Full STEAM Ahead in the Elementary Classroom

As education shifts towards creating world-thinkers and problem-solvers, the approach to instruction shifts towards being more student-driven. Students are being encouraged to think creatively and apply their learning to real-world situations. As educators held to standards-based requirements, it can be overwhelming to try to stay on top of all the latest trends and discover effective ways to implement those things. One hot topic in the past several years has been cross-curricular education revolving around STEM (science, technology engineering, and mathematics) education. STEM was then adapted to include arts, making it STEAM. STEAM education is an approach that accepts the fact that learning is not linear, and that cross-curricular applications are what we need to create global thinkers. Although many are intimidated by the idea of STEAM education and worried about finding time to integrate these projects and ideas, I hope that the resources below will serve as a jumping-off point for those interested in trying it out. Here we will explore the basics of STEAM and how inquiry-based projects, project-based learning, and makerspaces are ways to incorporate those ideas. We will also look into some fully digital option for STEAM integration. Use these resources to gain a basic understanding of STEAM education, and begin to gather ideas of how to implement STEAM in your classroom!