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"Welcome to this second post in a series that brings STEM, STEAM, and Maker Space together with Project Based Learning and proper technology integration in the classroom. You will discover around one hundred resources in this series along with some great ideas for finding student success."

"Giving children the tools to succeed in a rapidly changing technology-based economy is the key to ensuring their future success. Making sure kids are excited by science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts hasn't been America's strong suit, but with the "STEAM" movement, we have a shot at engaging kids like never before."

"This is the mega monster of STEAM posts.  It's a list of some of the coolest science, technology, engineering, art and math projects from some of the most creative bloggers out there.  Plus, all of the projects help feed the senses while kids play and learn.  Get ready to have some fun!"

"Inject the "A" into your STEM challenge projects with cut paper and the free app Stop Motion on the iPad.  The "A" being Art of course!  Full STEAM ahead… We used Stop Motion and cut paper to make moving models of the Lunar Cycle and the phases of the moon in science.  The challenge was that students were only allowed to use cut paper (you could also use Oreos for this to mimic the moon as shown in this free download) and the app Stop Motion to show all 8 lunar phases."

"One of my end of year rituals is finding and posting the years' best videos. Given my current interest in maker education, I decided to locate and post 2015 videos related to maker education, STEM, and STEAM."

"As parents and teachers, we encourage our kids to become well rounded people who love learning.   In our world of cell phones, ipads, and computers, it's easy for kids to become passive consumers of media and technology.   We, however, want are kids to be active, curious, and creative.   Since I'm a musician and a software engineer, I hope that my kids learn to express themselves emotively and become creative thinkers.   We're trying to foster a family culture where we are active, encourage tinkering, and building physical things with our hands.    With these ideas in mind, I wanted to share a great video I found by Vinnie Vrotny and Sheryl Peterson entitled "STEAM: Creating A Maker Mindset."   In this conference talk from the K12 Online Conference in 2013, they share their experiences encouraging a "maker" mindset in the Quest Academy .   Their school has a very unique class teaching design thinking to kids.    It's giving me lots of ideas for building a maker environment for our family.    In this class, Sheryl encourages her students to invent a creative design problem and solve it.   With the tools and support of the teacher, the kids are encouraged to build their design.    In some cases, the kids ask Sheryl to assign a problem to them.    The kids aren't used to having creative freedom to design and make.    In these cases, Sheryl encourages the students to keep thinking."

The challenge is to ensure that students within a STEAM programme are better prepared than they might be if they studied the disciplines in isolation and that in seeking to integrate diverse fields we do not weaken the efficacy of one for the inclusion of another.

"In today's post we are sharing with you one of our popular visuals in 2017. It features a collection of some good educational websites to use  in the teaching and learning of STEAM content. We have particularly highlighted the platforms we have reviewed in the past and which have received positive feedback from our readers. We invite you to check it out and share with us  if there are any other suggestions to add to the list. This visual is also available for free download in PDF format."

"This is a collection of 100 STEAM Projects created for teachers and educators to do with youth. Each project encourages exploration, modification, and students to pursue their own ideas and curiosities. They are also meant to be accessible, both in approach and availability and cost of materials. Feel encouraged to adapt them to your local learning space."

"Here is a handy visual we published awhile ago featuring some of the best   STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering ,Art, and Math)  tools to use in your classroom.  Under each category we featured four representative tools that will help students cultivate the skills involved in that category. The overall aim is to provide teachers with a handy resource to use with their students to help them develop critical thinking skills and  adopt 'an engineering or design approach towards real-world problems while building on their mathematics and science base'."

After two days of talking about curriculum, integration, STEM, STEAM and HASS I am left with more questions than I started with. In some respects, the concept of curriculum integration is simple. It is after all something that Primary teachers almost take for granted. But for Senior and Tertiary educators the question of curriculum integration is inherently complex. At all levels questions emerge of what curriculum integration might achieve, what purposes it serves, what it could and should look like and how it should be supported by curriculum planners. In the current climate, with its debate around the role of education within an innovation economy, shaped by technology and confronting demands for a STEAM enabled workforce the shape of our curriculum is under pressure. 

"Have you thought about 3D printing with students? MakerBot's Thingiverse is best known as a 3D design sharing website. It also has STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) 3D printing lesson plans for educators across the world to use in their classrooms. MakerBot's Learning Team has been curating and sharing some of the best lesson plans. They include step-by-step instructions, photos, 3D design files, activity sheets and more. All of these 3D printing lesson plans are designed to keep students motivated and learning new STEAM skills."

"It's an exciting time to be a maker educator. It seems like everywhere I look, there's inspirational work happening in community fab labs, a school launching a new innovation program, or a library incorporating STEAM into its space. At St. Gabriel's in Austin, Texas, we entered the fray last fall with STEAM by Design, an approach to constructivist learning that uses classroom space in conjunction with a dedicated fab lab."

"This DIY zoetrope is the perfect STEAM project for kids who love art, science and engineering. You most likely have all of the supplies you need around the house, or can get them easily and inexpensively. Have you ever played with a zoetrope? Zoetropes are simple devices that pre-date film animation. The viewer looks through the slits in a spinning cylinder and sees an animated image."

"I am beyond elated - our PreK-6 elementary school received monies, through our district's Computer Science Resolution 2025, to create a STEAM (science, technology, arts, math) makerspace. I never thought our Title 1 school would get the opportunity to create such a space. I never thought I would get the opportunity to help create a fully equipped makerspace. A few of use spent the past few weeks rearranging our library so that one side contains our books and the other our STEAM materials."

Free guide to setting up a STEAM program - but you have to register (free).

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"Convincing more students to pursue STEM studies is a goal widely shared by educators, policymakers, and industry representatives concerned about the leaky pipeline of students preparing to become the next generation of innovators. Fortunately, there's no shortage of solutions. When more than 200 of the nation's top math and science educators gathered at the White House this fall to receive the 2016 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, they exchanged practical ideas for igniting student interest in STEM. ADVERTISEMENT Among the honorees was Dr. Jaunine Fouché, science curriculum supervisor at the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania. This unique residential school, founded as a philanthropic effort more than a century ago, serves more than 2,000 students in preK-12 from across the U.S. Every student comes from a background of poverty. Education and wraparound services are provided at no cost. In a recent conversation, Dr. Fouché shared strategies for making science education more engaging to diverse learners. Here are the highlights."

Making, Maker Centred Learning and STEAM fit neatly alongside Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) for many schools. Commonly this approach includes a constructivist view of knowledge and teachers seek to establish conditions which allow students to explore questions and ideas with greater independence than may occur in the traditional classroom.  Learning becomes a collaborative partnership between teachers and students with a clear focus on a learner centric approach.