In an earlier blog, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences was discussed, i.e., different learners have different skills, strengths, and talents. Accommodating these differences may require a more diverse approach when teaching the physical sciences. We have
In an earlier blog, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences was discussed, i.e., different learners have different skills, strengths, and talents. Accommodating these differences may require a more diverse approach when teaching the physical sciences. We have also discussed the place of narrative and storytelling in the sciences. Now we turn to the use of the arts in the science curriculum.
Where does your teaching style fit into the STEM vs. STEAM dichotomy? Or is there a “versus” between the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math approach and the addition of the Arts into the overall teaching plan?
For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see Anne Jolly’s article “STEM vs. STEAM: DO the Arts Belong?” Ms. Jolly raises points from both “camps,” and then raises the question of how to include the arts “in an authentic way,” without diluting the focus of STEM education. Her list of how the arts can fit into STEM includes the areas of design, communications, and creative planning. She summarizes the purpose of STEAM as …”not [to] be so much to teach art but to apply art in real situations. Applied knowledge leads to deeper learning.”
What, precisely, are “The Arts”? Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines the arts as “a making or doing of things that display form, beauty, and unusual perception: art includes painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature, drama, the dance, etc.”
Integrated curriculum, then and now
Many decades ago (okay, let’s be honest: in a different century) our beloved fourth grade teacher, Miss Bachman, taught a Solar System unit. In addition to the names and characteristics of the planets, we learned the “current theory” of the formation of the Solar System. At the end of the unit, the class presented a play about the formation in which the tallest boy (the Sun) wore a makeshift cape with yellow crepe paper streamers attached. Each planet, in turn, would twirl across the stage, tearing off a streamer as they passed the Sun…and that represented the “current” perception of how the planets formed!
Whether or not her theatrical endeavor would pass muster in today’s scientifically savvy world, and whether or not Miss Bachman had ever heard of the concep