The Collaborative’s Research Thought Leaders help provide the strong research foundation upon which the Collaborative’s work rests. Each Thought Leader is nationally and internationally recognized in their own field and brings an extensive depth of experience and expertise. They also are adept at working across disciplines.
In our previous newsletters, we brought you interviews with each of our Thought Leaders. This new series will consider how you might apply some of their most important ideas in your STEAM work. To do so, we’ll use examples of the Collaborative’s successful application of these ideas in K-12 classroom implementation and teacher professional development. This first in a series of articles looks at STEAM’s relation to creativity and innovation. Future series articles will look at such topics as equity; interdisciplinarity; applications of these concepts to learning settings; STEAM educator training; and creating effective STEAM models. The easily readable information below is built upon the Thought Leaders’ newsletter interviews, on conversations with them, and on an in-person convening in Washington, DC, that was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
 
Creativity and Innovation
For the Collaborative, the definition of creativity relates to novel ideas, while innovation refers to the application of those novel ideas to appropriate uses.

THOUGHT LEADER INPUT

• Let Them Play the Music. Creativity in Education Thought Leader Bonnie Cramond, PhD, cites University of Georgia mathematics professor Jason Cantarella, PhD, who said, “If we taught music like they teach math in schools, we would only teach the music scales and not get to play the beautiful music”. In addition to teaching the required content (the “scales”), she points out, we also must integrate the wonder that’s found in all disciplines when using creativity. She adds that creativity is found not just in the arts, but that it also is involved in any human endeavor. For, she points out, creativity is looking at something in a different way, solving a problem in a new way, or expressing something in an original manner. This is greatly needed in STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Math), as this is where our greatest breakthroughs are developed, she adds.
• Innovative Cognition. Neuroscience Thought Leader, Sandi Chapman, PhD, agrees with the importance of the use of these concepts across disciplines. She adds that innovative cognition is the most powerful function of the human brain, for our brain was designed to create new knowledge – not just to be a fact storage-retrieval machine. Innovative thinking, she points out, is important in all types of disciplines, from sciences, technology, engineering, and math to the arts and humanities. To improve the well-being of our society, she adds, we must introduce innovative cognition starting in youth to build a lifelong desire for ingenuity.
• SMART Strategies. Dr. Chapman adds that there are specific strategies to promote these innovative thinking skills. These include: 1) Strategic attention, where information is narrowed down to the information most applicable to the situation; 2) integrated reasoning, where you get the “Big Idea” of what your problem is about, then integrate across disciplines, as well as apply the synthesis to your life; and 3) innovation, where you can use multiple approaches to create change.
• Transfer. Arts Thought Leader Rob Horowitz, PhD, agrees with the importance of synthesizing across disciplines and points out how creativity, imagination, and the willingness to express oneself also are applied in the STEM world. He adds that while cognitive, social, and personal competencies, such as fluency, imagination, and collaboration, can transfer from the arts to other disicplines, other disciplines’ competencies, such as problem-solving, can transfer back to the arts. This can be a mutually-reinforcing system where each discipline’s processes and competencies can reinforce those of other disciplines, he says.
• Imagination. Science Thought Leader Hubert Dyasi, PhD, agrees with Dr. Horowitz that imagination is an important element in science that is not stressed enough. That’s how scientists move from data to generalizations to modeling, he says. He adds that visualization and imagination are important in helping students “see” science ideas.
• Connecting Seemingly Unrelated Ideas. Dr. Chapman notes that the use of creative thinking and imagination inspires students to generate as many ideas as they can across disciplines, based on meaningfulness, then apply these ideas to solve a problem. This, she says, helps students connect seemingly unrelated ideas.
• Process. All Thought Leaders point to the primary importance of integrating processes and competencies across disciplines, in addition to teaching the fact-based content. In this, they say, we want to include failure, feedback, and multiple iterations, for in doing this we are allowing the brain to do important work.

