About

An Invitation to join the

Making STEAM Project

UNC Charlotte Writing Project and Discovery Place

The Making STEAM project, a partnership between Discovery Place and the UNC Charlotte Writing Project aims to better understand and engage the intersections between science and literacy.  We are leveraging the maker movement to find ways for ourselves and our students to explore STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).  The maker movement is all about constructing our identities as makers and not consumers of the world, including tinkering with makes through visual arts, our voices, woodworking, textiles, recyclables, digital tools, words, circuitry, metals and more.

Who:  Writing Project Teacher Consultants, Writing Project Partner School Teachers, Discovery Place Educators, Discovery Place STEM Fellow Teachers

Where:  This project uses online G+ Communities (one for teachers and one for students) face to face meet ups at Discovery Place and this blog.

When: 2014-2015 school year

What: There are various ways to take part in the Making STEAM project.  You choose how you want to participate.  Jump in where it feels comfortable.  You can do one thing or everything.  The categories below are just to help you orient.

Hang Out with the Project

• Join the online G+ community for teachers
• Get started with the community by trying out ideas from our Tinkering with the Community list.
• Watch or join in our monthly Google Hangouts to find out about Makes and try them yourself and with your students.  Post about what happens to the G+ community.
• Follow student curated stories of make.

Mess Around with the Project

• Have your students join the private Making STEAM G+ community for students and make posts about their makes.
• Come to any of the following Making STEAM Meet Ups at Discovery Place
• Monday, September 29th Mega Cardboard Make
• Monday, October 27th Pimp Your Bike
• Monday, January 26th TBA
• Monday, February 23rd TBA
• Follow stories from Writing Project Teacher Consultant Makers and Discovery Place Educator Makers to find out about student extended inquiries into make.  

Geek Out with Project

• Find support for planning and implementing an extended inquiry into make with your own students.
• Engage your students as curators of the student Making STEAM G+ community by having them read, choose, analyze and blog about G+ posts from others kids
• Contribute to the community dialogue about the role that MAKE can play in engaging students and schools to do meaningful things with what they learn in school, specifically (but not exclusively) in science, english, and art.