San Jose Museum of Art

The San Jose Museum of Art will develop, pilot, and evaluate a two-year expansion of the museum's strategic educational initiative from an integrated arts education program into a full-fledged, in-school STEAM program. Arts, math, and science educators will develop cross-disciplinary lesson plans that fully align with current educational standards, in order to provide visual-thinking abilities that can contribute to the teaching and learning of specific math and science concepts, particularly for low-income students. Upon full implementation, more than 720 third- and fourth-grade students at four elementary schools in the San Jose Unified School District will receive the deepened curriculum instruction from trained teaching artists. Students will gain critical thinking and visual literacy skills, a deeper understanding of the intersection of art and science, and improved comprehension and retention of pivotal mathematical concepts. A professional evaluation firm will assist with measuring these improvements and incorporating feedback to enhance the Program's effectiveness.