 The Innovation Collaborative is launching a subscription campaign for all in- and out-of-school-time educators (preK-16) interested in STEAM education and research-based curriculum resources.
The Collaborative, a nonprofit organization, serves as a national forum to foster creativity, innovation, and lifelong learning. It identifies and disseminates information about the many ways that effective integration of the arts, sciences, humanities, engineering, and the use of technology reinforce teaching and incorporate learning in both in-school (formal) and out-of-school-time (informal) settings. This campaign is offering free access to all Innovation Collaborative resources through December 31, 2024, to new subscribers. Click HERE to register. Among the Collaborative’s current web-based resources are:
Beginning in January 2025, there will be a modest annual fee to subscribers. In the coming months, the Innovation Collaborative will be developing and adding new content, including lesson plans, additional rubrics, and professional development programs for both educators and administrators. A virtual STEAM Summit is being planned for fall, 2024. To learn more about the organization’s work, visit www.innovationcollaborative.org.
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The importance of failure: |
 Sandra Chapman, PhD, Collaborative Research Thought Leader | Note: Our current series focusing on the importance of failure highlights the Collaborative’s esteemed Research Thought Leaders’ perceptions on this topic. These Thought Leaders are each nationally and internationally known experts in their respective fields. In this article, Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD, points out the importance of embracing failure. Dr. Chapman is Chief Director, Center for BrainHealth, and Dee Wyly Distinguished University Professor, The University of Texas at Dallas. You can find out more about this work at centerforbrainhealth.org; thebrainhealthproject.org. |
“In this year to come, make mistakes, because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself and changing the world.” — Novelist Neil Gaima
The greater the problem, the worse the crisis, the more likely we are to make mistakes. These mistakes can make us more resilient, or they can break us. They can strengthen or weaken our brain’s operating systems.
One of the most perplexing mysteries of our brain is why and how the same event triggers diametrically opposite actions in each of us. When we have no script to follow nor know the best response, our brain veers toward one of these paths after failure—it’s our choice:
As mentors, we have the responsibility to inspire and create a learning context that rewards students, educators, and ourselves to recognize, recover, and rebound from failures with small steps forward. Embracing the risks of failure is the best way to optimize brain growth and development. Without failure, we never tap into the brain’s greatest potential—the ability to generate new ideas and solutions, i.e., to be creative. The faster we recognize failures, the faster we make progress toward our bold goals. The only real failure is when we fail to rescue ourselves from our mistakes. Rescue from failure is one of the most effective thinking strategies to strengthen the brain’s executive function to increase our innovative thinking.
Apollo 13 is a classic example of a situation where “failure is not an option.” Racing against time, NASA engineers devised an ingenious solution to the rupture of an oxygen tank, using only the materials at hand in the spaceship when the astronauts were stranded on their way to the moon in 1970.
We each have the raw talent to kick our brain’s capabilities into gear by regularly acknowledging failed attempts and seeking new and better solutions to improve our work, our relationships, our communities, and the world around us. This is ingenuity. It is a brain skill that is rarely taught and may be the most important brain capacity to optimize the upward potential of brain and cognitive development across the lifespan. The bi-directional benefit of practicing possibility thinking skills in the context of failures not only increases the neural connectivity of the brain’s goal-directed stability network and the updating agility frontal brain network, but it also increases confidence in tackling day-to-day challenges with an open, action-oriented mind, where realizing and embracing failure is the starting point.
(Some content modified from Design Your Brain: 24 Extraordinary Ways to Fuel and Inspire Life, Chapman and Mau, in press)
One of the most perplexing mysteries of our brain is why and how the same event triggers diametrically opposite actions in each of us. When we have no script to follow nor know the best response, our brain veers toward one of these paths after failure—it’s our choice:
- Brain Drain. We experience a humiliating embarrassment, negative and demeaning self-talk that hijacks our thinking or a fear response that paralyzes our actions/behaviors and increases our anxiety and stress. This path acts much like an emergency brake that halts forward progress and keeps us fearful and wallowing in our failures as a stuck mindset.
- Brain Gain. Alternatively, when we openly embrace failure by quickly identifying rather than dismissing mistakes, we build grit. Only then can we adeptly begin to create alternative proactive responses to self-correct. By doing so, we strengthen our brain’s frontal networks—our brain’s CEO that guides clarity and discernment. When we go into problem solving mode to correct mistakes– we override our immobilizing negative self-talk. This ‘embrace the mistake’ path acts like an accelerator to run toward further learning from failures to seek alternate solutions and develop better ways to respond– much like a first responder to a fire.
As mentors, we have the responsibility to inspire and create a learning context that rewards students, educators, and ourselves to recognize, recover, and rebound from failures with small steps forward. Embracing the risks of failure is the best way to optimize brain growth and development. Without failure, we never tap into the brain’s greatest potential—the ability to generate new ideas and solutions, i.e., to be creative. The faster we recognize failures, the faster we make progress toward our bold goals. The only real failure is when we fail to rescue ourselves from our mistakes. Rescue from failure is one of the most effective thinking strategies to strengthen the brain’s executive function to increase our innovative thinking.
Apollo 13 is a classic example of a situation where “failure is not an option.” Racing against time, NASA engineers devised an ingenious solution to the rupture of an oxygen tank, using only the materials at hand in the spaceship when the astronauts were stranded on their way to the moon in 1970.
We each have the raw talent to kick our brain’s capabilities into gear by regularly acknowledging failed attempts and seeking new and better solutions to improve our work, our relationships, our communities, and the world around us. This is ingenuity. It is a brain skill that is rarely taught and may be the most important brain capacity to optimize the upward potential of brain and cognitive development across the lifespan. The bi-directional benefit of practicing possibility thinking skills in the context of failures not only increases the neural connectivity of the brain’s goal-directed stability network and the updating agility frontal brain network, but it also increases confidence in tackling day-to-day challenges with an open, action-oriented mind, where realizing and embracing failure is the starting point.
