Knowledge Gained & Classroom Application (EDU 782)

Knowledge Learned

One new piece of knowledge that I have learned from EDU 782: Technology in STEAM is that the lessons and curriculum for STEAM should be seamless and build off of real world dilemmas or problems and NOT force the standards - education should be transdisciplinary.

From personal experience of interdisciplinary studies, I can honestly say that I understand the principle behind this type of education. Combining subjects helps students make connections between the disciplines and saves on time during the day as opposed to teaching each area separately. On the other hand, I also know what people say when the lesson is forced; standards are brought together for the sake of "hitting all the targets." Now, according to Quigley & Herro's (2019) research in their book An Educator's Guide to STEAM, interdisciplinary studies is about meshing at least two separate disciplines into one; however, taking things even further, transdisciplinary uses real-world applications and the production of new and innovative ideas to teach the standards.

To explain my experiences of interdisciplinary education - I teach science and social studies content and standards indirectly through reading standards and skills/strategies. One example is our unit on changemakers. We read books about change makers and inventors but focus more on the literacy standards. As you can see from a sample view of the standards covered in one of the weeks in our changemaker unit, literacy is the central focus of the text. The supporting content standards (SS.IS.3.K-2) deals with gathering information from one or two sources with guidance and support from adults and/or peers. Therefore, we directly teach the literacy standards but teach social studies indirectly with our accompanying activities and content in the books.

With the content standards being taught indirectly students are not making the connections between the different subject areas as much. The same goes for the SEL and writing standards that are forcefully integrated into these units. Students are also not seeing the importance of learning this content in retrospect to their own lives as they grow up. Therefore, (if given the opportunity) I could apply what I have learned about transdisciplinary and STEAM to what I do in my classroom.

Application of Learning to the Classroom

Yes, I can continue to take the texts and content from my district's units and even some of the activities, but I can change the focus of the unit from reading texts and filling out graphic organizers for writing to a present problem within our own school.

Students would begin the unit on changemakers in a fairly similar manner by being exposed to items from the past and present and get students interested in the differences between the two. Then, we would still read the mentor texts on various change makers and inventors from the past. Then, to expand on the concept and knowledge of transdisciplinary I would build in a problem our school often faces to the students - overcrowding. I would pose the question - "How can the knowledge of individuals and groups who have shaped a significant historical change guide our development of a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how we can supply/create more space within our own school?"

Not only does this leading question already have social studies built in, but it also includes science, reading, and writing. Students would learn about inventors that have made a significant change through actions or inventions (social studies) through reading and researching (literacy). Furthermore, a model or drawing would have to be designed to show how our problem may be solved (science). To add to the model or sketch I would have students explain in writing how their design or method solves the problem of overcrowding (writing). With these changes to the previous interdisciplinary unit on changemakers, I have revamped it into a transdisciplinary and STEAM unit through the use of a real-life problem within our own lives and using various programs and physical materials for students to use to research and create their drawing/model.

Final Words

With all the knowledge gained and the possibilities of creating a true STEAM/transdisciplinary study, I hope one day our district would see that the current methods of teaching are not working but rather using what we have to create a valuable basis for true engagement and learning for our students. In the meantime, I can always take our given curriculum and restructure it for next year to fit my classroom and build things up to reflect problems we face in our community today.


HH

References
Quigley, C., & Herro, D. (2019). An educator's guide to steam: Engaging students using real-world problems. Kindle. Teachers College Press. Retrieved 2022, from https://read.amazon.com/kindle-library?ref_=kcr_library.