Exploring the Integrative Nature of STEAM through Material Objects

STEAM has gained traction across informal and formal educational settings, but the connections between STEAM disciplines are not always obvious to youth. We argue that an explicit focus on how art and STEM overlap in the world, and how these overlaps connect personally to learner’s interests and concerns, is a way to support the development of STEAM-related identities. We developed a “STEAM objects” pedagogical activity aimed at explicitly surfacing the ways that art and STEM are intertwined in everyday objects, as well as the ways that STEAM is connected to learners’ own lives. We piloted the activity with educators, asking what they took up from the experience. Our results show how the educators made connections to land, historicity, their professions, function, aesthetics, and agency of materials during the activity. The STEAM objects served as boundary objects that illustrated the integrative nature of art and STEM in the world, as well as bridging important aspects of their lives and STEAM. We discuss the importance of recognizing and leveraging the multiplicities of meaning and ways of knowing, as well as implications for the classroom.