Online course – Page 2 – Steam Alliance

April 11, 2025

Categories

Inclusive STEAM Education

Multimedia arts learning: connecting STEAM among special education students

This qualitative case study explored the integration of Multimedia Arts into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, transforming it into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) for special education students. Grounded in the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and John Dewey's educational theories emphasizing experiential learning tailored to students' interests and abilities, the study investigated how integrating multimedia arts could enhance the accessibility and engagement of STEM education for students with disabilities. Data was collected from classroom observations to examine student engagement and learning processes, students' artwork, reflective journals to capture students' lived experiences, and semi-structured interviews with students to gain insights into the cognitive and creative outcomes of arts-integrated STEM learning. By examining the intersection of arts and STEM disciplines through a UDL lens focused on promoting inclusive education, the study found that multimedia arts integration significantly improved engagement, accessibility, and comprehension of STEM concepts for students with disabilities. Students demonstrated enhanced cognitive and creative outcomes, indicating a deeper understanding of STEM subjects. This qualitative study contributes to understanding how to design dynamic, personalized STEAM learning environments that enable diverse learners, including those with special needs, to deeply engage with and demonstrate comprehension of STEM concepts. Findings illuminate strategies for making STEM more equitable through arts integration, suggesting that incorporating multimedia arts can effectively promote inclusivity and engagement in STEM education for special education students

April 11, 2025

Categories

STEAM Education

Unveiling the implementation of STE(A)M Education: An exploratory case study of Indonesia from experts’ and policymakers’ perspectives

This study design was an exploratory case study, with semi-structured interviews and document analysis to investigate how STE(A)M education (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) is implemented in Indonesia. The interviews were held with fifteen participants, with practitioners, experts, and policymakers involved. Ninety-nine STE(A)M activities were collected for document analysis, which was analysed through qualitative content analysis. We discovered that STE(A)M implementations in Indonesia focused on research activities, conferences, teacher training, and activities for children and families. These included four implementation stages: initial, growth, expansion, and established stage. The finding pointed out that implementing integrated learning in Indonesia focuses on STE(A)M activities with engineering design processes as the core activities. Moreover, we found that the Indonesian government is providing substantial support to cultivate STE(A)M education by conducting massive teachers’ training and building learning communities among teachers. Therefore, this provides direction for future research to broaden STE(A)M education implementations around the globe by uncovering Indonesian initiatives.

April 11, 2025

Categories

STEAM Education

Fostering Students’ Environmental Competencies through a Plant STEAM Education Program in Korean Elementary Schools

This study details the development of a plant STEAM education program aligned with the Grade 6 elementary school Korean national science curriculum, using a regionally linked curriculum as its design framework. The primary objective was to investigate the plant program’s effectiveness in enhancing elementary students’ environmental competencies. Ninety-one Grade 6 students, divided into an experimental class (n = 46) and a comparison class (n = 45), participated in the study. Data were collected before and after the program through an assessment tool designed to evaluate environmental competencies, in addition to collecting field notes and student learning outcomes, which were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results revealed significant improvements in students’ environmental competencies, with notable enhancements in exhibiting environmental sensitivity and displaying a sense of environmental community. This study offers an illustrative model showcasing the integration of plant-related, STEAM, and a regionally linked curriculum in education.

April 10, 2025

Categories

STEAM Education

Fostering AI Literacy in Elementary Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) Education in the Age of Generative AI

The advancement of generative AI technologies underscores the need for AI literacy, particularly in Southeast Asia’s elementary Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) education. This study explores the development of AI literacy principles for elementary students. Utilizing existing AI literacy models, a three-session classroom intervention was implemented in an Indonesian school, grounded in constructivist, constructionist, and transformative learning theories. Through design-based research (DBR) and network analysis of reflection papers (n = 77), the intervention was evaluated and redesigned. Findings revealed clusters of interdependent elements of learner experiences, categorized into successes, struggles, and alignments with learning theories. These were translated into design moves for future intervention iterations, forming design principles for AI literacy development. The study contributes insights into optimizing the positive effects and minimizing the negative impacts of AI in education.

April 10, 2025

Categories

STEAM Education

Documenting Children’s Spatial Reasoning through Art: A Case Study on Play-Based STEAM Education

The purpose of this paper is to examine how children’s art can document emergent sensemaking of spatial reasoning. Spatial reasoning is the understanding of how both people and objects interact with, and relate to, one another. The recent literature has argued for spatial reasoning to be part of multiple domains in STEAM education by highlighting the dynamic nature of spatial thinking relevant in everyday life. The data come from a larger participatory design-based research project that incorporated play, environmental education, and embodiment in a STEAM curriculum. The paper analyzed art created by a focal group of children (6–8 years) as they learned about the kelp forest ecosystem over time. Findings reveal that spatial reasoning is not only an inseparable part of sensemaking in STEAM education, but has implications for environmental education in the elementary curriculum

April 10, 2025

Categories

STEAM Education

Headteachers’ understanding on STEAM-based integrated curriculum practice in Nepal

This study aimed to determine the present status of integrated curriculum (grades 1–3) with experience to support transformative learning practice at the school level. The national and locally prepared curriculum to teach the integrated curriculum with transformative learning theory was reviewed in different contexts. This study followed a critical case study design under a qualitative, transformative, and participatory methodology. This study was conducted in the Gorkha district, selecting the three schools and head teachers. Themes were determined based on observation and interview data. The finding indicates that the revised STEAM-based integrated curriculum tried to provide holistic, transformative learning practice by enhancing students' knowledge, skills and entrepreneurship capacity to culturally diverse students. However, head teachers and other teachers could not successfully develop an enthusiasm for its perfect implication in the school education system. Concrete professional training could support the implication of a newly revised STEAM-based integrated curriculum.