ABSTRACT
Leaders in education, industry, and government have stressed the need for 21st-Century graduates to master not only technology, but also creativity and collaboration. To this end, the Expressive & Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center at Drexel University pursues transdisciplinary education and outreach activities, based on the arts-integrated framework of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Design, and Mathematics). The Summer Music Technology (SMT) program, driven by research at ExCITe’s Music & Entertainment Technology Lab, has served Philadelphia-area high school students for 10 years with a novel curriculum using music to motivate interest in science and engineering. A series of collaborative projects and performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, and LiveConnections at World Cafe Live, as well as K-12 partners, further inform the lab’s research and learning efforts. ExCITe Center outreach activities also include learning to code by developing games to be played on the Cira Centre skyscraper (for the World’s Largest Videogame design contest) and programs combining fashion design, smart fabrics, and wearables, which aim to broaden participation in STEAM. Many of these are deployed through Drexel’s K-12 engagement platforms, including our NSF GK-12 site and the DragonsTeach program, which provide STEM graduate and undergraduate students with opportunities to pursue novel curriculum development and gain teaching experience. This presentation will explore how such collaborative programs and projects, particularly those integrating the arts and technology (alongside engineering, science, and math), can lead to improved student engagement and learning experiences.