Getting Creative with Stem Subjects in the Classroom Using Adobe Spark Video

STEM to STEAM is a full day project using Adobe Spark Video and Lego WeDo. The aim is to incorporate STEM in the classroom by creating a working floodgate that will help to control the negative effects of flooding through excess rainfall. As well as creating a model, students will record their progress using a camera and use it to put together an Adobe Spark Video which communicates their work to an audience.

Hang on, I thought it was STEM, not STEAM… What’s this ‘A’ all about?!

STEM is more than just an acronym. Of course, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, but more than this, it represents a combination of these elements. It’s greater than the sum of its parts. You hear the word STEM and you are immediately drawn to the fact-based, black or white, logic-resolved learning experiences, but bring in one simple letter ‘A’ and everything becomes a lot more STEAMy!

STEM is the mechanism which drives our increasingly complex world, in which rapidly advancing technology provides infinite possibilities for new applications of science, maths and engineering. But to take advantage of the myriad opportunities inherent in this complexity, we need something more than STEM in the classroom. We need the Arts.

Can we get creative with STEM subjects in the classroom to bring science and technology to life?

Enter STEAM: STEM with added creative energy, emotion and vision. This is the path to innovation. Taken from my book, Literacy Beyond the Classroom, STEM to STEAM explores why the arts are a necessary addition to the world of STEM and why STEAM education is important.

View a completed student example of STEM to STEAM:

All resources and full planning are free and available on Adobe EdEx:

Access complete STEM to STEAM resources on EdEx

Interview with Tim Fox

Interviewed for STEM to STEAM is Tim Fox, a Senior Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) – he sits on and chairs several of their senior boards. Tasked with thought leadership and investigating ideas, he is often their spokesperson on the TV and radio as well as giving talks all over the UK and overseas.

Describing how STEM subjects should be taught, Tim asserts, “Engineering needs to be embedded in everything, across the curriculum, providing people with windows into the world of engineering so that they can see it as a possible pathway for their passion. But crucially, we need to support those people who might not be naturally gifted at maths and science, because they are equally, if not more, important for the goal of finding the right solutions in the first place.”

Embedding STEM subjects across the curriculum can help develop the creative skills that the engineers of the future will need.

Here’s that resource link again:

Access complete STEM to STEAM resources on EdEx

If you enjoyed STEM to STEAM, check out Literacy Beyond the Classroom, which improves English progress at Key Stage 2 by 3.75 times the UK national average. This innovative approach links global challenges to the five key National Curriculum areas in English: reports, instructions, persuasive language, fiction and poetry, and presentation skills, presenting ready-to-use lesson plans, exercises and activities to help teachers bring this concept to life in the primary classroom.

All projects can be completed using Adobe Spark. By teaching English in this practical, purposeful and meaningful way, we can inspire the YouTube generation to learn the literacy skills they need to influence the world around them and have a positive impact as global citizens.

Dominic is the Education Evangelist EMEA for Adobe Education. Before joining Adobe, Dominic found his passion for combining literacy with digital skills as a primary teacher both in the UK and internationally. From there, he was part of the first cohort on Emerge Education and used that as a springboard to start an education social enterprise. In 2018, he won the EDUCATE award from the Institute Of Education for a 4 month research project into improving KS2 writing using digital skills at 3.75 times the national average rate of progress.