STEAM is a developing educational model of how the traditional academic subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) can be organized into an integrative framework which creates an interconnected learning experience.
STEAM is a way to teach how all things relate to each other. There is a lot of research suggesting that integrating these subjects, especially adding a creative component with art, is beneficial for students. This emergent methodology is more fun than traditional methodologies and makes more sense to all types of learners as it is based on the natural ways that people learn. STEAM activities are usually hands-on, exploratory, and inquiry-based.
Outer Space has always attracted the attention of young children. Outer Space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the Universe and the history of our solar system. Children are naturally looking for explanations and trying to understand everything in their environment. Combining STEAM education with learning about outer space leads to natural learning at its finest!
Check out our 'out of this world' projects this month with a STEAM lens:
STEAM is a way to teach how all things relate to each other. There is a lot of research suggesting that integrating these subjects, especially adding a creative component with art, is beneficial for students. This emergent methodology is more fun than traditional methodologies and makes more sense to all types of learners as it is based on the natural ways that people learn. STEAM activities are usually hands-on, exploratory, and inquiry-based.
Outer Space has always attracted the attention of young children. Outer Space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the Universe and the history of our solar system. Children are naturally looking for explanations and trying to understand everything in their environment. Combining STEAM education with learning about outer space leads to natural learning at its finest!
Check out our 'out of this world' projects this month with a STEAM lens:
Understanding our Solar System!
We used real photos from NASA of the sun and the planets with watercolors and different sizes of coffee filters to create a sun-catcher solar system for our front windows.
Creative Solar Systems!
"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty."
John Muir
John Muir
"I made an asteroid belt!"
Solar System Puzzles!
This 200 piece Solar System puzzle took a little teacher help but it was amazing how long the kids concentrated to finish it!
The Scale of our Solar System!
Integrating math into our learning was fun with this interactive activity.
Each step equals 36 million miles. The kids were amazed at how many miles there are between the planets.
Each step equals 36 million miles. The kids were amazed at how many miles there are between the planets.
The pumpkin was the sun. Mercury was 1 step, Venus was 2 steps, Earth was 3 steps, and Mars was 4 steps from the sun.
Jupiter was 13 steps, Saturn was 25 steps...
... and all the way down the garden Uranus was 47 steps and Neptune was 77 steps from the sun! That's far!
Constellations!
| We learned all about the stars and constellations with these educational reads - then we created our own constellations inspired by star charts or our imagination. |  |  |
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Comets, Telescopes, and Famous Astronomers!
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Looking for an awesome spot to go camping in Central Texas? Try out Canyon of the Eagles - it's where the UT astronomy department has their telescopes and there are Star Parties most evenings that children are welcome to!
This Twinstar Telescope is not bad! We were able to see the daylight moon and a magnified version of the tops of the trees quite clearly.
NASA Education!
| The NASA Education website has a ton of great resources like these SCaN Fun Pads, Orbit Mazes, and tons of awesome photos!   |  |
Sundial Project!
The kids were amazed at how people were able to tell the time of day simply by placing a stick in the ground and tracking the movement of shadows.
| Space Stations! We loved learning about and creating Space Stations with a variety of different tools! |  |  |
We love our blocks! We made a space station for our astronaut "Flying Frank", as well as a Martian community complete with Mars Rovers.
The kids were creating space stations all over the garden too!
| Astronauts! When we asked the kids at snack if they wanted to be an astronaut everybody shot up their hand with a resounding YES! |  |  |
Creating an Astronaut Journey!
Astronauts Academy Training - Obstacle Course
| Engineering, Math, and Physics with Rockets! So how do we get to Outer Space? In a rocket of course! |  |  |
A collaborative art project leads to hours of imaginative play that sparks more of an interest for further learning.
Watching and counting down with this Space Shuttle Launch was seriously exciting!
| Stomp Rockets! These are a perfect example of Newton's 3rd law of motion - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. |  |
| Rocket Science in Action! These rockets are powered by a tremendous amount of pressure from water and a bicycle pump. When the pressurized air and water escapes, the force pushing down pushes the rocket up, |  |
The rocket went at least 30 feet up and got stuck in the treetops!
Straw Rockets!
Straw Rockets are an excellent opportunity for children to practice the engineering design process.
Straw Rockets are an excellent opportunity for children to practice the engineering design process.
Check out this link for directions and a template to make the rockets at home.
After playing with their rockets the kids were then challenged to modify the design to see how the changes impact the rocket performance. Length, fin shape or angle can be changed–one variable at a time–to see how the rocket launch performs, and compares to the control design.
We tried pointing the straw at different angles and blowing harder/less hard to see how the flight of the rocket was affected.
There are two forces acting on the straw rocket. Gravity is pulling it down while the force from you blowing the straw is pushing it forward. These two forces combined give a curved movement. A real rocket needs to overcome the gravitational force downwards.
We loved these resourceful books to practice our ABC's!
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Yoga Journey to Outer Space!
We started off our Astronaut Adventure by stretching our arms up high to put on our big astronaut helmets.
We started off our Astronaut Adventure by stretching our arms up high to put on our big astronaut helmets.
Then we stretched out our legs one by one and put on our huge astronaut boots.
We crawled into our small rocket ships and counted backwards from 10 to 1.
"3 - 2 - 1 Lift off!"
Travelling in space we saw some "bright stars!"
and "falling stars".
The kids have creative control of our journey and they wanted to go to the moon and see some aliens!
Then we became peaceful warriors to create peace with the aliens.
When we were ready to go back home we got in our rocket ships and counted backwards from 10 to 1 again.
" 3 - 2 - 1 Lift-off!"
We landed back on earth, strong and proud from our great voyage.
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