Abstract:

To actuate the potential that a Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Mathematics (STEAM) approach to teaching holds for scaffolding 21st Century Learning Skills in K-12 education, a reconceptualization of two key aspects of traditional models of new teacher training are recommended. First, many novice teachers need to be provided early learning experiences in STEAM that extend beyond short-term exploratory “mini-projects” for such experiences often:
1) focus on a superficial integration of disciplines traditionally viewed as mutually exclusive and
2) fosters conceptions of the STEAM construct that are counterproductive to a theoretical rationale of the STEAM movement.

And second, support needs to be provided to novice teachers as they learn to design and teach curriculum that offer more robust opportunities to authentically engage students in long-term, interdisciplinary problems that center on personally relevant, real-world and, many times, environmentally-based issues. In this presentation, two university faculty, at institutions in the metropolitan region of New York City, seek to share their ongoing efforts and collaborative practices aimed at using a Citizen Science framework to situate a STEAM approach to curriculum design. The presentation will focus on one particular effort which resulted in the development of a new course designed to address the two recommendations asserted above. By design, the preservice teachers were required to design, test, and build their own data-collection technologies to investigate problems of environmental sound pollution on their campus. The students (preservice teachers) were also required to share their findings through an open web platform. In the process of taking the course, the instructors sought to develop knowledge, skills and interest in the history and current role of Citizen Science across political, community, scientific and cultural dimensions among the course participants. The students were then be required to use their new knowledge as they explored how makerspaces can provide the creative outlet to communicate ideas, outlooks, questions and answers found as citizen scientists. The course, offered through a hybrid framework, will be shared with participants and the presenters will describe their continuing efforts and activities to further support this coupling of STEAM and citizen science.

Keywords:

Pre-service teacher experiences, Learning and Teaching Methodologies, Experiences in STEAM Education, New Experiences for Curriculum Design, Maker-Space.