Steam curriculum: Arts Education As An Integral Part Of Interdisciplinary Learning

Interactive Art Approach 
The authors Radziwill, Benton, and Moellers (2015) investigated what it means to 
learn in a STEAM context and how to assess STEAM learning. They suggested that the 
answer to a successful integrative arts-integrated curriculum revolves around interactive, 
participatory, and dialogic art (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 2). Interactive art is claimed to, 
“…promote the discovery and development of meaning” and engage participants in a 
reflective experience (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 3). Participatory art is intended to provide 
an open-ended narrative and dialogic art is a means of collaborating and creating 
meaning through dialoguing (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 3).

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RUNNING HEAD: STEAM CURRICULUM PLAN 
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In an attempt to make STEAM tools more meaningful and applicable, the authors 
formulated a model to be utilized, “… as a vehicle for creating complete and meaningful 
experiences” (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 3). The model for STEAM learning involves (1) 
learning on four different levels (2) a creative ecosystem (3) learning that occurs in an 
arbitrary, irregular fashion (4) future career benefits may not be immediate (5) learning is 
emergent (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 4). The four different levels of learning include: 
stocks of knowledge, flows of knowledge, the changing of self-perception, and the 
changing of others’ perceptions of the learner within the network (Radziwill et al., 2015, 
p. 4). They stated that this model and the four levels of learning could be utilized to 
assess STEAM learning; the intent should be to determine the acquisition or development 
of skills and where or how meaning has been made (Radziwill et al., 2015, p. 5). 
STEM to STEAM Examples 
As STEM programs have become widely accepted as beneficial for school 
curriculum, there have been questions as to how the Arts fit into the picture. Some 
researchers have explored how a STEM framework can transform into an integrated 
STEAM framework. Authors Wynn and Harris (2012) claimed that art and STEM 
disciplines are of equal importance and that a STEAM framework would catalyze a shift 
in academic success for American students (p. 42). They stated that this type of 
framework is successful because it allows left-brained thinkers to visualize real-world 
applications of math and sciences and helps visual or strategic thinkers to view hard 
sciences as less threatening (Wynn & Harris, 2012, p. 43).