What do you think?
Rate this book
No Permission Required: Bringing STEAM to Life in K-12 Schools
You don't need permission to transform STEM into STEAM!
Creativity in teaching and learning is the "secret sauce" to ensuring the success of our students in the 21st century. As the movement from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math) begins to gather momentum, more and more teachers as asking "are we allowed to do this?" when learning how to integrate the arts throughout their instruction.
This book serves as a resource for answering that question. Not only does it define the differences between STEM, Arts Integration and STEAM, it provides a process for implementing STEAM with integrity into the learning experience: bringing exploration, discovery and creative opportunities into all aspects of the traditional school model.
Additionally, you'll find:
* Case studies from schools in urban, suburban and rural districts who are implementing STEAM with success, seeing increases of up to 85% in science and math-tested areas.
* Strategies that can be used immediately to bring a burst of STEAM into any classroom and
* Fully-developed STEAM lessons and assessment samples in grade bands from K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12
Explore the possibilities of STEAM-powered teaching and learning and discover how you can leverage this approach in your own school. No permission required!
Creativity in teaching and learning is the "secret sauce" to ensuring the success of our students in the 21st century. As the movement from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math) begins to gather momentum, more and more teachers as asking "are we allowed to do this?" when learning how to integrate the arts throughout their instruction.
This book serves as a resource for answering that question. Not only does it define the differences between STEM, Arts Integration and STEAM, it provides a process for implementing STEAM with integrity into the learning experience: bringing exploration, discovery and creative opportunities into all aspects of the traditional school model.
Additionally, you'll find:
* Case studies from schools in urban, suburban and rural districts who are implementing STEAM with success, seeing increases of up to 85% in science and math-tested areas.
* Strategies that can be used immediately to bring a burst of STEAM into any classroom and
* Fully-developed STEAM lessons and assessment samples in grade bands from K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12
Explore the possibilities of STEAM-powered teaching and learning and discover how you can leverage this approach in your own school. No permission required!
248 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2014
4 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 25, 2014
Full disclosure- I was part of a 25 member team who read the book ahead of final editting and provided comments. I read this book from the standpoint of a future art educator who wanted to learn more about the STEAM initiave, having limited background with the subject matter.
There are three main examples in the story, schools at different stages of adopting STEAM. I found the two schools that were further along in their own journey to be very interesting. Some of the benefits I noticed were that children could be dealt with more maturely, expectations could be set higher because the curriculum engaged the students, and they took part in the selection of how concepts would be taught.
I was curious how the example of the fledgeling effort would fair in the long run. I hope it gets fostered through fruition, but I could imagine naysayers and headnodders that could hinder the project's progress in various ways, which I think are common obstacles for any education initiative.
Overall- When I first read the title, I knew that the litmus test for me when reading this book would be, "Does it live up to that title?" Do I feel I could implement STEAM in a classroom without asking for permission. What I took away were some strategies that I could implement without feeling I was rocking the boat of a school administration, but a lot of the examples given of activities to try would take time that I do think you would be held accountable for using up, not to mention resources. In those instances, I think I would NOT be comfortable steaming ahead without permission (haha). The proof would be in the kid's benchmarked progress, but things may not work out exactly as planned, and then you would be accountable, without support of an administration. However, as an introduction to the topic of STEAM, this book succeeds.
There are three main examples in the story, schools at different stages of adopting STEAM. I found the two schools that were further along in their own journey to be very interesting. Some of the benefits I noticed were that children could be dealt with more maturely, expectations could be set higher because the curriculum engaged the students, and they took part in the selection of how concepts would be taught.
I was curious how the example of the fledgeling effort would fair in the long run. I hope it gets fostered through fruition, but I could imagine naysayers and headnodders that could hinder the project's progress in various ways, which I think are common obstacles for any education initiative.
Overall- When I first read the title, I knew that the litmus test for me when reading this book would be, "Does it live up to that title?" Do I feel I could implement STEAM in a classroom without asking for permission. What I took away were some strategies that I could implement without feeling I was rocking the boat of a school administration, but a lot of the examples given of activities to try would take time that I do think you would be held accountable for using up, not to mention resources. In those instances, I think I would NOT be comfortable steaming ahead without permission (haha). The proof would be in the kid's benchmarked progress, but things may not work out exactly as planned, and then you would be accountable, without support of an administration. However, as an introduction to the topic of STEAM, this book succeeds.
June 19, 2014
This book is a great overview and introduction to implementing STEAM (STEM plus the Arts) into your classroom, grade level, or even whole school. Riley gives clarity to the definitions of each level of Arts and STEM integration with vignettes that give very real looks into three different schools with varying levels of STEAM integration within each school. Riley's easygoing writing style makes the reader feel as if they are having a good conversation about a new technique with a colleague. You can hear the excitement and wonder in the writing that creates an eagerness in the reader to try some of the suggestions.
This book is highly recommended for administrators or department chairs, but the ideas can easily give a classroom educator ideas for where to start and how to begin implementing integration strategies.
This book is highly recommended for administrators or department chairs, but the ideas can easily give a classroom educator ideas for where to start and how to begin implementing integration strategies.
September 26, 2017
This book started out great, then fell off quickly. A big reason for this is that the author has a different take on STEAM than I do. The basic premise of STEAM laid out in this book is a cross curricular model that brings different STEM letters together and uses art as the medium for student representation. I acknowledge that cross curricular connects are important but thing STEAM is more of a mindset; recognizing that you can use similar thought processes in different curricular areas and similar learning strategies like collaboration, investigation, and exploration can be used in any curricular areas.
In the end, their were a few ideas that I will take from this book and I found Chapter 1 and Case Study #3 (Chapter 7) to be very interesting and worthwhile reads.
In the end, their were a few ideas that I will take from this book and I found Chapter 1 and Case Study #3 (Chapter 7) to be very interesting and worthwhile reads.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews