The New York City STEAM Committee held its first meeting on May 25th at the SMART Executive Briefing Center to discuss STEAM initiatives and implementation challenges being faced by schools in New York City. STEAM innovators from public, private, and Catholic schools from all five boroughs were in attendance, as well as a panel of Teq’s education technology experts.

At the start of the meeting, all attendees were asked, “What does STEAM mean to you?” and their answers sparked a collaborative brainstorming session full of key takeaways.

Although it’s difficult to narrow down the meeting to just a few paragraphs, we’ve shared the key discussion points below.

1. Failure is key 

STEAM mental models, such as the Engineering Design Process, stress the importance of making mistakes and improving upon them to arrive at a final solution. Many of the attendees agreed that students are conditioned to be afraid to fail. This becomes all the more reason to use mental models in education so they can be comfortable going about the process of doing, improving, re-doing, and improving yet again. Lori Stahl-Van Brackle, the Head of Technology for the borough of Manhattan, stressed that it is integral to “force students to make mistakes,” otherwise, a STEAM program will not be successful.

2. Curriculum and training are a must

Curriculum creation and professional development are integral in rolling out a STEAM initiative. Because of a fear of failure, teachers do not know where to start, so they, unfortunately, do not start at all. Professional development specialists are often sought to design curriculum specific to a schools’ curriculum map. Continuous professional development is needed to make sure that specialized curriculum is supported throughout the year. Frank Signorello, the STEM Director at Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy, hit the nail on the head when he said that while a 3D printer is an excellent piece of technology, “it is just a paperweight without curriculum.”

3. Budget

Every school faces a budget issue. While public schools are granted funding from the state, they have little to no creativity when it comes to creating STEAM environments; they are told what to buy and where to buy from. On the opposite end of the spectrum, private schools do not receive money from the state but from sponsors or grants.  Although it is more difficult to get funding this way, private schools have complete flexibility when it comes to how to use their funds.

4. Awareness

It was unanimously agreed upon that many teachers, administrators, and even parents are simply unaware of all the possibilities that STEAM education brings to the classroom. Heather Foley, STEAM Coordinator at PS132, spoke about how “STEAM can be in dance and even community service,” so we shouldn’t segregate STEAM subjects to just the core subject areas. It is the responsibility of STEAM advocates to speak out and to host events such as a STEAM fair, a practice that Matt Levy at Merrick Academy organizes, to educate parents, students, administrators, and teachers about STEAM possibilities within the classroom. In order to make the shift in mindset, there must be community buy-in.

Be a part of the team

To continue the mission of STEAM integration, the New York City STEAM Committee will meet every other month and is opening the door for more participants. The committee is looking for school administrators who are passionate about STEAM and would like to share their insight and expertise.

To learn more about the New York City and how to participate, email Emily Brenseke at emilybrenseke@teq.com.