This ACCA Art File focuses on STEM in Art. The resource is designed as an adaptable toolkit for teachers to use selectively in devising their own units for classroom learning with extractable sections for direct distribution to students.
The STEM in Art file will support students to engage in critical and creative thinking, and to consider the sustainable and ethical impacts of their practices (in art or in STEM subjects) through accessing the whole spectrum of STEM connections that can be found within contemporary art.
This Art File uses ACARA’s STEM Connections framework to highlight how contemporary artworks exhibited at ACCA connect with relevant STEM subjects and dimensions, as well as broader capabilities and cross-curricular priorities.
This resource developed out of the larger ACCA Education x DATTA Vic ‘STEM in Art’ initiative which sought to demonstrate that STEM subjects and dimensions are embedded within the practices and processes of many contemporary artists.
The 10 artworks included have been selected from recent ACCA exhibitions: Feedback Loops (2019), Overlapping Magisteria (2021), Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act (2019), ACCA Open (2020), Yhonnie Scarce: Missile Park (2021), A Biography of Daphne (2021), Who’s Afraid of Public Space? (2022), Frances Barrett: Meatus (2022) and Data Relations (2022). The practice of each featured artist is examined in relation to one of three key ideas, and further elaborated through analysis of a key artwork and proposed student creative inquiries. This ACCA Art File will help teachers and students to broaden their understanding of STEM in Art.
Download the STEM Dimensions Critiquing Checklist
STEM Processes and dimensions
The Australian Curriculum addresses STEM through the learning areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The Victorian curriculum looks at specific knowledge across four learning areas, Mathematics, Science, Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies. In the Victorian Curriculum, levels 7 to 10, students examine Technologies and Society, analyse Technologies Contexts and critique needs for creating Design Solutions. In the Australian Curriculum, Years 7 to 10 students develop Knowledge and Understanding through investigation and analysis of technologies and designed solutions for preferred futures. They undertake Processes and Production Skills to critique, generate, select and produce designed solutions.
