One of the main challenges for such a diverse consortium is to establish a commonly shared understanding of key concepts and terms. The SENSE. partners and individuals come from various geographic, social and professional backgrounds and will work together to develop a common terminology, building on existing scientific literature, institutional documents or regulations, as well as other EU projects. This is also to ensure that all project documents and key underpinning concepts and definitions can be understood by anyone interested in STEAM and the SENSE. project results can translate and use them in their local contexts or language. The list of terms presented below will be updated throughout the project.
Glossary
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Accessibility
According to SENSE, within the context of STEAM education, the term ‘accessibility’ is to be understood not only as the provision of physical access, i.e. resources, objects and places, but also as intellectual access, i.e. ideas and knowledge.
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Activity-Based-Layout
Activity-Based Working was originally coined by the Dutch consultant Erik Veldhoen in his 1994 book “The Demise of the Office”. It describes a layout design that offers a variety of specialised settings geared towards different activities and tasks. The layout in itself is not flexible but provides the freedom of choice to the user.
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Agency (within a space)
Agency within a space refers to individuals’ capacity to make choices, exert control, and influence their environment. In inclusive spaces, individuals, regardless of their background or identity, should feel a sense of agency over their surroundings.
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Art-infusion
In this assumption, STEAM education focuses on integrating arts into the teaching of STEM subjects, to enhance creativity and motivation. This approach views the arts as a tool to serve other subjects, for example by aiding transmission and presentation of factual knowledge, assuming that knowledge can be pre-set, and teachers choose which subjects to use to convey content. The goal is to increase learning outcomes and facilitate access to the curriculum.
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Art-integration
This approach seeks to promote artistic and scientific inquiry practices on equal terms, by including a broad spectrum of disciplines and material practices and recognising the creativity that exists in everyday contexts, from painting to cooking from botany to gardening. The approach is rooted in trans-disciplinarity, recognizing the interdependences between multiple levels of the same reality and the inseparability of subject and object.
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Artistic practices / Art intervention / Art- infused practice
A creative and sensory process encompassing research, exploration, translation, or production beyond a strict methodology. An artistic practice can also be an artistic intervention if it transcends conventional artistic boundaries and deliberately engages with contexts, issues, or spaces with the aim of catalyzing meaningful impact or provoking critical discourse.