STEM or SEL? Why Pick One When You Can Have Both?

E. Ward Eames III, Founder and CEO, Livestream Learning Studio

“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Classroom education has changed dramatically, whether we like it or not. The COVID-19 pandemic heavily taxed an already overburdened school system by forcing schools, districts, and teachers to rethink student engagement by embracing technology for remote and hybrid learning. These relatively new technologies played a vital role as educators worked diligently to maintain student-teacher relationships over screens. Now that technology has transformed the way we learn there’s really no going back, and it is crucial that schools incorporate innovative tools and distinctive methods to engage students and enhance their learning experience. Though unwieldy at first, tech is now familiar, maybe even comforting to students. The right application, used effectively is a valuable tool that can energize the classroom setting. Livestream Learning Studio (LLS) is such a tool.

Patrick Rowan, President of The National Theatre for Children (NTC) conceived the idea to stream live theatrical events into classrooms during the early stages of the pandemic. His work with NTC, founded in 1978, achieved success by partnering with local community organizations to deliver inspirational theatre performances on important social issues to K12 students at the school sites. To adapt this work to classrooms during the pandemic, his team conceptualized new interactive livestream programming to focus on three strands: STEM, social-emotional learning and arts integration. This new product line, called Livestream Learning Studio, was offered to schools as an annual subscription service. It is an online platform that streams live educational shows into classrooms anywhere in the world, providing students with a unique opportunity to connect with academic content in an interactive and engaging way.

A recent study, An Investigation of Livestreamed Theatre in the Elementary Classroom conducted by Dr. Catherine Atkinson, Ph.D., soon to be published in International Journal of Education and the Arts at Penn State University, examined the impact of the Livestream Learning Studio program on student learning outcomes. The study focused on three elements of the program, including STEM academic content, arts format, and connection to Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The research findings highlighted that the LLS program positively impacted student learning outcomes. These measurable benefits included an increased interest in science, improved academic content engagement and enhanced SEL skills.

Research Study

To determine the value of this program on student content engagement, LLS commissioned an evaluation study of their programming. A quasi-experimental, convergent parallel research model guided the design, data collection, and analysis. Participants (N = 254) consisted of nine Grades 3-5 classrooms located in California. Over the course of one month, students watched three livestreamed events. Teachers administered three different online surveys: STEM pre/post, Exit Ticket, and SEL pre/post. The instruments used for this study each aligned to a different research question. An online survey created in Google Forms collected student responses specifically focused on the STEM live theatre event. This four-question survey measured student opinion about learning science as well as three additional STEM content-related questions to be covered during the live event. A second online survey consisted of two-questions which measured student perception of live theatre. A third online survey collected student responses regarding perception of their social-emotional skills.

Sense of Belonging

One of the study's key findings was that the Livestream Learning Studio program enhanced students' sense of belonging and connection to their peers and school. The livestream events and subsequent activities encouraged students to be engaged in their learning. During the live shows, the hosts prompted students to discuss the activities and share their answers with their peers before the hosts reviewed the answers. By discussing the answers during the live show, the hosts were providing important feedback, which is a key factor that can influence self-efficacy and motivation. By working together and experiencing success with their peers, students' perception of their collective efficacy promoted a stronger sense of belonging.

Data from the SEL survey explored student perception of their SEL skills. Teachers were asked to administer the SEL survey at the beginning and end of the study during the research period, the month of February 2023. The intent was to determine if viewing the STEM content encapsulated within live theatre events and engaging in the various activities as guided by the hosts would influence student perception of their SEL skills. Students were asked to rate their sense of belonging, ability to listen, and level of involvement. Findings from the data revealed that belonging was found to be statistically significant. The fact that the live hosts acknowledged schools and classrooms who were viewing the show contributed to students experiencing a sense of belonging with their peers.

Student Content Engagement

The program provides an opportunity for students to engage in creative and arts-integrated learning, which has been shown to enhance student learning outcomes and is especially

important for historically marginalized students. Creative engagement connects the body-mind process of meaning-making, unique to each learner, to the motivational factors largely dictated by the conditions of the learning environment. If students are motivated by the content or process of learning, it is not surprising that they are engaged and exhibit a favorable response to the activities.

The study utilized a mixed-methods approach, including pre-and post-tests, surveys, and open-ended responses from students. The data collected was from the STEM show covering earth science - Live from Earth!. The program is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which provide students with a solid foundation in science and engineering practices, cross-cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. This data revealed that the science and engineering content covered, the manner in which it was delivered, and the student engagement piece played a positive role in student learning outcomes. Specifically, the post-test data for question 1 (how interesting they found science) increased for all three subgroups (Male, Female, Not Shared) after viewing the live event. Data from the open-ended question in the exit ticket surveys also indicated that students enjoyed the academic content and format of the Live from Earth! show.

Arts Integration – Laugh While Learning

The Livestream Learning Studio program's integration of arts into STEM education was another key finding of the study. The literature on arts-integrated learning sheds light on the influence of creative engagement on student learning. Creative engagement connects the body-mind process of meaning-making, unique to each learner, to the motivational factors largely dictated by the conditions of the learning environment. If students are motivated by the content or process of learning, it is not surprising that they are engaged with the content presented.

Being able to watch, learn, interact, and engage throughout the live theatre show were activities that the students seemed to enjoy. Humor was a salient theme identified from the data. Students wrote that they liked the sketch comedy, enjoyed the silly parts, and the broad use of humor. Another highly used term by students were the words fun/funny. This term and its derivative appeared 71 times in the open-ended responses provided by students. Based upon the data presented in the exit ticket surveys, it appears that the format and content of the Livestream Learning Studio programming resonated with its audience. Overall, the students seemed to enjoy the live shows, especially the humorous parts. Not to discount the educational value of the shows, the data also reinforced the idea that students enjoyed learning about science because of the use of storytelling and humor.

Limitations

While the study's instruments and design had limitations, including the potential for self-reporting bias, the data collected support the notion that the Livestream Learning Studio program positively impacts student learning outcomes. The study highlights that the Livestream Learning Studio program is an innovative and effective approach to delivering engaging and immersive academic content to students while fostering the development of SEL skills.

Promising Future

In conclusion, the Livestream Learning Studio program is a promising approach to STEM education that has the potential to enhance student learning outcomes. The program's ability to provide live shows that connect students to academic content, peers, and hosts via online portals enhances student engagement and promotes a stronger sense of belonging. Furthermore, the Livestream Learning Studio program provides an opportunity for students to engage in creative and arts-integrated learning, which has been shown to enhance student learning outcomes. The study's findings suggest that the Livestream Learning Studio program can be a valuable tool in enhancing STEM education and promoting SEL skills

Livestream Learning Studio

Livestream Learning Studio, a research-based approach to student learning that uses the arts – specifically, live theatrical events – to embed social emotional learning into livestreamed STEM and Literacy lessons to improve student academic achievement and engagement in key content and skills. It has proven to supplement classroom learning, support educators, and provide students equitable access to exciting, engaging, and professional arts integrated instruction grounded on improving student outcomes. (www.LivestreamLearningStudio.com)