From STEM to STEAM
Brain-Compatible Strategies and Lessons That Integrate the Arts
- David A. Sousa - International Educational Consultant
- Tom Pilecki - Educational Consultant
Art and science both hinge on discovery, and discovery requires thinking out of the box. But how do you lead students to think creatively in STEM education? The answer is STEAM, and A is for the arts.
STEAM—the integration of music, visual arts, and drama into daily STEM instruction—is proven to enhance student achievement in STEM subjects. After all, creative, real-world problem-solving is what working scientists and mathematicians actually do. But how do busy STEM educators weave arts activities into a sometimes inflexible STEM curriculum?
In this new edition of From STEM to STEAM, the ground-breaking bestseller, the authors provide lessons from the field to detail the way. Authors David Sousa, expert in educational neuroscience, and Tom Pilecki, veteran arts educator, pool
- Research studies in cognitive and social neuroscience, including new findings on how technology is rewiring students’ brains, that demonstrate how arts activities enhance creativity, problem solving, memory systems, motor coordination, and analytical skills—all critical elements to achieving STEM objectives.
- Classroom-tested strategies and techniques for integrating the arts into STEM instruction, including sample K-12 lessons plans and planning templates.
- Tools for building a professional development program designed to helps arts and STEM teachers collaborate to create STEAM lessons.
- Sample planning frameworks that provide a smooth transition from STEM to STEAM, including advice on adapting STEAM to meet the individual needs and limitations of a school or district.
- A list of resources available to teachers in the STEM subjects, in the arts, in arts integration, and for STEAM.
The main objective of both art and science is discovery. Lead your students to make that connection and STEAM ahead to academic success!
Free resources
Sample Template for Designing a STEAM Unit Across Grade Levels
Use this template from the second edition of From STEM to STEAM to guide you as you design a STEAM unit across grade levels at your school.
From STEM to STEAM is the answer to the failure of STEM education in our schools. No one understands better than David Sousa and Tom Pilecki the importance of the arts—music, the visual arts and drama—in making science, technology, engineering and math come alive for teachers and students. This is true integrated STEAM instruction…and it works. I’ve seen the transformation in our schools.
Our teachers enjoy the freedom to be creative and in turn more effective! Their students are singing and dancing in math and performing live theater in science. They’re remembering more, understanding more, and achieving more. They’re innovating, too, with new ideas and new applications for what they're learning. They love integrated STEAM learning. I could not be more impressed with the change From STEM to STEAM has brought to our schools.
This second edition of From STEM to STEAM contains guidelines for integrating STEAM instruction into the classroom and across the curriculum. It provides the essential guideposts that marked the growth of our teachers as STEAM instructors and our schools as lively, high performing STEAM academies. But think of the guidelines less as targets to be met than as sheet music that brings us back repeatedly to the same melody in a full musical score. Thanks to From STEM to STEAM we’re on key and making great music.
This book on STEAM is a call to action by two genuine authorities on a matter of critical importance, for two very different reasons. First, in order to motivate K-12 students, we need to reach them where they are—and little kids are inherently interested in the natural world around them. If we motivate them, they will persist and graduate. And if they are motivated by science, we will ultimate have more college graduates with highly marketable skills in STEM fields—areas of great demand in today’s economy. Second, adding the Arts to STEM to create STEAM acknowledges that the arts and science are linked. As the author of several biology textbooks, I rely on art to convey ideas that are very difficult to explain with language only. STEAM is the wave of the future, so BUY THIS BOOK!”
From STEM to STEAM has been a tremendous help as teachers and teachers-to-be gear up for providing STEM education to their pupils. This well-conceived and well-done publication was immediately chosen as a text to help course participants to improve their crafts. From STEM to STEAM provides a necessary layer of STEM education so that that the affective domain is given the importance it deserves. This is a welcome addition to the professional's bookshelf!
