This session is suitable for all teachers at post-primary level, whether working within the STEAM subjects or not. It promotes interdisciplinary planning and teaching. The session enables discussion and gives practical examples of how to use place-based STEAM material with their learners and reflect on ways to embed it into their own teaching and learning plan.

Rebecca White(B.Ed.B.Arts.)is an educator, trainer and developer, with a background in STEAM education and professional development for place-based learning. With experience in Australia,UK, Middle East, and Ireland, she incorporates task-based,design-thinking principles with cross-curricular links among schools and communities.She works with clients on developing training and resources that engage learners with sustainable development, supporting educators to be more confident in delivering messages of sustainability in a way that is relevant and accessible. She has worked as part of a consultant team in the Middle East, with a focus on developing curriculum and enhancing methodology in the STEM areas and is currently the Learning Project Advisor for The Ocean Race.

Dr. Anita McKeown (PHD, FRSA) is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of art, equitable spatial planning and technology; Open Source Culture & Technology (ethical and ecological implications) and STEAM education/design thinking across a range of interdisciplinary projects, processes and partnerships. Anita has extensive experience working with different curricula in Europe, UK and USA as well as developing bespoke curriculum aligned content.  She employs a range of tactics including situated arts practice, publication and place-based STEAM education to co-create local-scale interventions that are context-responsive and ecologically sensitive, which arise from extended relationships with people and place. She’s an invited member of the Placemaking Leadership Council; elected fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts; Association of American Geographers and UCD Earth Institute.