The Emergence of STEAM Instruction and Curricula Worldwide

This chapter addresses teacher professional development to support STEAM education (STEAM refers to science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics). By allowing students to become curious and take control of their learning, STEAM projects are frequently reported to be fun, exciting, motivating, and engaging. Just like integrative STEM education, educators have struggled with how to do STEAM education. We share a Rutgers CMSCE (Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education) teacher professional development program to create a Freshman iSTEAM (i.e., “integrated STEAM”) Academy at a local high school struggling with widespread disengagement among its predominantly Hispanic student population. We encouraged teachers to make radical changes in designing teaching solutions to student disengagement; they were given maximum autonomy and empowered to collaboratively create integrated iSTEAM curricula. In providing their feedback, students and teachers alike emphasized the sense of collaboration, collegiality, and common bond that developed within the iSTEAM academy as the program’s defining characteristics. Analyses of data collected showed that students were also considerably more engaged, positively influencing their educational aspirations.