STEM to STEAM: Developing New Frameworks for Art/Science Pedagogy

Zschenderlein was invited to present the trans-disciplinary arts and science collaborative research of The Breathing City project at the ‘Bridging STEM to STEAM’ (www.stemtosteam.org) event, which took place at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA, 20th – 21st January 2011. As keynote speaker Holger Zschenderlein was invited to provide an overview about the background and evolution of the arts and science collaborative research project, The Breathing City and to talk in particular about the group’s recent large scale Ice – Traffic installation commissioned by The Royal Society for their 350th Anniversary exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall in London during the Festival of Science + Art in June –July 2010, as an exemplar trans-disciplinary collaboration with public engagement. Drawing evidence from the seven – year ongoing trans-disciplinary arts and science collaboration of The Breathing City project and the recent large-scale public installation Ice - Traffic, Zschenderlein’s presentation focused on key aspects of this symposium by providing examples of how to potentially develop strategies in order to build meaningful connections between art and design disciplines and sciences. The event, funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and co-hosted by RISD together with the NSF, brought together sixty American leaders from the fields of Science, Creative IT, Engineering, Art and Design, Mathematics and Education Research to examine and develop strategies for enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education through the integration of Art and Design thinking. Participants discussed the concept of connecting STEM to the Arts (STEAM), which gained popularity in a number of American institutions in recent years and RISD has become the first arts institution in the USA to host such a high profile event. The Bridging STEM to STEAM event, as part of a series of events across various institutions in the US was intended to lead towards a white paper report, aimed to consider and explore new developments and frameworks for enhancing science education through the interaction of innovative arts-design-science pedagogy and research models. Zschenderlein’s presentation has been numerously cited within the subsequent report to the National Science Foundation, January 2011