STEAM Pedagogy to Promote 21st Century Skills: A Poetry Unit Plan for Grade 9 Ontario English Classrooms

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to create a handbook for Ontario-based English teachers interested in incorporating STEAM-based pedagogy (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) to promote students’ 21st century skills. The handbook is a Grade 9 poetry unit plan that meets the curriculum expectations of Ontario’s Grade 9 English course, ENL1W, as well as curriculum expectations in other Ontario Grade 9 courses across the STEAM disciplines. A review of curriculum documents, along with a comprehensive literature review on STEAM pedagogy revealed a gap regarding translating the theory of interdisciplinary integration into practice in secondary subject areas, where courses are typically taught as discrete subjects. Therefore, this handbook was created to address this literature gap by providing high school teachers with a hands-on resource they may use to implement an integrated, STEAM-based unit. The unit plan was reviewed by Ontario English teachers and found to be helpful in both teaching and assessing English, STEAM subjects, and 21st century skills. Future research projects may build on this work by creating similar resources for other grade levels or disciplines, and exploring their impact on teaching and learning experiences.