Steam For Sustainability
Last weekend, we celebrated Earth Day. Found in 1970, Earth Day encourages us to have conversations about the state of our environment and our attempts to preserve it. This year, the theme was “Invest in our Planet.” As noted by the President of Earthday.org, Kathleen Rogers:The theme is focused on engaging governments, institutions, businesses, and the more than 1 billion citizens who participate annually in Earth Day to do their part — everyone accounted for, everyone accountable. We must join together in our fight for the green revolution and for the health of future generations.The time is now to Invest In Our Planet.Traditionally, this investment has looked like grants and subsidies to green industries like renewable energy, agriculture, water management and waste management. For STEAMLabs Africa, investing in our planet looks a little different. For us, this means investing in our mentees by using STEAM education to equip them with the necessary tools and perspectives to make a difference.
Tools like technical skills and scientific literacy. Perspectives like a personal understanding of the causes, costs and solutions of climate change. As well as working knowledge of sustainability as a lens and not as a tool that can be discarded. But what does this look like in practice? How does this work?
First, we must discuss the intersection between why STEAM education matters within the context of the environment. STEAM education, with its emphasis on problem-based learning, a cycle of reflection and action and student-guided inquiry prepares students to think differently about the environment.
- By centring students, they are encouraged to think about how they personally contribute to climate change and environmental degradation. Both as a question of their individual consumption and within the context of wider systems and structures (i.e. urban living, capitalism and neoliberalism).
- In adopting a cycle of reflection and action, students are challenged to take responsibility for the world around them in feasible and tangible ways. Moreover, this cycle enables students to question ideas we take for granted. Ideas brought us to our current point. Like what it means to lead a good quality life; why certain countries consume more than others and whether or not high-consumption models are something to emulate or; how we can approach investing in our planet as a whole.
- Finally, through problem-based learning models, students are empowered to try. Right now, we are paralyzed to the point of inaction. There is so much to do and the stakes could not be higher. As a result, trying to do anything feels overwhelming; to the point of giving up. STEAM education empowers students to navigate these feelings and, simply, try to be better.
In practice, this looks like:
- Teens Innovation Week. An event where students are encouraged to explore specific environmental issues through personal and structural lenses and are equipped with the tools (technical and social) to propose and enact solutions;
- Lessons on the specific consequences of climate change, and discussing how they impact different groups of people (disabled and able, men and women, children vs adults, queer or straight); or
- Lessons that repurpose children’s fairy tales, like Jack and the Beanstalk. Here you could see how the height of the ogres’ home in the clouds would impact Jack’s escape. Or how poor air quality would have prevented Jack from escaping and how he could mitigate this;
- Mentorship opportunities where students are paired with industry professionals or experts to learn from as they get a sense of the real-world applications of their knowledge
To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of sample lessons to help shape your thinking.
This is when the public participates in scientific research to increase our understanding. Think about Wikipedia and how articles are written and edited by individuals collaborating for the sake of knowledge.A. Citizen Science (Science)
Here’s a toolkit to get you started. This activity is suitable for every grade.
Apartments are getting smaller. But this is no guarantee that consumption will reduce. This activity will help your students think about the energy they use at home, and how we can make it more efficient.B. Tiny Homes (Science, Programming, Social Studies)
Here’s a link with everything you’ll need to get started. Please note that this is a high-resource activity, suitable only for older students.
We are incredibly blessed to live in Kenya. Within our great nation, we have beaches, swamps and forests. Mountains, grasslands and deserts. Many of these features have been turned into national parks (Amboseli, Kisite Mpunguti Park, Nairobi National Park, Karura and Ngong Forest). However, the existence of these parks is not guaranteed, as Wangari Mathaai reminded us. This project will show students art contributes to the environmental activism of national parks.C. Art and the Environment (Art, Environmental Studies, Social Studies)
Although this lesson plan is for American national parks, the principles are the same and can be adapted. This activity is suitable for students in Grades 5 and up.
Go back to basics with these activities. Here, teachers built upon fairy tales that students learned early in their academic careers to explore environmental phenomena like pollution, air quality and deforestation.D. Fairy Tales and the Environment (English Literature, Environmental Studies)
Check out this paper (pg 7–11). This activity is suitable for students in Grades 6 and up.
These should help get you started and inspire you to challenge yourself.
If you’d like a little more help, please get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help walk you through how your school/institution can use STEAM education to promote sustainability.