Jacie Maslyk - Steam Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom

If your school is at the entry point of knowing that you need to begin providing opportunities for STEM education but are unsure of how to begin, STEAM Makers: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom will quickly become your go to source. The author has done an amazing job of providing a mentor text that is written in a style that addresses the beginning questions of why to make time for this when faced with many demands for student improvement, as well as the realistic step-by-step guidance on how to implement.

In addition, if sharing with staff or colleagues, the writing style is one that the reader begins to feel that they are in the room talking with the author about STEAM, and because of this, it is hard to put down. While this is essential, the author also provides numerous resource options to continue to pick the text up as you undergo the implementation of STEAM in your school or classroom. This will not be a book that just sits on your shelf.

You will feel empowered and ready to provide these opportunities to your students after reading STEAM Makers.

Jason Thompson Assistant Principal Jefferson Elementary, Schenectady, New York

STEAM Makers presents a crucial topic for educators who want to ensure that their students are prepared not to simply do well on tests but to be active participants in our rapidly changing economy. This book is a must-read for those who believe STEAM and making are important but may be overwhelmed by how to infuse this focus into their school culture. Upon completing this book, teachers will be prepared to open the minds of their students, increase critical thinking and motivation with even their most challenging students, and increase parent and community involvement in schools in a spectacular way.

Nina Orellana Title I/MTSS Coordinator Palm Bay Academy Charter School, Palm Bay, Florida

STEAM Makers provides concrete evidence that the STEAM Maker movement will help our schools engage students in the lost art of learning through invention.

Catherine Hernandez Trashy Treasures Teacher Detroit Public Schools, Detroit, Michigan

STEAM Makers connects the creativity of makers to the innovation of STEAM in the everyday classroom. This book is an excellent guide and resource for teachers and administrators to begin building making spaces in their own classrooms, school buildings, and school districts.

Hope Edlin Teacher, Bethel Elementary School Simpsonville, South Carolina

To my Mom for inspiring me to write and always telling me I could do anything I put my mind to.

STEAM Makers

Fostering Creativity and Innovation in the Elementary Classroom

• Jacie Maslyk

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Copyright 2016 by Corwin

All rights reserved. When forms and sample documents are included, their use is authorized only by educators, local school sites, and/or noncommercial or nonprofit entities that have purchased the book. Except for that usage, no part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Photographs by Jacie Maslyk unless otherwise credited.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Maslyk, Jacie.

Title: STEAM makers : fostering creativity and innovation in the elementary classroom / Jacie Maslyk.

Description: Thousand Oaks, California : Corwin/A SAGE Company, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015039393 | ISBN 978-1-5063-1124-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Education, ElementaryActivity programs. | Creative activities and seat work. | ArtsStudy and teaching (Elementary) | ScienceStudy and teaching (Elementary) | Interdisciplinary approach to education.

Classification: LCC LB1592 .M36 2016 | DDC 372.5/044dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039393

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Jessica Allan

Senior Associate Editor: Kimberly Greenberg

Editorial Assistant: Katie Crilley

Production Editor: Melanie Birdsall

Copy Editor: Karin Rathert

Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.

Proofreader: Annie Lubinsky

Indexer: Marilyn Augst

Cover Designer: Scott Van Atta

Marketing Manager: Margaret OConnor

Depending on the decade in which you were born, you probably remember playing with Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Legos, or KNEX. You may have had a Lite Brite, Easy Bake Oven, or Shrinky Dinks. As a child, I remember building forts in my backyard, sewing blankets for my dolls, and growing vegetables in my grandfathers garden. Kids have always made thingstree houses, skateboards, soapbox cars, doll houses, forts, and igloos (Martinez & Stager, 2013, p. 29). This kind of learning is fun! These early childhood activities are a bridge connecting science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

John Dewey, philosopher and education reformer, advocated that students actively engage in authentic interdisciplinary projects connected to the real word. The implementation of STEAM and making embrace Deweys thinking. Elementary schools across the country are exploring a variety of models as they infuse STEAM and making into their programs. This book will provide rich examples of the enthusiastic teaching and learning that is going on in innovative school districts. It is based on the idea that the Maker Movement combined with STEAM education empowers students and helps to build skills to create a more productive and sustainable global culture. STEAM Makers connect disciplines, bridging learning styles by naturally engaging young people as they apply learning in creative ways.

STEAM Making is gaining momentum across the country, but it is especially thriving in Pittsburgh, where there is a unique vibrancy. Pittsburgh is a place where formal and informal educators are working together to design unique learning pathways for children and young adults. Once a steel town known for blue-collar workers, Pittsburgh is still a city with a hard-working mentality. Now a cultural center embracing music and the arts, the city is home to theaters, museum, galleries, and makerspaces. Add the premier institutions of higher education and major corporations and Pittsburgh is poised to be a leading city of learning. Cathy Lewis Long, executive director and president of The Sprout Fund, says that Pittsburgh has a secret sauce (personal communication, March 2015) that makes the region a hot bed for innovation.