ELCL 6090 Arts Integration: Interactive Strategies for STEAM

This hybrid course explores the aesthetic materiality of the visual arts over the history of human civilization to broaden teachers’ perspectives. The course will introduce K-8 STEAM educators to practical and creative approaches to address the requisite problem-solving interdisciplinary of STEAM thinking, collaboration and assessment. Multiple visual arts-based strategies will be infused in the hands-on workshops that will advance creative thinking in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The visualizations of the interdisciplinary course through readings and discussion will focus on such contemporary critical issues as environmental justice as highlighted in the Next Generation Science Standards. Lesson planning, authentic assessments and building a STEAM template inclusive of theoretical understandings will coordinate with school-based practices and new technologies. Teachers will participate in hands-on workshops in the visual arts and observe art-making at the Center of New Art at the WPU campus where robotic, 3D printing and digital technologies are creating unique works of art. Learning to brainstorm, experiment, and extend cross-disciplinary thinking will be enhanced through reflection of case studies utilizing STEAM as part of whole school reform and/or as a way to reach all learners within and between grade levels.
Credits: 3.0