What is steam education?
Quick answer
STEAM education teaches science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics as one connected practice, usually through projects where students design, build and test something real.
NASCA units are project-first: students spend most of their time building, with instruction arriving at the moment it is needed.
In context
The A matters more than it is given credit for. Design, communication and craft are what turn a working prototype into something another person can understand and use.
Done properly, STEAM is an approach to teaching rather than an extra subject in the timetable.
In a NASCA classroom
NASCA units are project-first: students spend most of their time building, with instruction arriving at the moment it is needed.
Related terms
Project-based learning
Project-based learning organises teaching around an extended, real task that students complete and present, with content taught at the point it is needed.
Computational thinking
Computational thinking is a problem-solving approach built on four moves: break a problem down, spot the patterns, ignore what does not matter, and write a repeatable procedure.
Design thinking
Design thinking is a structured way to solve problems for real people: understand them, define the problem sharply, generate options, build a rough prototype and test it with users.