Your strategic roadmap for STEAM implementation: Micro, Meso and Macro Levels 

This checklist is designed to help you prepare for and monitor the effective implementation of your STEAM approach at various managerial levels within your organisation: micro, meso and macro.

At the micro level, focus on enhancing individual skills and empowerment through process-based tasks and reflection. 

At the meso level, foster collaboration among communities by identifying key stakeholders and establishing unified action plans. 

At the macro level, advocate for systemic changes to teaching methodologies and policies that support STEAM education, STEAM strategies, knowledge and practices. 

This flexible framework provides you with the tools to select action steps that align with your unique goals and institutional capacities. It is designed to support you in navigating the organizational levels with awareness, but integrate them fluidly with each other if you wish.  

Implementation Checklist 

1. STEAM Micro- Level: STEAM individuals 

Empower yourself, your colleagues or your peers to cultivate awareness and enhanced skills at the personal level. 

• What initial steps will you take to build your awareness of the SENSE.STEAM approach among your teaching staff? 

• How can you encourage your teachers to participate in STEAM Labs or professional development opportunities to upgrade their skills? 

• What innovative strategies can you implement to effectively integrate artistic practices into science education? 

• How will you empower your students to engage in process-based learning within their STEAM subjects? 

• What new “integrated STEAM subjects” can you develop to meet the specific needs and context of your students? 
• Which methodologies, (see ENGAGING with SENSE.) will you adopt to continuously refine these new subjects in your curriculum? 

2. STEAM Meso-Level: STEAM Networks

Take the lead in collaborating with educational communities to promote STEAM education collectively. 

• Who are the key stakeholders you need to involve in your STEAM education network? 

• How will you form a coordinating group to facilitate communication and action planning among all stakeholders? 

• What roles will each participant play in advancing STEAM education within your network? 

• How can you establish a unified schedule that accommodates the responsibilities of all members? 

• What processes will you put in place to ensure that individual action plans align with the network’s broader goals? 

3. STEAM Macro-Level: STEAM Systems

Engage with systemic approaches to enhance STEAM knowledge and skills at national a large scale 

• How can your combined plan serve to enhance STEAM knowledge or skills across national and international knowledge systems such as education or work? 

• What critical changes are necessary in the scientific methodologies currently used along the education continuum? 

• How will you redefine policies and strategies to acknowledge the importance of the STEAM and SENSE.STEAM approaches in your knowledge system? 

• Who are the essential stakeholders—such as lawmakers, government officials, and educational leaders—you should engage to advance the discourse on STEAM knowledge and skills? 

• What mechanisms will you establish to ensure ongoing improvement and effectiveness within the STEAM education, knowledge and skills infrastructure? 

We recommend our social creativity toolkit to get further inspiration from SENSE. to nurture and enrich your strategy. 

Further reading

The roadmap is flexible and can be adapted to different educational settings and supporting organisations. It serves as a guide for integrating the SENSE. approach into STEAM education. Each institution can select the components most relevant to its needs and capacity.

The roadmap supports creating an action plan that includes practical steps and resources for achieving STEAM goals. It works across three levels:

1. STEAM Micro-Cosmos (Teachers & Classes) At the classroom level, the first step is building awareness. Joining or creating a STEAM Lab is an effective way to get familiar with the SENSE. approach. These labs help teachers and students: Use process-based learning to develop student independence and Integrate artistic, sensory, and aesthetic practices into science education. The goal is to create integrated STEAM subjects in schools, combining areas like physics and art. These will be refined through research-based methods such as design-based research (DBR).
2. STEAM Meso-Cosmos (Networks & Communities) The roadmap can also be applied within educational networks or communities of practice. Different stakeholders (schools, partners, experts) coordinate their roles through a common plan and timeline.
3. STEAM Macro-Cosmos (Education Systems) At the system level, the roadmap supports changes in national and European education frameworks. Policies must recognise STEAM as a combined approach to science education. This requires active involvement from governments, universities, and schools to promote and implement these principles.

See also: deliverable 7.1