STEAM Education the SENSE. Way: Training Teachers and Educators
Our unique innovative educational model aims to transform teaching and learning and therefore depends on the (future) professionals that adopt and use it. Educators and teachers can not only potentially benefit from the new transdisciplinary approach to STEAM education in their own professional practice but also serve as early adopters of activities, tools, and models, ideally making them future advocates of the SENSE. methodology. This said, it is not far-fetched that workshops with the aim to “train the trainers” were conceptualized, wherein motivated stakeholders from various contexts learned about STEAM education and the SENSE. approach, innovative activities, transformative tools, and together elaborated the versatile potential SENSE.STEAM may have for enriching their own conceptual and practical educational actions.
The consortium partner Paedagogische Hochschule Weingarten (PHW) in Southern Germany designed two similar workshops for (future) professionals in educational fields. The first one focused on the institution’s main target group, prospective teachers, and was held on 11 April 2025, whereas the second STEAM Workshop was open to any kind of educators and conducted in late June 2025 to involve compiled and revised elements produced in SENSE. in the meantime. Both workshops were designed and moderated by David Bockstahler, educator and researcher in STEAM education at PHW, and co-facilitated by Markus Walker, a prospective teacher in the advanced stages of training with a broad interdisciplinary skill set.
The “Teacher Workshop”
The invitation teasing a ‘free STEAM education workshop for teachers and student teachers’ was sent to local schools and promoted through various channels within the university. Eventually, nine participants applied, all of them being student teachers of PHW.
After welcoming the participants and briefly outlining the programme and purpose of the event, the workshop opened with the “Human Bingo” activity: Everybody received a 3×3 bingo sheet with a statement in each field (e.g., “I speak three or more languages”) and mingled with the others to find a person matching the phrase – a playful warm-up to create a friendly atmosphere and spark connections.
Afterwards, participants were introduced to STEAM education and the SENSE. project through a short presentation.
In the first of two main parts, the student teacher took over and facilitated the activity “Cyanotype”, an interpretation of the SENSE. learning sequence “Botanical Prints”, with the group acting as participants. In this centuries-old chemical printing process a surface is coated with a mix of two chemicals (ammonium ferric citrate solution and potassium ferrocyanide solution), before being exposed to sunlight while placing an object on it to cast a shadow. The UV rays cause a chemical reaction by reducing the iron in the ammonium solution from ferric (Fe3+) to ferrous (Fe2+) ions. These newly formed ions then react with the ferrocyanide to produce the insoluble ferric ferrocyanide better known as “Prussian blue”. The parts on the surface blocked from light do not undergo this reaction and therefore remain soluble. After exposure, these are rinsed off the surface with water, revealing the blue-and-white image of the silhouetted object. In a first round, participants created imprints on thick paper that were then hung up to dry and be gazed at. After familiarizing themselves with the process they got increasingly creative and printed designs on blank white shirts with the cyanotype technique.
Figure 1: Cyanotype in the Teacher Workshop
This hands-on creative activity not only introduced participants to a historically significant photographic technique but also served as an engaging example of how art and science can be combined within the framework of SENSE. to foster curiosity, observation, inquiry and cross-disciplinary thinking which was actively discussed alongside the action.
In the second main part, the focus shifted from practical experimentation to reflective exploration with the aim to successfully embed STEAM education into their future teaching by creating an implementation design. Here, David Bockstahler guided the group through an interactive session on the pedagogical underpinnings of STEAM education and the SENSE. methodology. Supported by the guidance of the SENSE. approach and drawing on education scenarios from various disciplines the participants came up with, they collaboratively analysed how transdisciplinary learning sequences can be composed and tailored to different age groups, curricula, and learning environments. In a mix of group discussions and short design sprints, the prospective teachers explored ways to embed creativity, inquiry-based learning and even sustainability-related topics into their own professional contexts. By the end of the session, participants had generated a range of concrete ideas and prototypes, that illustrate the versatile potential of the SENSE. approach to STEAM education to enrich teaching and learning across educational settings.
Figure 2: The SENSE. Manifesto in Action – Drafting Learning Sequences
Finally, the participants got some insights into then current plans for the SENSE. digital hub, our upcoming interactive portal inter alia filled with digitized educational materials and toolkits for STEAM beneficiaries and were shown ways to further engage in the project as early adopters.
Despite the inevitable theoretical components, participants showed interest and creativity in designing their own adaptations of the model probably catalysed by experiencing SENSE. from the learner’s perspective before.
The “Educator Workshop”
The second workshop was held on June 27th and profited from the experiences gathered in the workshop before. This time, the event was intentionally promoted to be for educators and stakeholders in education of any kind and adjusted accordingly: While sticking to the overall structure of Intro à Participating à Co-Creating, some non-mandatory parts were cut to dedicate more time to interactive elements and theoretical inputs were reduced to open up for a larger variety of educational contexts. The invitation included insights into STEAM education, former workshops and participants’ (potential) benefits. It was distributed to a bandwidth of educational institutions and actors from elementary to university level resulting in 13 registrations of whom 11 showed up.
