STEAM-Powered Literacy

When we talk of integrating literacy with STEAM, the first question raised by most, is that we have limited educational resources and whether it is right to invest our limited education resources in teaching critical reading skills or in STEAM. I think we can and must do both. The components of literacy skills—reading, writing, speaking, vocabulary, should all be integrated in STEAM activities. Literacy is one subject that bind all the others together. Many educators wonder whether literacy is part of STEAM because STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math.  So, what happens to reading and writing? Should we add it as an acronym to STEAM and make it STREAM, with R standing for reading? STEAM is guided by inquiry and is focused on application, creation and evaluation.  I think adding another letter isn’t the point.

Literacy is a part of  every subject—be it maths, arts, music, history, geography or science. It is always there in every content area. Literacy is an action with common components that are embedded into how we consume and share information.  As such, it is naturally a part of STEAM. Reading and writing occurs across the curriculum, including the sciences. Schools today are placing more emphasis on STEAM: Science, Technology, Math, Arts and Engineering in the elementary classroom. There are many ways to integrate literacy and STEAM intentionally in your classroom.

For young learners this could be done by making a day filled with sensory play, exploration and observation, and by adding generous amounts of talking, reading, singing, drawing, or whatever works best for our young learners. A learning experience that integrates multiple subjects when studying a theme helps learners to make strong connections, which in turn strengthens the learning experience for the child. STEAM activities actually provide a fabulous vehicle for integrated learning. To integrate literacy and STEAM for young learners, inquiry-based instruction would be the best way of doing it. The hands-on experiences during activity-based learning will help develop better understanding, enrich vocabulary, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and reflection. A very important thing for the educator to do is ask high-quality, open-ended questions. With time learners will begin to approach problems in new and authentic ways. STEAM integration helps teachers focus on content (what to learn) and processes (how to learn).