T E AM

Resources

S T E AM

Blogposts

S T E AM

Workshops

What is STEAM ? It is using the power and creativity of the Arts to teach the STEM subjects. It includes combining arts learnings and teachings with the traditional STEM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. In this sense, it is a cross-disciplinary endeavor. “STEAM represents an evolution from the concept of STEM in that the inclusion of the arts is centered around stoking or bolstering the “imagination through innovation” of students as they approach STEMrelated issues” (Feldman in Marmon, 2019)

This project and the associated resources emanated from a small 2year TLEF grant proposed by Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin and Yvonne Dawydiak in the Faculty of Education: Weaving together Arts with STEM. We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by UBC Vancouver students via the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund.

Marmon, Michael. “The Emergence of the Creativity in STEM: Fostering an Alternative Approach for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Instruction Through the Use of the Arts.” In STEAM Education: Theory and Practice, edited by Myint Swe Khine and Shaljan Areepattamannil, 101–15. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04003-1_6.

Why is STEAM important? In today’s increasingly connected, diverse and digitally enabled world – where having a multitude of competencies is becoming more essential, a STEAM approach to learning may give students a competitive edge in the job market and support academic success. By providing a more well-rounded educational experience that includes creative and critical thinking skills (strengthening your creative muscles), STEAM educated students will be able to solve analytical problems, communicate and engage in collaborative projects using alternative, and maybe more elegant approaches. They may also broaden their awareness of diverse perspectives as they work collaboratively learning with, of and through digital technologies.

Scarfe Sandbox INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING & LEARNING

THINKING OUTSIDE THE SANDBOX

Thinking Outside the Sandbox was created in summer 2020 as the result of a collaboration between two graduate students Belén Guillemin and Nashwa Khedr, together with the 2020 Scarfe Sandbox team and contributing faculty members. Each episode is accompanied by a blogpost on the Scarfe Sandbox website. Special thanks to the professors from the UBC Faculty of Education who contributed to this podcast by sharing their perspectives on interdisciplinary learning in teacher education.

The podcast series was dreamed-up by Belen & Nashwa as themes emerged during their video interviews with faculty

ST E AM Re so ur ce s

STEAM blog posts provide insights and links to appropriate references and available resources to support teaching and learning. Posts are aimed at pre-service and early career teachers but are openly available to all and applicable to multiple contexts. Many posts link to ‘how-to’ resources within the Scarfe Digital Sandbox to help those unfamiliar with a particular digital technology to get started. These resources often acted as ‘post-session’ e-handouts to in-class sessions and extra-curricular workshop opportunities. They include supplemental material in response to student questions during the associated sessions. Of note, in person sessions titled: ‘Create, Make, Innovate were held in the Scarfe Foyer weekly throughout 2019-20 (these were paused during 2020-21 due to COVID with a variety of virtual offerings hosted instead)

Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager and the Education Library host ‘Gearing up for Practicum’. One-onone and small group consults help BEd students find & evaluate resources to support implementing effective approaches to teaching during their practicum in K-12 classrooms including interdisciplinary/cross-curricular planning. In 2019-21, STEAM project team members wrote blog posts and the Education Lbrary published book lists based on FAQs from our TCs

Create, Make, Innovate sessions are hands-on, drop-in or 'walk-by' opportunities held in the Scarfe foyer to provide experience with STEAM activities and help forge connections to researchbased approaches, literature, teaching ideas and Ed Library collections. BEd teacher candidates, grad students, community members, faculty and staff tinker, make, discuss, challenge, critique & share a variety of themes & resources presented each week.

Spin Class: Drop-spindles and textiles started as a Create, Make, Innovate session that led to discussion about social, technological, and environmental change and spawned a kit on loan in the Ed. Library to support hands-on making. Upcycled & Repurposed: engaged students in creative hands on making including upcycled T-shirt shopping bags!

Hands-on, STEAM learning opportunities offered as in-class, extra-curricular workshops & online resources help to expose teacher candidates to the Applied Design Skills & Technologies Curriculum (ADST) and digital technology integration.

story & coding across curriculum

Each term, resources are co-developed with BEd program instructors and delivered as in-class workshop sessions to support digital tech integration, design thinking & cross-curricular teaching & learning including Storytelling,: Circuitry Explorations, STEM stations, Learning Outdoors, Design Challenges,

Coding supports students in developing core competencies and computational thinking; both important skills in today’s increasingly collaborative and digital worlds. Ensuring coding is an accessible opportunity is increasingly important so, in addition to our regular coding workshops, in 2021 we hosted the nonprofit C.O.D.E. Initiative Foundation.

Woodworking

Video

circuits & design thinking

A Few Highlights from 2020-21 Outdoor spaces allow for numerous learning opportunities, including place-based and interdisciplinary learning. Math Outside the classroom provides some suggestions to support math at home and outside!

Voices into Action: highlights a resource to help equip the next generations with the necessary knowledge to end the vicious cycle of discrimination and marginalization and create a more accepting society.

Honing Pattern Recognition Skills through Dance: demonstrates the concept of pattern recognition useful in mathematics, computer science, scientific discovery and research.

Poetry can provide a powerful opportunity to engage with language & concepts across subject areas. Found poetry is an approachable medium that can ultilize discarded texts, magazines or other print material. A little coding can even 'electrify' and bring to life the poem!

Acknowledgement: This Flipbook highlights some of the resources developed over two years as part of a TLEF grant initiated by Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin & Yvonne Dawydiak, Weaving together Arts with STEM: creating a living repository of resources for UBC B.Ed., Graduate & Diploma Students. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Teacher Education Office, CTLT, WorkLearn UBC & the financial support provided by UBC Vancouver students via the Teaching & Learning Enhancement Fund. Credits: This Flipbook is the result of a collaboration of project assistants, Maryam Begzada, Arts (Economics Major), Naomi Hudson, Arts (Economics major), Jacqueline Boivin, Arts (Music Major) with a prior degree in biology, and Sam Yousefifard, M.Ed. student in Media & Technology Education who graciously volunteered his time to act as the Design Team Mentor from January to April 2021. The resources highlighted in the Flipbook include the combined work product of graduate and undergraduate students involved in this project between May 2019 and April 2021. Project resources are housed on the Scarfe Digital Sandbox, to ensure they will continue to be accessible and updated as part of this ongoing open educational repository curated by Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager, Teacher Education.