After outlining the programme to the participants, they straightforward dived into STEAM education through a revised presentation built along the guiding questions “What is STEAM education?” and “What can I do with it and how?”. This was empathically supported by examples from various actions and contexts, provided as stories, videos or pictures.
Once again, Markus Walker took over and implemented an adaption of the SENSE. activity “Mapping Favourite Places” that is strongly related to the educational approach of citizen science concretized in participatory community mapping which fosters inclusion, spatial reflection, and collaborative inquiry, therefore excellently aligning with some key methodological elements of SENSE. The participants were handed maps of a part of the university campus including the ground floor of the building the event took place in. In the first round, the group was instructed to leave the university classroom and stroll around the campus to rate different places on the map using a self-chosen system. After a few minutes the group gathered again and discussed their first impressions, criteria, and documentation. Before the second walk it was collaboratively decided which places to focus on. The facilitator encouraged the participants to specifically pay attention to sensorial experiences at the respective places and how they affect their perceptions. Additionally, they were told to note three words (qualities, impressions, …) for each place.
Figure 3: “Mapping Favourite Places” in the Educator Workshop
After a while of investigating, exploring and documenting the group gathered again to share experiences, opinions, and ideas. This open exchange led to further discussions about the disparity of perceptions and how it is affected not only sensorially but also by prior experiences, personal attitudes and interests, and more. The moderator deftly encouraged thoughts resulting in ideas of what to make out of the bandwidth of individual subjective perceptions, such as recommendations for changes in the space, further studies on perception, learning environments, and merging experiences to a collaborative map displaying individual attributions. The activity not only captivates through its openness and by strengthening the relation to and perception of the space around, but also draws together psychology, sociology, engineering, geography, design, ecology and more eventually making it accessible and perhaps even relevant for anyone participating.
Astounded by the unprecedented nature of the activity, participants were then encouraged to reflect on what they learned and experienced so far and note it on sticky notes that were then collected on a poster as transition to the “Creating” part of the workshop. The manifoldness of STEAM education is what seemed to impress the most, as the comments revealed. Another keyword taken from the responses is ‘participation’ which represents the key element of learner centeredness with authentic exploration, real inquiry, and taking agency. As attendees were from different contexts (professors, active teachers, student teachers, other educators, academic staff), the challenge was to now implement an interactive session with the aim to design STEAM learning activities tailored to individual contexts. The facilitator David Bockstahler simplified the complexity by offering three alternatives to approach the embedding of STEAM in one’s context, each variety supported by material created within SENSE. Every person started to outline an activity based on the guidance provided, and afterwards presented it to their neighbour who offered feedback. To show SENSE.’s transdisciplinary potential and the idea of truly composing sequences, the pairs were then challenged to try combining their drafts. The co-creation was completed by plenary discussing ideas, leading to advanced designs of STEAM activities or approaches tailored to a variety of educational contexts. After that participants reflected again by noting the challenges they perceive for implementing STEAM education in their own current or future context. While many see the adaptation to their circumstances (target groups, resources etc.) as the main issue, others admitted that they do not feel confident to adequately teach scientific topics.
Figure 4: Reflecting on SENSE.’s potential for different educational contexts
Lastly, participants were presented with a simplified four-step workflow on how to systematically embed STEAM education in their settings. On the one hand this was intended to serve as an assistant for their own future actions, on the other hand it provided a preview of what the digital hub will offer: a repository of activities and tools along with supporting frameworks, cross-links and guidance.
At the end some time was dedicated to informal talks, questions and feedback which was spontaneously concretized in reflecting the whole “STEAM Workshop for Educators” based on two simple questions: “To what extent do I feel prepared?” to apply STEAM education and “how likely is it, that I will?”. On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (fully), all participants rated both items with a ‘3’ or higher, with “between 3 and 4” being the most common answer to both items. As many showed large interest in STEAM education and could imagine to further pursuit it, all the workshop materials were provided to participants in an extended version including links to different SENSE. outputs as well as opportunities to further engage in the approach as early adopters or by staying tuned via our website and socials.
Conclusion
Both workshops were perceived as successful, as participants were visibly engaged and prosperously designed drafts on how to implement STEAM education via the SENSE. approach in their individual educational settings. The idea of starting as a participant in a SENSE. activity to then switch to the composer of a learning scenario was derived from experiences of the STEAM labs and once again proved itself in practice. This kind of workshops effectively combine a range of objectives:
- Early Adopter Implementation: The application of a SENSE. activity through a student teacher allowed for reflections by both facilitators and participants while the last could in the same breath authentically experience the pedagogical approach.
- Early Adopter Training: The attendees serve as early adopters in two different ways as they gave high-quality feedback and ideas useful for the project but also were trained to implement STEAM the SENSE. way on their own, making them potential future advocates for the unique pedagogy and therefore a key element to ensure SENSE.’s sustainability!
The most delightful insight was a shared experience by all people involved: STEAM education has a high potential for a variety of contexts in, about, and around education and SENSE. is a tangible, creative and joyful approach to it!