​APPLICATION

• The Collaborative’s National Endowment for the Arts-supported multi-year and multi-session teacher professional development (PD) effective practices project addresses these important Thought Leader concepts. It first trains K-12 classroom teachers from all disciplines across the US in the Collaborative’s creative and innovative thinking skills and their application to effective STEAM practices. The development of these thinking skills was a collective effort by Collaborative members who are leaders in the arts, STEM, humanities, and higher education. These skills and their usage are continuously improved, based on feedback from the Collaborative’s studies of these thinking skills in action. A number of teachers in the PD project said these thinking skills and their application was one of the most important and useful things they learned in the training. Teachers also have said that these thinking skills are so valuable, they are making a poster to use each time they plan lessons.
• These thinking skills are assessed by the Collaborative’s thinking skills rubric. Another rubric, addressing interdisciplinarity, will be addressed in the next newsletter. It is these rubrics and the thinking skills they are assessing that, among other things, are looking at this important concept of transfer among disciplines, Dr. Horowitz points, out,
• The thinking skills also are taught to administrators who are another important part of this Collaborative PD. This training better equips them to provide effective STEAM leadership for those with whom they work.
• The importance of these thinking skills was validated in a recent Collaborative study of students across the US. It found that use of the Collaborative’s thinking skills and STEAM lessons increased creative thinking 188% in elementary students and 126% in secondary students. Importantly, this growth was the same for white and other ethnic groups.
• Other aspects of the study found that elementary students who participated in the STEAM instruction reported significant gains between pre- and post-intervention in their enjoyment of school in general, learning math, learning science, and thinking outside the box. Among secondary students, students who received the STEAM instruction reported significantly more enjoyment of school, enjoyment of math, interest in science, perception of the importance of cross-disciplinary work and perception of the arts’ helping to learn science than students in traditional art and science classes.
• In the Collaborative’s STEAM lessons, students creatively integrate STEM and the arts with innovative approaches advocated by the Thought Leaders. They use imagination that the Thought Leaders say is so important. They visualize science principles that Dr. Dyasi points out is important. They are using their brains for processing and use the mandated content instead of just memorizing it, as Dr. Chapman points out is important. These students, as Dr. Cantarella points out, do, indeed “play the music”.

In its position as a national STEAM education trailblazer, the Innovation Collaborative has adopted its position on STEAM education.
 
This position was thoughtfully developed by a team of Collaborative leaders representing arts, science, and humanities institutions, with continuous input by all Collaborative members across disciplines and learning settings.
 
In this position statement, the Collaborative emphasizes the importance of equity, curiosity, and the application of competencies and practices across disciplines. These competencies and practices include, but are not limited to, fluency, originality, imagination, collaboration, problem-solving, risk-taking, and persistence. See Applying Research Thought Leader Wisdom article in this newsletter for more on applying creativity and innovation.
 
The Collaborative’s STEAM position also emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary learning. In this approach, boundaries are erased among disciplines, increasing learning in addition to cognitive and affective growth.

In the last newsletter we summarized just a few of the ways in which educators and guides have innovated to provide effective COVID learning environments when traditional methods were not possible. Over the past year, this process has progressed with additional thoughtful approaches and also research-based analyses of where we are and how we might move forward.

Coping through Literature and the Arts
More and more, thought leaders are looking beyond the current health crisis to plan for recovery. This includes not only economic and structural measures but also intense attention to psychological and emotional crises that the pandemic has caused.  Increasingly, writers are recognizing the important role that literature and the arts have and must continue to play in this process. Here are just a few of the resources and articles that have appeared in the past few months:

Trade Literature to Help Students Understand
(Recommended by Angela Ding at Worlddreader.Org)

The Unwelcome Stranger, by Drew Edwards & Diana Nawatene
            A grandfather advises children how to cope and be kind.

I Love You, by Michael Ross
            Kwizera does not understand why she cannot be physically with her grandparents.

