Building STEAM: Incorporating Depth & Complexity
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The creation of a successful, fully functioning and Maker program, with its roots in STEAM certainly doesn’t happen over night. Rather, it requires clear goals, deliberate planning, and support from the school and its comunity of teachers, learners, and parents.
One way to begin the transition to this model is by incorporating the dimensions of Depth & Complexity, a system developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan that provides a framework for exploring the connections between disciplines by looking below the surface of facts and investigating generalizations, principles, and universal concepts.
The end result of using this system is the “de-siloing” of the subject areas; eschewing the proverbial wide and shallow approach to content in favor of a rich, deep understanding of topics and their interelationships. In short, a solid foundation for incorporating STEAM.
While this may seem a daunting task, this is something most teachers are naturally doing through good teaching, only without the formal use of these elements. The introduction of these icons simple assures that these strategies are used consistently and they also provide a common vocabulary between classes and across grade levels.
- Patrick Benfield
The icons:
The content imperatives: