Theorizing Pedagogical Signatures That Cultivate Creativity Through STEAM.

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Critical (Pedagogical) Approaches to STEAM Education

Abstract

Learning across subject disciplines within a Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) context is gathering pace in educational communities. However, debates about teaching that effectively promotes creativity within STEAM contexts lacks agreement, especially in regards to the nature [and impact on learning] of it. With this in mind, in this paper we reflect on the ontological creative tensions between STEAM disciplines through lesson descriptions and the teachers own self-reported unique pedagogical fingerprints (surface, deep and implicit). This was achieved through semi-structured interviews. The various signature pedagogies described by the practitioners illustrate how epistemic tensions across all the STEAM disciplines and signatures need to be scrutinised further to understand how each teacher uniquely cultivates creativity from within the educational environment.

Authors

• Sarah Frodsham, Oxford Brookes University

• Debra McGregor, Oxford Brookes University