Coronavirus: A Book for Children, by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson, Nia Roberts, & Axel Scheffler
            This non-fiction book answers questions children might have about the coronavirus.

Hello, My Name is Coronavirus, by Manuela Molina Cruz
            An informative book narrated by the virus, itself.

My Hero Is You, by Helen Patuck
            Sarah is upset because she cannot go to school. She feels unsafe. An imaginary dragon gives her comfort.
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The Virus-Stopping Champion by, Hilary Rogers
            A short story convinces children that they, too, can be champions.

Read more at https://www.worldreader.org/now/6-books-to-help-your-children-understand-the-coronavirus/
  
Poetry for the Pandemic
And the People Stayed Home (Family Book, Coronavirus Kids Book, Nature Book), by Kitty O'Meara
            A beautifully-illustrated poem that reflects the angst of in today’s world.

Arts for an Anxious World - and More

How Art Helps Us Make Sense of COVID 19’s Incredible Toll. (from National Geographic)
Contributed by Collaborative Innovation Fellow Julie Olson

In a field outside of JFK Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC, artist Susan Brennan Firstenberg’s art helps Americans visualize our shared grief—a flag for every one of our COVID deaths. People come and help, praying and giving physical manifestation to what we are all experiencing. That is one of many memorials that have bloomed across the country. Another is by a thirteen-year old student in Sherman Oaks, California, who is spearheading the creation of a quilt. Eventually, all panels of this quilt will be assembled. Like these exhibits, other art installations throughout the country are addressing the country’s shared COVID experiences. 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/how-art-helps-make-sense-covid-19-incomprehensible-toll/

Our Kids Need Arts Education More than Ever: Here’s What’s Lost Without It (from Time)
Frank Gehry calls on President Biden to empower school-age children to help heal themselves by restoring arts education because the arts…(help them) express and channel their emotions…and find their spirit’s song. He urges this emphasis on the arts so that children have the creative powers necessary to solve the problems we are leaving behind.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/our-kids-need-arts-education-now-more-than-ever-heres-what-is-lost-without-it/ar-BB1c6Q9j?ocid=msedgdhp/
 
From the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Teaching K-12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in widespread and ongoing changes to how the K–12 education system functions, including disruptions to science teaching and learning environments. This report describes high-quality instruction today, with tips for administrators, teachers and others. It emphasizes quality and equity, giving advice for managing and monitoring instruction. The free publication is available for download from the National Academies.
https://www.nap.edu/resource/25909/interactive/?fbclid=IwAR0cufKezzb_-cCrlbi4skWinZk5SXkD2VQRlFV2zWdxZ86y-6qw8sy-xTw#.X3ZJmWof3RA.facebook

And for lightness and pure joy…
Pre-K Teacher Goes Viral After Sharing Virtual Classroom Dance Parties: “It’s About Bringing That Joy Factor”
Azel Prather, Jr., went viral when he shared his virtual pre-school dance party on YouTube. Pre-pandemic, Prather taught preschool at Kipp DC Arts and Technology Academy in Washington, DC. He has long recognized those children who were “dancing in their seats” when they were supposed to be learning sight words. Dance was part of the program then and it is now, through Instagram and other social media tools.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/pre-k-teacher-goes-viral-after-sharing-virtualclassroom-dance-parties-its-about-bringing-that-joy-factor-165553012.html
The approaches above are different, but the message is clear.  Moving forward, education will never be the same.​

​The Educational Theatre Association’s (EdTA) August survey, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Theatre Education,” has confirmed the profound effect of the pandemic on school theatre throughout the United States, leaving many programs at significant risk in the coming years.

The survey queried more than 11,000 middle and high school theatre educators about the status of their programs in the pandemic environment. Nearly 2,400 teachers responded, offering a snapshot of how COVID-19 has reshaped both their teaching methods and student learning opportunities.

