STEAM Stories: Connecting Literacy and STEAM
A conversation with Kristin Brynteson, Ed.D., NIU STEAM Director
On Dec. 3, 2024, our STEAM Stories Learning Network will begin – featuring monthly interactive online sessions with a supportive community of educators. Then on Jan. 24, 2025, several of the sessions at our NIU Engaged Learning Conference, cosponsored with the Illinois MTSS Network, will also focus on the connections between literacy and STEAM.
That’s why this seemed like a great opportunity to sit down with NIU STEAM Director Kristin Brynteson to learn more about why literacy and STEAM work so well together.
Can you start off by sharing some of the conference highlights related to literacy and STEAM?
We’ve got two presentations at the conference that will be of particular interest to people who want to explore the intersections between literacy and STEAM.
One is from our partners at Illinois Reads, who will be talking about the STEAM connections in some of the latest Illinois Reads books. Every year, they present a recommended reading list for different age groups: birth to age 4, grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and adult. Illinois Reads focuses on promoting the love of reading here in Illinois and promoting our local Illinois authors.
We’ve been working with them to write lesson plans related to some of the Illinois books that have STEAM and STEM connections. Not all of the books have those connections, but many of them do, and they’re a great pathway into an interest in STEAM concepts.
We hope teachers will come to this session to get an introduction to some of the Illinois Reads books and get some mini lessons, idea sparks and other practical ideas for how to incorporate them into your classroom.
Can you share examples of some of the STEAM connections in Illinois Reads books?
One great example is Illinois author Ruth Spiro, whose books are amazing! She has a whole series of baby books about different STEM concepts (“Baby Loves Aerospace Engineering,” for example).
In addition, she has two new K-2 books called “How to Explain Coding to a Grown-Up” and “How to Explain Robotics to a Grown-Up.” She’s great at taking very complex concepts and making them easier to understand by putting them in story form. Her books also help children become experts who can then explain the concept to their grown-up – that’s engaged learning in action!
What other kinds of books work well to highlight STEAM connections for different ages?
While Ruth Spiro’s books are explicitly about science, those hard science books aren’t the only ones that work well. A book doesn’t have to be a hard science book or even a science fiction book to have STEM connection we can explore. STEM and STEAM are all about problem solving, all about applying concepts to the real world – and you can find that in many different stories!
A great story really brings problem solving to life, so if we start with the problems the characters are facing in the book, we can connect that to one of the content areas that we’re addressing in science or math, or some of the problem-solving skills that have universal application. Ideally, to solve the problems, students will be applying all kinds of 21st century skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity.
Humans love storytelling, and diving into a story can be a very accessible and tangible way to approach STEM content and skills.
You mentioned there were at least two STEAM and literacy sessions at the conference. What is the other one that’s been confirmed?
Another great STEAM and Literacy session will be led by experienced STEAM teacher and NIU STEAM instructor Kristi Sutter. She’ll be talking about STEAM Stories and digging into the connections between STEAM and storytelling. In fact, Kristi will also be leading our STEAM Stories Learning Network that begins on Dec. 3.
Can you tell me more about the STEAM Stories Learning Network?
It’s an online community of practice with synchronous and asynchronous connections among teachers, and it’s recommended for grades K-8 in particular. Kristi Sutter is the educator who’s going to be leading that, and we’re thrilled to benefit from her years of experience as a classroom teacher and library media specialist. Kristi is a middle school makerspace teacher at the Thomas Metcalf School at Illinois State University, and she has more than 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher.
For the first session, we’ll be looking at the STEAM Stories philosophy, and the process and benefits of connecting stories to STEAM and STEM concepts and problem-solving.
Then each month after that, we’ll be delving into different books for different age bands in that K-8 range. We’ll be doing hands-on lessons based on the books and then discussing and really mapping out – how can teachers bring that into their own classroom?
We’re still working with Kristi to choose which books to use as our examples, but we’ll cover a range of ages and types of activities so teachers will have a lot of possibilities that will meet the needs of their students.
Is there anything else you want folks to know?
I hope people will consider signing up for both the conference and one of our Learning Networks!
If you’re part of the STEAM Stories Learning Network, you will have met twice online with your classmates –once in December and once in January – and you hopefully will have participated in some ongoing discussions in our virtual STEAM classroom message boards. The conference will then be a wonderful chance to connect with some of your fellow classmates in person and have some more in-depth discussions.
Often – especially in a small school – you might be the only STEM teacher in your school or grade level, and that can be a bit isolating. The goal of the Learning Communities and the conference is to help you build that community of practice, so you have somewhere to turn for support, for answers to your questions, and for feedback from people who have faced may of the same challenges you’re facing.
Learn more about NIU STEAM professional development.
Learn more and register for our NIU Engaged Learning Conference, cosponsored with the Illinois MTSS Network.
