Art outreach toward STEAM and academic libraries

2015 ◽  
Vol 116 (11/12) ◽  
pp. 677-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Arrieta ◽  
Jacqueline Kern

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) efforts at Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) John D. MacArthur Campus Library (JDM) to share methodologies and ideas with other academic libraries. Recently, there has been an emphasis on and push for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in colleges and universities across the USA as a means for training future work forces and for remaining competitive in global job markets (Land, 2013). FAU in South Florida is a big proponent of STEM and STEAM education (Florida Atlantic University, 2012; Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, 2013). Design/methodology/approach – As many librarians and outreach staff strive to remain relevant to their faculty and students with changing technologies (Drewes and Hoffman, 2010), the FAU JDM outreach staff have developed several novel programs that are geared toward the STEAM initiative. Findings – The Library Outreach Committee at FAU was committed to investigating how they could advance student success through visual arts programming. How can the library help contribute to STEAM education for the students and learning community as a whole? How can the library engage art students? Can the library promote dialogue in arts to the faculty and staff, regardless of their disciplines? This article will describe and discuss the various art outreach programs that the JDM has tested and their outcomes addressing goals toward STEAM education and academic libraries. Originality/value – The objective in sharing the experiences at the JDM is to spark new and successful program ideas at other academic libraries across the country and abroad and create knowledge in this relatively new area.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Marja G. Bertrand ◽  
Immaculate K. Namukasa

PurposeGlobally, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning in schools has become an increasingly popular and growing area of interest for educational reform. This prompts discussions about Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), which is shifting educational paradigms toward art integration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Authentic tasks (i.e. real-world problems) address complex or multistep questions and offer opportunities to integrate disciplines across science and arts, such as in STEAM. The main purpose of this study is to better understand the STEAM instructional programs and student learning offered by nonprofit organizations and by publicly funded schools in Ontario, Canada.Design/methodology/approachThis study addresses the following research question: what interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary skills do students learn through different models of STEAM education in nonprofit and in-school contexts? We carried out a qualitative case study in which we conducted interviews, observations and data analysis of curriculum documents. A total of 103 participants (19 adults – director and instructors/teachers – and 84 students) participated in the study. The four STEAM programs comparatively taught both discipline specific and beyond discipline character-building skills. The skills taught included: critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration and communication; and creativity and innovation.FindingsThe main findings on student learning focused on students developing perseverance and adaptability, and them learning transferable skills.Originality/valueIn contrast to other research on STEAM, this study identifies both the enablers and the tensions. Also, we stress ongoing engagement with stakeholders (focus group), which has the potential to impact change in teaching and teacher development, as well as in related policies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-133
Author(s):  
Wu Chen ◽  
Xin Tang ◽  
Ting Mou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide some references for teachers who use KidsProgram or other graphic programming tools platform for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education at distance by game-based teaching. From the design of the STEAM class, teachers can know how to stimulate students’ interest in programming and cultivating their ability to innovate and solve practical problems more clearly with KidsProgram. Design/methodology/approach This paper will explain the teaching design from ten aspects and implement it in real class to see the result. The ten aspects are situations creation, knowledge popularization, raising problems, analyzing problems, concepts introduction, interface design, logic design, self-evaluation and mutual evaluation, teacher comments and extension and innovation. With the KidsProgram platform, this paper takes “The Missile Convey,” a sub-course of “Discovery Universe” as an example. Through the situation created by the teacher, students brainstorm the dangers that the earth may encounter in the universe and then learn relevant scientific knowledge. Next, students raise and analyze problems according to the situation under the guidance of the teacher. Through the interaction with teachers, students review the programming concepts and the usage of corresponding coding blocks needed for the project, like “random number.” They need to carry out interface design and logic design for the project, and complete the project. After that, the students use the self-evaluation form and the mutual evaluation form to modify and then show and share the projects to the in front of the class. After self-evaluation and peer evaluation, the teacher will make a final summary evaluation and make some suggestions for improvement. From the students’ programming productions and the interviews with them, the teaching result can be known. Findings With elaborate teaching design and appropriate teaching strategies, students can flexibly use multi-disciplinary knowledge of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics to solve problems in the process of creation, which is conducive to the cultivation and improvement of students’ comprehensive quality on KidsProgram classroom, under the guidance of STEAM education. In other words, in this class, students need to use engineering thinking to plan the whole project based on the understanding of scientific principles, design interfaces with artistic ideas, use mathematical knowledge for logical operations, and gradually solve technical problems with the above knowledge or methods in a comprehensive way. Originality/value The KidsProgram is a leading graphical programming tool platform in China in recent years. It deeply reconstructs the concept of Scratch designed by MIT. Graphic programming, a method of programming by dragging and dropping blocks containing natural languages, is different from traditional code programming. In this paper, the visualized cases in the class will be demonstrated in the “interface design” and “logic design.” This paper designs a course in STEAM education at distance via KidsProgram, hoping to provide some reference for other research on teaching of graphical programming tools.


