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Cover STEAM image by Megan LLewellyn, Illustrator-in-Residence
SciArt Magazine Volume 26
Special Topics: 
STEAM
Letter from the Editor

There are lots of ways to say it - "STEAM is in the air," "Full STEAM ahead," "From STEM to STEAM." STEAM - the acronym standing for Science Technology Engineering Art Math - is the movement that everyone in education is talking about. STEAM is an approach, a curriculum, and a mindset. STEAM is an idea and ideal. 

So, what exactly is STEAM? Simply put, it's not one single thing. STEAM can be found in universities in London, in middle schools in Brooklyn. STEAM takes place over one class period, or over an entire education. STEAM advocates for the integration of art and design approaches in the learning of STEM subjects. STEAM fosters well-rounded thinking and encourages cross-disciplinary exchange. STEAM gives equal voice to the arts and sciences. STEAM uses the strongest aspects of each discipline to create something new. While STEAM's origins stem from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, it now branches far and wide. We started to publish on STEAM this past year, including a feature on the organizational work of the Art of Science Learning, and a neuroscience and art course offered at Lafayette College. 

The idea for this special topics issue came about when I went to prepare to teach a STEAM course of my own as the Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers University. In researching STEAM approaches to design the course, I quickly realized how many types of STEAM there are out there. Like me, many teachers have been handed this STEAM task by excited institutions, and left on their own to create entirely new curricula from scratch. With varying resources, timelines, and circumstances, STEAM has many flavors, each with their own nuanced aims. 

As this educational movement gains traction it's more important now, than ever, to come together and share our experiences, successes, roadblocks, techniques, and ideas. STEAM holds the promise of "fixing education," teaching students well-rounded thinking that will allow disciplinary specialization and cross-disciplinary thinking to not be mutually exclusive. STEAM promises students who will grow up to face our 21st century's biggest problems and opportunities with all the tools they need at hand, from coping with and combating climate change, to deciding on the future of our species as we near the reality of space colonization.

Collected here are the contributions of over 30 educators outlining their experiences enacting STEAM as this August's special topics issue, which we produced in addition to our standard August issue that you can read here. As always, your thoughts and experiences are welcome through our rolling submission system.

Take care, and happy reading!
​
Sincerely,
Julia Buntaine | Founder, Editor-in-Chief
Expository
Picture

STEAM: A Hothouse for Lifelong Creativity
By Jeffrey Toney, Kean University

Read here
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STEAM: Everything Connects to Everything Else
​​By Stefani A. Allegretti, M.Ed

Read here
Curricula
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Science/Art/Technology in New/York/City
By Julia Buntaine, Rutgers University

Read here
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STEAM at Fisk University Galleries: Art History, Physics, and Computer Science
By Nikoo Paydar & Jamaal Sheats, Fisk University

Read here
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Integrating the arts and humanities at MIT, then & now
By Sharon Lacey, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Read here
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Animating Science: Digital Arts in STEAM Education
By Anna Lindemann, University of Connecticut

Read here
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Investigating new areas of Art/Science practice based research with the MA Art in Science  
By Mark Roughley, Kathryn Smith, & Caroline Wilkinson,
​Liverpool School of Art & Design

Read here
Picture

STEAM Ahead: Printmaking and Mathematics
By Alan Singer, Rochester Institute of Technology

Read here
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STEAM is hotter than STEM: The why and what of my teaching paradigm in higher education 
By Mónica López-González, La Petite Noiseuse Productions

Read here
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Building STEAM 
Through Interdisciplinary Workshops
By Shalini Le Gall, Colby College

Read here
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STEAM Imaging: A Pupils’ Workshop Experiment in Computer Science, Physics, and Sound Art
By Bianka Hofmann, Sabrina Haase, and David Black
Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS

Read here
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Storytelling with a side order of science: STEAM in adult education
By Jacqueline Saville

Read here
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From Pumpkins to Pendulums: 
Principles of teaching STEAM 
By Dolores Bartholomew, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
​& Philadelphia University

Read here
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Talking about science and technology... with comics!
By Mathilde Bessert-Nettelbeck (University of Freiburg) & 
Philipp Schrögel (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Read here
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Growing Youth Curiosity and Self-Confidence in STEAM with Gique 
By Danielle Olson, Ashli Davis-Polanco, Phil Getzen, & Gabby Rabadam, Gique

Read here
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Brush strokes & brains: 
NW Noggin takes STEAM to a
​higher level

By Jeff Leake, NW Noggin

Read here
Discussion
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Building a STEAM Museum: 
Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned To Love What STEAM Was, Not What It Stood For

By Bonnie Epstein, RIMOSA

Read here
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Integrating art and science: Perspectives from a professor and
​a student

By Julia Sacha & Dave R. Wessner, Davidson College

Read here
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Looking Under the Sacred Rock: 
How Collaborations between Scientists and Artists Can More Deeply Probe the Mysteries of Creativity
By Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal and Dario Robleto,
​University of Houston

Read here
Futures
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Quantifying STEAM
By Laura Vosejpka, Kettering University

Read here
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The Commonality of Patterns
By West Marrin

Read here
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