Transformation is Multi-faceted Processes and Outcomes: Exploring Change through STEAM Projects

The disciplinary egocentrism in the school education in Nepal dominates Nepali classrooms and hampers students' holistic and problem-solving skills. The researcher implemented a STEAM project in a Nepali public school using participatory action research (PAR).  Five teachers and STEAM club students planned, acted, and reflected on the research process. Stories, reflections, and memos were used as data. The project “Save the Species: I Keep Water Plates on the Roof for the Birds” allowed students to design and implement practical, creative, and ethical bird conservation solutions while learning math, science, social studies, and art. Students considered ethics, ecology, and cultural responsibility while designing bird nests and water plates. Due to course load and cultural expectations of procedural learning, teachers initially opposed the method. Throughout the research, teachers and students had transforming experiences, discovering new ways to learn beyond memorization to critical, creative, and relational levels. Findings show interrelated and multifaceted transformation aspects. First, transformation as thinking relies on cognitive restructuring and critical reflection, using unsettling dilemmas, cognitive dissonance, and authentic tasks to test assumptions. Second, transformation as an intentional attempt stresses co-researchers and the lead researcher's purposeful, continuing, and frequently uncertain change efforts. This dimension emphasizes transformation as iterative attempts, failures, and professional progress throughout time. Third, change as process emphasizes discourse, scaffolding, and knowledge co-construction over outputs and measurable successes. Next, the transformative notion is also discussed as process and product. Finally, it is discussed how the notion of transformation contributes to the sustainability of actions and learning.  The study shows that STEAM may integrate disciplinary, cultural, and ethical knowledge to honor local settings and address global issues like sustainability by placing it in a participatory framework. The study explored that STEAM projects through PAR can promote multilayered, transformative learning. It goes beyond procedural to relational, ethical, and imaginative knowledge.