2015 ◽  
Vol 116 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 358-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Michele Moorefield-Lang

Abstract – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the user agreements of makerspaces in public and academic libraries. User agreements, also known as maker agreements, user forms and liability forms, can be very important documents between library patrons, staff and faculty. User agreements are similar to the earlier creation of acceptable use policies for technology use in libraries. The author of this study will delve into the user agreements created for public and academic libraries across the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The researcher used content analysis to investigate 24 different user agreements written for public and academic library makerspaces. NVivo qualitative data analysis software was integrated into this research to aid in the breakdown of commonalities across terms, themes and purpose within the user agreements. Findings – Although makerspaces are a very exciting topic in the field of library science at this time, the implementation of a maker learning space is still new to many libraries. Creating a user agreement for a makerspace is newer still. Most user agreements in this study were six months to a year old. Some consistencies found across makerspace user agreements include liability waivers, permissions for minors, safety, copyright and technology replacement costs. Originality/value – At this time, most publications on makerspaces are held in the realm of popular publications (blogs, magazines, zines, etc.). The body of peer-reviewed and scholarly research on makerspaces is growing. Makerspace user agreements are new to this growing field of interest, and a content analysis of these documents will pave the way for the writing of future forms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom P. Abeles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest that all of the systems, education, economic and social, are caught in an ever-increasing pace, tied in large part to a set of beliefs, largely economic, that resemble a religion and for which there appears to not be a rational option to escape. Design/methodology/approach – A study of systems. Findings – It is argued that we are at a tipping point where there are too many holes in the intellectual dike, that a shift in many dimensions may not be preventable. Practical implications – While “techno-futurists” are promoting this increasing evolution pace towards a transformational singularity, there appears to be no serious consideration that humanity may get its “wish” as did King Midas. Social implications – There is a serious question as to whether there can be, and should be, alternatives not cast into the frame of the Neo-Luddites. Originality/value – This is a contrarian view of the current effort to promote the educational focus on STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, almost as a pre-cursor to being able to participate in a technology-driven societal model of the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Betsy Tretola ◽  
Eloise Coupey ◽  
Laurie Meamber

Purpose Middle school participants in the USA attending an on-campus university informal science program indicate an increase in interest toward careers and disciplines in STEM or STEAM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the arts). Parents or guardians confirm the change. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Participants attended “inquiry-based” lectures by scientists and “hands-on” activities conducted by volunteers on campus at a public university over four months, four Saturdays. Participants completed surveys before each lecture and guardians completed surveys afterwards. Findings Interest increased significantly according to paired samples t-tests for each STEM discipline for students who reported low interest on the initial pre-lecture survey. There was a significant linear improvement in interests in engineering using a repeated measures general linear model. Guardians or parents reported that they observed a higher interest in STEM disciplines resulting in more technical-related interaction among peers and within the family. Social implications Findings support STEM with arts “out-of-school” programs sponsored by museums, corporations, government, higher education and others. Inclusion of the “hands-on” activities, some with arts content, to the science and technical learning appears to spark enthusiasm. Originality/value The value is multidisciplinary. The theory of reasoned action from social psychology, sociology, along with related research in science education and the arts are synthesized. Informal extracurricular experiences sustained and improved interests in the disciplines and careers on which the formal educational career pipeline can build.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 494-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen H. Spalding ◽  
Jian Wang

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the value of marketing in academic libraries and how the marketing concept is applied in practice to marketing academic library services through the experiences of academic libraries across the USA.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on using marketing as a managerial tool to accomplish strategic organizational goals and objectives, discusses challenges and opportunities in academic library marketing, presents examples demonstrating innovative methods that academic libraries have used to market their images and services, and offers suggestions for developing marketing plans and strategies.FindingsThe paper finds that market research allows libraries to understand better the points of view of their student and faculty library users, as well as the perspectives of campus administrations and the community external to the college. The result is that the library is more successful in gaining visibility and support for its efforts, and library users are more successful in making the best use of the services available to them to meet their academic and research goals.Originality/valueThe paper offers practical solutions for academic libraries in the global community.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Leong How ◽  
Wei Loong David Hung

In science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics are useful as educational scaffolds to educe (draw out) the students’ AI-Thinking skills in the form of AI-assisted human-centric reasoning for the development of knowledge and competencies. This paper demonstrates how STEAM learners, rather than computer scientists, can use AI to predictively simulate how concrete mixture inputs might affect the output of compressive strength under different conditions (e.g., lack of water and/or cement, or different concrete compressive strengths required for art creations). To help STEAM learners envision how AI can assist them in human-centric reasoning, two AI-based approaches will be illustrated: first, a Naïve Bayes approach for supervised machine-learning of the dataset, which assumes no direct relations between the mixture components; and second, a semi-supervised Bayesian approach to machine-learn the same dataset for possible relations between the mixture components. These AI-based approaches enable controlled experiments to be conducted in-silico, where selected parameters could be held constant, while others could be changed to simulate hypothetical “what-if” scenarios. In applying AI to think discursively, AI-Thinking can be educed from the STEAM learners, thereby improving their AI literacy, which in turn enables them to ask better questions to solve problems.


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