How Do Artists Tell Stories?

Teaching students how to tell stories could be very useful in presenting or problem-solving in the STEAM disciplines, (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) but that use is not demonstrated in How Do Artists Tell Stories.

Like the other books in the “Full STEAM Ahead!” series, How Do Artists Tell Stories? is filled with colourful photographs supporting simple concepts in text. The photos show a great diversity of gender, ethnicity, and age.

However, the connections between Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math are less clear in How Do Artists Tell Stories? than in other books in the “Full STEAM Ahead!” series. Some of the artists are using technology tools, a computer, and a camera, but no connection is directly made to Technology and the Arts, or to the other STEAM disciplines. The main emphasis is on storytelling as an art for its own sake.

In the “STEAM Notes for Educators” on the last page of the book, the activity outlined is intended to guide teachers and parents/caregivers to extend the ideas in the book. The activity in How Do Artists Tell Stories? helps readers create coats of arms and tell stories about themselves. I can’t see how this promotes connections between the STEAM disciplines.

Teaching students how to tell stories could be very useful in presenting or problem-solving in the other STEAM disciplines, but that connection is not demonstrated in this book.

“How Do Artists Tell Stories?” is part of a subgroup of books, “Arts in Action”, in the “Full STEAM Ahead!” series. The other three titles in “Arts in Action” are Creating Colors, Making Art from Anything and Artists Use Tools. All of the books in the series are well-suited to primary students, but the other books in the series are better at making connections between the STEAM disciplines.