Curriculum

The syllabus at STEAM Studio continually evolves to captivate young students and facilitate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math connections to real life experiences. Each school year the program rotates through themes, or units of study. Examples of these units are described below:

“While taking a family vacation, our daughter popped up in her seat just as we approached a bridge. Her eyes lit up as she excitedly identified the bridge and gave a detailed account of her own bridge-building experiences from a STEAM project she had done months before. She recited the other types of bridges and the benefits of each type, but the truly amazing thing was that this conversation excited her! I looked at her mom and gave her a fist bump while we simultaneously exalted ‘Worth it!’”

- STEAM Studio Family

The integrated curriculum of STEAM Studio is enhanced regularly by field experiences that not only connect a topic to real-world learning, but also connect students’ varying world experiences. Field experiences challenge the student to think – and act – beyond the classroom by allowing them to explore different applications and perspectives of their knowledge.

Field experiences allow STEAM Studio students to capitalize on their daily experiments and explorations and enhance the project-based learning style of STEAM Studio by presenting students with real-life examples. A student in grade 1 may build a catapult in Makers Lab and then experience Medieval tools and inventions through an immersive tour at Spurlock Museum. The imagination of a fifth grade student can take flight as they research and design their own hover-drone and then explore the hangers of Wilson Airport. STEAM Studio's prime location affords the program opportunities to partner with award-winning departments at University of Illinois, traverse the gems of Illinois' natural parks and playscapes, and create in areas rich with artistic and cultural experiences. The possibilities are as endless as they are boundless.

Guest experts are an important part of the educational experience for STEAM students. They not only expose students to real-world applications of their STEAM Studio topics, but give further insight and perspective of the guest speaker’s particular field. Glimpses of life as a bio-engineer for the student who is fascinated by the movement of microorganisms could be a key roadway on the map of that student's future. Presenting a new lotion chemically concocted in a student's bathroom chemistry unit, complete with its own branding, to Champaign-Urbana entrepreneurs in the style of Shark Tank creates an exciting new connection between science, art, and the world of business. These partnerships enhance the STEAM student's after school experience and create building blocks of possibility on the path to working in one's field of interest.

STEAM units culminate in a celebratory fashion that encapsulates the learning experienced throughout the topic. From families touring a life-size cave system built with consumable materials to culinary experts taste-testing hidden vegetable cupcake recipes, students get to share the product of their learning with their families, friends, teachers, and community members.