The University of Northampton would like to invite teachers to join their free online course focusing on STEM to STEAM, which aims to add the Arts to the integrated and applied study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM),  to create inter-disciplinary challenge-based online learning resources.

The course has been put together by a team of teachers, university lecturers and trainee teachers in Belgium, England, Norway and Denmark. It represents the work of the Digital Learning across Boundaries (DLAB) project funded by Erasmus +. 

Helen Cauldwell of the DLaB Team at the University of Northampton explains:

“This year our project has aimed to cross subject boundaries to create interdisciplinary learning by adding the Arts to STEM. STEAM is a way of bridging the conventionally-held disconnect between the science and arts and leveraging on the principles of arts to maximise the output from STEM learning.”

The team recognises that creativity, wonder and imagination, which lie at the heart of the arts, blended with the critical thought and enquiry of STEM can allow students to connect their learning in these critical areas. Together with arts practices, elements, design principles and standards, students will be equipped with a whole pallet of learning at their disposal. The course is aimed at educators, but anyone who is interested in the field of technology and outdoor learning is very welcome to join in, so teachers and Culture Challenge Providers can equally benefit from this free initiative.  

The course will share ideas and experiences across three weeks and ask you to join an online community to share your own reflections and plan to take some ideas forward in your own work.  It is FREE resource including case studies of lessons and lesson plans, and an international online community sharing ideas. The DLaB Team are sure that this project will enrich both your staff and your school, and they look forward to developing a community to develop and share ideas.  

The course runs for three weeks starting on Monday 4 June 2018 and is there for teachers to dip in and out of as much as they want. You can find out more about the course and join the online community in the DLABGoogle+ Group.