SuppliedA University of Alberta student-led initiative is using an interdisciplinary approach to ignite children’s curiosity in science and art.
Dineli Fernando founded STEAMistic with a few of her friends in 2022, when she was still completing her undergraduate studies in cell biology. After taking some arts courses, she gained insight on how using an arts lens to view the scientific concepts she learned revealed new connections and deeper curiosity.
Currently president of STEAMistic, Fernando is working towards her second U of A degree in sociology. She defines STEAM as “Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics” — building off of the typical acronym of STEM to include the interdisciplinary approach of the arts.
STEAMistic partners with Ronald McDonald House and the Newcomer Centre
As the club began when COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, Fernando and other club members began by creating activity boxes for children. The boxes contained two to three STEAM activities. For example, one activity was making chromatography butterflies using coffee filters and food colouring. Other examples include “a human heart model, [using] mason jars and balloons, underwater fireworks with food colouring and water, and DIY kinetic sand.”
The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) was the first organization to partner with the club. The members of STEAMistic delivered 80 boxes in total to the children of the RMH.
They also delivered boxes to the Newcomer Centre in Edmonton. Additionally, they had the instruction manuals translated into French to increase inclusivity and expand their outreach.
STEAMistic primarily works with children in pre-kindergarten to grade four, with some workshops at the Newcomer Centre including grades six to 12. In-person workshops started in 2023.
“This year [the workshops have] switched to grades four to six, because there was more interest with younger kids.”
The workshops feature science-backed activities selected by the club’s activity design and research team.
“They’re the ones who research and find activities that also align with the Alberta curriculum,” Fernando said. These activities are performed by the instruction team that run the in-person sessions.
”Hearing about [these programs] when you’re younger really helps,” Fernando says
Fernando said that the team would “love to partner with more organizations and potentially schools.” The club’s outreach team is currently working on getting STEAMistic workshops into classroom settings, she said.
Fernando and her team have sought out various forms of funding to maximize their outreach. Initially, they received a Rising Youth Grant through TakingITGlobal. The club has now expanded to the Calgary region, with funding from Calgary’s Youth Central.
In terms of obstacles, Fernando and her team have had the most difficulty “making sure that [they] have enough funding so [they] can continue to do the workshops.” They’ve also struggled to find volunteers, she said.
The team has utilized Reddit and various social media platforms to recruit volunteers, but Fernando is looking to expand the team and eventually reach further cities and rural communities.
STEAMistic seeks to inspire and educate youth particularly from low socioeconomic backgrounds, as often the issue is “not knowing about these programs,” Fernando said.
“Just hearing about [these programs] when you’re younger really helps,” she said.
STEAMistic workshops highlight different career paths related to STEAM topics to increase exposure of the different non-traditional science careers and pathways available, Fernando added.
