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ISTEAM: Integrating Art into STEM INDIANA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR RURAL ENGAGEMENT AND IU FACULTY

Since 2019, an interdisciplinary team of IU faculty affiliated with the IU Center for Rural Engagement have collaborated to provide professional development workshops and follow-up classroom support to middle school art and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers from rural schools in southern Indiana. Four IU faculty members designed and facilitated the ISTEAM project during the 2019-2020 school year. They included Adam Scribner, Director of STEM Education Initiatives, School of Education, Gabriele Abowd Damico, Assistant Professor, Art Education, School of Education, and Peter Miksza, Associate Professor of Music and Music Education, Jacob’s School of Music. The focus of the workshops is to help teachers improve interdisciplinary teaching and learning by infusing art into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curricula.

Adam Scribner (left), Gabriele Abowd Damico (center), Peter Miksza (right).

The ISTEAM Project

The project brings together teams of art and STEM teachers to explore connections with the goal of designing and implementing inquiry-based activities for their students. The program utilizes engineering design, art, and music to engage students in creative and innovative pursuits that serve to build robust understandings of core disciplinary concepts and advance their technological and artistic knowledge and skills. ISTEAM was also designed to foster student awareness of creative and innovative careers.

After the workshops, follow-up classroom support for the teachers is provided by the participating IU faculty. Classroom support includes IU faculty modeling, co-teaching, and planning ISTEAM lessons. All ISTEAM participating teachers are provided classroom materials and supplies to support ISTEAM initiatives in their classrooms.

“I loved this workshop. I learned so much and feel like I can teach STEAM a lot more confidently.”

-ISTEAM program participant

Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project moved to a fully online format from March 2020 until the end of the school year in May 2020. ISTEAM organizers sought guidance from their Institutional Review Board as well as partner schools prior to restarting any activities. Unfortunately, many planned activities were canceled due to the pandemic. Though the team was not able to host a final culminating event for teachers and their students, ISTEAM has continued providing follow-up classroom support to the participating teachers via Zoom online conferencing software. In fall 2021, the ISTEAM program resumed in-person workshops.

ISTEAM Impact

After participating in the ISTEAM project, the teachers:

  • Increased the number of STEAM activities they implemented.
  • Encouraged greater use of the engineering design process in their classroom.
  • Increased the number of interdisciplinary STEAM collaborations they had with other teachers.
  • Developed more ISTEAM lessons.

To date, ISTEAM has collaborated with 35 rural, middle-level educators and reached more than 4,000 rural students in Indiana.

"I can now comfortably explain (to students) technological things and work with circuits and such. I feel ready to incorporate this into my curriculum. I want to start an after-school program with 1 or 2 of these projects."

-ISTEAM program participant

"I want to help other teachers in my school implement programs like this."

-ISTEAM program participant

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