Protocol for Teachers

Are you interested in STEAM Teaching Learning Sequences? If you are navigating this webpage, the answer is probably yes.
Following that interest in STEAM proposals, nowadays it is not very difficult to find STEAM proposals but it is more difficult to decide if they have enough ingredients in their design to be considered as STEAM quality proposals. It could be difficult also to find a proposal that really fits with your aims and context and could be still more challenging if you wish to design a proposal from de very beginning.
In the following document, you will find information on whether you are interested in evaluating an already-designed STEAM proposal or need guidance in designing a sequence.
An introduction is presented in which we work on the definition and characteristics of STEAM. The introduction starts by describing the evolution of STEAM in the last decades in education to continue confronting different definitions given by different authors to finally conclude with the definition we have chosen in the STEAM-Active project. So for the STEAM-Active team, STEAM education is a teaching method that integrates content, skills and beliefs from at least two disciplines that form the acronym and that focus on real-world contexts.
The document continues by mentioning the different types of integration that we propose to use in the classroom when implementing the sequences and the relationship that these have with the different educational contexts. The three integration types we are proposing are; Interdisciplinary, Transdisciplinary and Metadisciplinary.
The second part of the document discusses the design, implementation and evaluation of the Teaching Learning Sequences. Project/problem-based learning is proposed as the implementation methodology for the sequences. This process is then specified for the case of proposals in engineering, which is the focus of this project. These are the steps we propose to follow the PBL methodology in STEAM-Active: (1) Definition of the problem, (2) Developing a tentative solution, (3) Analyzing data, (4) Modeling a solution, (5) Testing, modifying and optimizing solutions and (6) Working in teams.
This second part of the document concludes by specifying the steps to follow for the design of a STEAM proposal that complies with the definitions and methodologies proposed above. They are also related to a template that is offered at the end of the document as an annex that is intended to be a design tool for anyone who is interested in designing a quality STEAM proposal. The first step is related to the general definition of the sequence followed by a second step specifying for which specific context the next steps in the design are to be taken. In the next step, the Teaching Learning Sequence is structured. To design this structure it will be necessary to define the main guiding question, the learning objectives, the learning demands as well as the learning pathway that the sequence will follow and the alignment of the concepts of the previous phases. In the fourth design step, the activities are proposed, which should include inquiry and experiment activities and, design and making activities. Last but not least, the evaluation of the proposed learning objectives should be designed.
In the third part of the document, the transversal elements of the STEAM-Active project are included. Circular Economy and Gender issues must be included in our designs as a transversal axis. A list of possible aspects to be included related to both is presented in the document as in the following template.