With the realization that art education can complement math and science learning, classrooms have begun to add an “A” to “STEM,” (science, technology, engineering, math) creating the much more active noun of “STEAM.” Among the faculty at UCLA’s Department of Education who see STEAM’s enhancement to classroom pedagogy is Noel Enyedy, associate professor of education. In fact, Enyedy has been recognized with the 2013-2014 Bobbie and Mark Greenfield Faculty Award for Applied Research in Learning and Achievement, for his innovative ways of combining basic scientific principles, technology, and elements of art with the creation of a collaborative teaching and learning environment.Two of Enyedy’s recent projects, both funded by the National Science Foundation, utilize motion tracking technology to enhance learning. One project seeks to illustrate principles of physics by allowing students to use "pretend play" to depict the effects of force. The other project is meant to build a sense of civic engagement by having students create digital interactive “murals” that artistically convey urban planning issues that are facing the students’ own neighborhoods.
“I’m learning about how people learn from social interaction, from talking to each other,” Enyedy said. “I do a lot of work in educational technology, [which] sparks a conversation between a teacher and a student, or between students. It provides some experiential base to anchor that conversation and drive it in a productive direction.”
Enyedy, who teaches in the urban schooling division, says that there are deep parallels between children’s socio-dramatic play and scientific modeling. With his project, “Science Through Technology-Enhanced Play” (STEP), he was able to help 1st and 2nd graders at UCLA Lab School to use their pretend play skills to learn about physics principles like Newtonian force in motion or life in a beehive. Enyedy says that the ability for young students to play roles in pretend play that relate to what they think will happen, creates an inquiry-based learning environment that expands the resources that students can use to learn.
Read the rest of the story in Ampersand, a publication of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
