Robin Stevens Payes’ STEAM-powered time-travel

By Alice Chou

Learn how to see. Realize that everything is connected to everything else.
​-          Leonardo da Vinci

This quote dominates the career of Robin Stevens Payes, an author, science communicator, and creator of a new transmedia storytelling project comprising a book series and interactive web portal called “Edge of Yesterday.” Payes’ project is the culmination of a lifetime counteracting the common belief that STEM and humanities are opposing forces; for her, one would not exist without the other.  

The namesake book series centers around the time-travelling adventures of intrepid middle-schooler Charley Morton. Charley reveres Leonardo da Vinci, the ultimate master of art and science, and dreams of recreating his rumored time machine. In the first installment, a series of serendipitous events leads to a face-to-face encounter between Charley and her hero in 17th century Italy. Woven throughout the book are themes of science fiction, romance, and the trials of young adulthood.

​Readers intrigued by the series’ multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary topics can transport themselves into the past and the future on the Edge of Yesterday website. There, they can explore topics ranging from Frida Kahlo to space archeology. Perhaps the most compelling part of Edge of Yesterday are the writers of these articles. By inviting young writers to her platform, Payes gives them an active role in advocating for their own STEAM education. Payes also provides educators and parents a portal through which they can learn best how to serve STEAM learners.
 
Robin Stevens Payes’ passion for STEAM shines through her ambitious universe for aspiring polymaths. The second book in the series, “Da Vinci’s Way,” was released October 2018.
​

About the Author
Alice Chou is a Ph.D. student in Biology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in Baltimore, MD. Find her on twitter @overbrainbows. 

---

---

Comments? Leave them below!