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Because the schools were geographically separate, Georgia State assisted with transitioning courses and development modules to an online or video format through its Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Online Education (CETLOE). “We had to work with a setup of multiple cameras — one for me to talk, one so you saw what my hands were doing. That was kind of the difficult part,” Davenport says. However, this came in handy when the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the world, because the groundwork for virtual training had already been laid. It also helped spread STEAM education throughout the state. Since this work began, one of the schools, Hampton Elementary, has received STEAM certification from Cognia, a national accreditation organization.
One might wonder, does STEAM-centric education really make a difference? A look at Drew’s annual reports since adopting a STEAM-centric approach suggests the answer is a resounding yes.
Drew students already demonstrate superior academic performance across every discipline, surpassing national and state performance benchmarks. In addition to improved academic performance across all subjects, Bryant says there have been many rich and creative cross-discipline student and teacher collaborations.
Science and art teachers collaborated with students on rendering virtual crime scenes with an augmented reality iPad app. In another collaboration, a 10th-grade faculty team worked with students to create a giant mural based on Picasso’s famous painting, “Guernica.”
“They studied the Spanish revolution, nuclear fission and fusion, war as it related to Spain then and Ukraine now, and art,” Bryant says.
The painting had removable puzzle pieces embedded with graphics that functioned like QR codes linked to videos that went to artist statements, with students talking about their puzzle piece.
“These kinds of collaborations allow kids to express their feelings about the world they’re living in now,” Bryant says.
“It’s astounding what we’re seeing,” concludes White. “Teachers are converts to this approach, and now we see them engaging each other across disciplines. Our goal is to support our community across the state, and this was a perfect opportunity. We did what we do every day at Georgia State, but made it accessible to the broader community.”
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