Analysis shows programs have suffered substantial revenue losses, with 91% of schools forced to cancel performances in spring 2020. For many programs, ticket revenue provides the main source of funding, as 44% receive no financial support from their districts. Money lost to investments in canceled productions coupled with lack of spring ticket sales created a ripple effect on current season budgets. In fact, 22% of programs faced cuts for the 2020-21 academic year.

Many survey respondents reported 2019-20 revenue losses that were substantially more than they earned, and it is likely the economic downturn will limit other funding support this school year and beyond. For teachers, the impact raises short-term concerns about student recruitment, morale, and motivation as well as longer-term uncertainty about reductions in program capacity, external funding, and student opportunities.

According to James Palmarini, Collaborative Advisory Council member and EdTA policy and advocacy advisor, the cancellations and lost revenue numbers were not unexpected, but still troubling. “We knew many theatre programs had to cancel their shows in the spring, but the numbers regarding those lost productions and revenue are still very sobering,” he said.

Palmarini added there was hope from respondents for the current school year, with 59% answering “maybe” and 19% “yes” to a question regarding whether they thought they would produce a live show in 2020 or 2021, and 97% indicating they were returning to their positions in fall 2020.

Seventy-five percent of educators stated they were starting the school year entirely virtually or in a hybrid model. The data on how they are adapting to the virtual environment suggests a broad range of strategies, with no predominant mode for reaching students. In the spring of 2020, the most frequently realized instructional strategies were virtual lessons taught asynchronously and available on-demand; project-based lessons spanning multiple class periods; instructional videos or digital games; and digital versions of lesson packets with worksheets.

EdTA will conduct a follow up survey in the Summer of 2021.
For a comprehensive summary of the survey results visit the EdTA Rapid Response Advocacy Center.

The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) has launched Arts ARE Education, a national campaign encouraging school districts to continue to fund and support K-12 arts education programs in the 2021-22 school year. Given expected state and district budget cuts, calls for remedial education in tested subject areas, and the continued need for PPE equipment, NCCAS expects that arts programs across all disciplines will be at risk.
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The campaign asks advocates of all ages to take these action steps through its website:   
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• Sign the Arts ARE Education Pledge committing your support for arts education.
• Reach out to your district school board, asking them to pass the Arts ARE Education Resolution committing that they will continue funding for district arts education programs next school year.
• Write a letter to your state legislators urging them to support full funding for arts education in their district and asking them to reach out to the schools in their districts to do the same.
• Participate in the Arts Education Capitol Hill month in March, in which advocates will make virtual visits to Senate and House legislators to make the case for arts education support at the federal level through the Department of Education. More details will be posted on the website in the coming weeks regarding how to participate and prepare for the Capitol Hill visits.

Campaign manager James Palmarini, member of the Collaborative Advisory Council, said the initiative’s launch is the beginning of a long-term effort to mobilize supporters of arts education for all students. “While the current campaign focus is on district budgeting for the 2021-22 school year, I fully expect the need for this effort to continue for a considerable time. Even with federal assistance, the impact of the pandemic and the resulting economic fallout will be shaping public education for many years.”
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He added that the campaign is also mindful that students of color in high poverty districts are most likely to lose arts education access, given the limited resources the districts will have to continue with arts programs. “I think the Arts ARE Education campaign offers theatre education (and all arts education) advocates a great opportunity to raise their voices in a very grassroots way that can make a real difference for our students and the fields of theatre and all arts education.”

March 10: Growing Up with an Inventor and Sharing their Story through Film will feature documentary filmmakers Rob Lemelson and Cindy Yoon sharing stories and film clips from documentaries about their famous inventor-fathers.
April 14: Marilyn Hamilton, co-inventor of the Quickie Wheelchair, will speak with NMAH (National Museum of American History) curator Katherine Ott about her life as an athlete and inventor.
May 12: Sarah Will, Paralympic skier and accessibility advocate, and Mike Schultz, inventor of the Moto Knee and Versa Foot, will come together to talk with NMAH sports curator Jane Rogers about their respective careers.
 
Register for Growing Up with an Inventor​