STEAM is for everyone! It doesn't matter what grade level or subject you teach, you can incorporate STEAM projects into your class.
Scientist Infographic - students research a scientist (of their choice or related to current content such as historical period or STEM subject) then create an infographic (digital poster) about the scientist. Digital posters can be made using google drawing, google slides, and Adobe Spark. When complete, students put the poster on their tablets or chromebooks and walk around the room to review the posters of other students, writing down the name of the scientist, the student author, and 2 facts from the infographic.
Make a piece of art inspired by science - students can look at pictures of or read about different structures in science and create a piece of art inspired by this structure. Structures could include plant cells, anatomy of the brain, layers of the atmosphere, structure of a galaxy, and more.
Paint a Scientist - for your next portrait project, how about assigning students to do a portrait of a scientist? Students can find an image of the scientist in a book or online and practice their portrait techniques and facial features.
Photography or Drawing Research Project - assign students a project series where they observe a particular subject in nature and capture photos or drawings of their subject. Students could choose to observe birds, flowers, plants, trees, fungi, clouds, rocks, and more!
Scientific Discovery Drama - students can write a short script for the events of a particular scientific discovery or the life of a historical scientist. Students can then act their dramas or comedies together in order to learn about the scientists that were chosen.
Leaf Rubbings and Sun Printing- students collect leaves and try to identify the trees/plants. Students will then use the leaves to create a piece of leaf rubbing art. Alternatively, students could create a sun painting with the leaves by painting Jaquard solar fast or other solar reactive dye on a piece of sturdy paper or canvas. Students put their leaves on top of the wet paper and place in the sun for the dye to develop. The leaves give an imprint on the paper.
Parabolic Curves - create drawings of parabolic curves using colored pencils, rulers, and paper. These are fun and look really stunning when finished. Talk to students about what a parabolic curve represents in math. There are other really cool shapes in math such as different types of fractals that students could research and learn how to draw.
Informative Essay - students research a scientist and write an informative essay about the life of the person and their contributions to science.
Reading Assignment - give students short reading assignments about diverse scientists.
Early Writing Assignment - show students a scientist of the week slide and video. Have students practice writing sentences by directing them to write two things that they learned about the scientist today.
Research a Scientist - assign the infographic project or an essay where students research a scientist in the time period or for the group that you are focusing on