{"276891":{"#nid":"276891","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Gaining STEAM: Teaching Science though Art","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBreaking down the walls between art, hard sciences and math, a new crop of educators is designing curricula that allow these subjects partner with one another, encouraging holistic learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcross the country, teachers and administrators are coming to a similar conclusion: art informs science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and vice versa. Consequently, they are pioneering new methods of teaching that combine disciplines which have been isolated from one another under traditional educational models. And they are just getting started.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndover High School in Massachusetts, for instance, teaches geometry through the lens of art. Through a scavenger hunt at a local museum, math and art students come to understand that scale in geometry is the same thing as perspective in art, says Meghan Michaud, a teacher at Andover High. Her school is in the second year of a 10-year plan to marry art and STEM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis approach is \u201cabout 21st century learning skills,\u201d Michaud says, and preparing kids \u201cfor whatever college or career is ahead.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Annapolis, Md., 8th grade students at Wiley H. Bates Middle School learn about Mexican mosaics and math at the same time. The students study traditional turquoise mosaics and create their own versions with bits of paper. Their classmates then collect sample sizes and use them to predict the number of tiles used in the artwork.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudying and observing the art first, without the fear of getting something wrong, encourages confidence and risk-taking in the classroom, says Laura Brino, the art integration specialist at Bates Middle School.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENettrice Gaskins, a PhD student in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication , is pushing this learning approach to new heights.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaskins targets student populations that have traditionally under-performed in STEM using a unique method that she calls \u201cculturally situated art-based learning.\u201d It starts by first engaging students with art that speaks to their ethnic or cultural identity and ancestry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith the help of digital media designer Laurie Marion, Gaskins in 2012 introduced high schools students in Albuquerque, N.M., to ancient Mimbre designs, which are indigenous to the Southwest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next steps: Teach students about the math embedded in the ancient Mimbre artwork, then have them use software to design and create an interactive mural based on the mathematical concepts they identified in the Mimbre artwork.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cArt helps engage students who are not rote learners,\u201d Gaskins says. \u201cWe have got to give credit to all the teachers who are making this happen.\u201d Gaskins \u2019 research, she says, is less about teaching a class, and more about identifying what \u201cparticular types of work engage students who have been historically marginalized.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile it\u2019s all relatively new, she plans to bring this integrative approach to a wider swath of the population.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn March 28, with funding from the National Science Foundation, Gaskins will convene a workshop at Georgia Tech, where she is a Ph.D. candidate, to discuss support and growth for culturally situated arts-based learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to create a dialogue about this topic among the experts and \u201cbuild capacity for sustained collaboration,\u201d she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaskins\u2019 novel approach to interdisciplinary learning is but one component of a new movement \u2013 science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, or STEAM -- that has caught on in recent years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChampioning this new philosophy is the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which launched the website \u003Ca title=\u0022 stemtosteam.org\u0022 href=\u0022http:\/\/stemtosteam.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Estemtosteam.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe chief objectives of the STEAM movement, according to RISD, are to \u201ctransform research policy to place art and design at the center of STEM\u201d and \u201cinfluence employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation.\u201d Educators there also say they wish to see art and design take a more a central role in education, from kindergarten through college.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are really surprised at how quickly this has proliferated,\u201d says Babette Allina, director of government relations at RISD. Not long ago, Allina was acquainted with everyone doing work related to STEAM. Now there is too much activity for her to be aware of it all, she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAllina is quick to point out that while applying art to education more broadly is not a new idea, presenting art and design as equal partners to STEM subjects is new.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe RISD mantra: the disciplines are stronger together than apart, Allina says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELawmakers have greeted this idea with enthusiasm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe way we get an innovative workforce is to make sure that we have creative and critical thinkers coming through our schools,\u201d Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) says. Incorporating art into STEM disciplines is a way to cultivate the minds needed for the knowledge economy, Bonamici adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBonamici\u2019s district in Oregon includes Quatama Elementary School, which bills itself as being \u201cpowered by STEAM.\u201d Fourth grade students, for instance, learn about the relationship between earthworms, soil erosion and clay for pottery making all in one unit. They see how \u201cit\u2019s all connected,\u201d Bonamici says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlong with Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), Bonamici co-chairs the STEAM Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Since the caucus launched a year ago, they have hosted a webinar with Americans for the Arts, a workshop with RISD and a Google hangout on the subject of STEAM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCollaboration, trial and error, divergent thinking skills, dynamic problem solving, and perseverance are all skills that are fostered by the arts and can be brought to bear to improve STEM learning,\u201d Shock says. \u201cArts education and integration are essential to producing a future workforce with the skills employers are looking for.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe traction STEAM is getting with lawmakers is terrific, Allina says, but the really exciting action is taking place in the schools.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s the math teacher going to the art teacher saying what can we do together,\u201d Allina says.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27889","created_gmt":"2014-02-17 16:37:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:26:59","author":"Beth Godfrey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"early career teacher","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/stem-solutions\/articles\/2014\/02\/13\/gaining-steam-teaching-science-though-art","dateline":{"date":"2014-02-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-02-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"168996","name":"steam"},{"id":"167258","name":"STEM"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}