(Some content modified from Design Your Brain: 24 Extraordinary Ways to Fuel and Inspire Life, Chapman and Mau, in press)
The Collaborative’s Innovation Fellows are top STEAM teachers and administrators who are chosen nationally, based on their excellence in moving the STEAM field forward. Kimberly Olson is the Art Specialist at Centre School in Hampson, NH. Kathleen Sweet is a Computer Science Teacher in Starmont Community School District, IA. Kristin Taylor, EdD, is an Associate Professor of Art Education at California State, Northridge.
collaborative Rubrics Impact Whole Child Learning
 Kimberly Olson | Beyond my ever-evolving STEAM-based learning rooted in problem solving, collaboration, and persistence, I have realized the deep connections, overlaps, and prevalence of culturally responsive and social emotional learning throughout STEAM, the National Visual Arts Standards, and other applicable standards I employ. Through my work as a Teacher Leader with the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) Connected Arts Network (CAN) I have been able to leverage these connections, developing impactful learning experiences for my students that engage them through their own schema and identity and that develop self and social awareness. |
Most recently, I have been refining a collaborative lesson I co-authored with my CAN colleagues combining student identity and a unit of study based in architecture. (The Innovation Collaborative rubrics have been an invaluable resource in identifying transdisciplinary thinking and learning in this lesson.) Through this unit, students first explore aspects of themselves and their identity (I am…) that cannot be seen physically, such as musical inclinations, interest in sports, dance, baking, theatre, etc. They then apply these aspects to creating a self-reflective building, based on our recent study of a vast (and culturally inclusive) survey of architecture around the world and through time and place. Students envision themselves as a building, plan and sketch their use of architectural elements, materials, colors, and ultimately develop their ideas into a tactile and textural collage. They complete their thinking with a written artist statement which includes explanation and reasoning that prompted each of their I am-inspired choices and where they would want to be built, creating lots of opportunities for synthesis, transformation and bisociation.
Through this lesson students pushed the boundaries of engineering and math in their designed spaces, utilizing shapes and capabilities reflecting aspects of their original I am list. Many of my students serendipitously experimented with dimension in collage constructions, developing three dimensional aspects which added another level of ingenuity, problem-solving, and critical thinking. In response to this emergent aspect of this lesson, I shared the work of Congolese sculptor Bodys Isek Kingelez and Caine’s Arcade as motivation.
Currently, my students are all working to develop mini 3D models of their identity buildings. Their choice, manipulation, and application of materials—as well as design thinking—to demonstrate their original vision has been inspiring to witness! Lots of design thinking, persistence, and revising is happening as students rework their ideas to realize their vision. Reflecting on the success of this lesson has prompted me to access my summer training with Chibitronics and to add a paper circuit element for students that will allow them to illuminate part of their design. Incorporating a broad expanse of the myriad viable overlaps of standards and Thinking Skills has elevated my STEAM-based curriculum to new heights, encompassing the whole child and thinking so important to our 21st-century students.
Through this lesson students pushed the boundaries of engineering and math in their designed spaces, utilizing shapes and capabilities reflecting aspects of their original I am list. Many of my students serendipitously experimented with dimension in collage constructions, developing three dimensional aspects which added another level of ingenuity, problem-solving, and critical thinking. In response to this emergent aspect of this lesson, I shared the work of Congolese sculptor Bodys Isek Kingelez and Caine’s Arcade as motivation.
Currently, my students are all working to develop mini 3D models of their identity buildings. Their choice, manipulation, and application of materials—as well as design thinking—to demonstrate their original vision has been inspiring to witness! Lots of design thinking, persistence, and revising is happening as students rework their ideas to realize their vision. Reflecting on the success of this lesson has prompted me to access my summer training with Chibitronics and to add a paper circuit element for students that will allow them to illuminate part of their design. Incorporating a broad expanse of the myriad viable overlaps of standards and Thinking Skills has elevated my STEAM-based curriculum to new heights, encompassing the whole child and thinking so important to our 21st-century students.
new Makerspace Inspires myriad designs
 Kathleen Sweet  The April 8, 2024, solar eclipse | I have been teaching for 27 years, 9 years in Colorado and 18 in Iowa. Most of my career has been in K-5 visual arts education, however, in the last two years I have transitioned to a 2nd-5th grade computer science teacher. Since participating as an Innovation Collaborative Fellow, I have received a $30,000 STEM BEST grant and created a Makerspace for my K-12 district. (We converted an old science room into this space. All the furniture is modular and has options for flexible seating.) All students have access to this room and rotate through the Makerspace with a teacher guiding creative and innovative projects, 3D printing, robots, circuits, and many more critical thinking activities. I provided professional development for our district teachers to engage in the Makerspace, so that they would understand the learning that happens when students are in the space. Teachers are now sending whole classrooms to participate. Teachers also come to me for STEAM lesson ideas to incorporate as extensions in their classrooms. Overall, our district is moving forward and embracing STEAM as part of everyday learning. During the recent eclipse, I took my computer science students outside to view the eclipse. Unfortunately, in Iowa, we did not see the totality of it. But I did create a pinhole viewing projector out of a cereal box, as well as having glasses to view with. The students were more interested in the box I made than looking through their glasses. Sometimes simplicity is best. |
Student STEAM Projects: A Visual Tour
 Ashley Lupfer | I recently was tasked to teach an innovation and design class. Among other things, I conducted a light painting lesson with students using coding and Sphero, teamed with our music teacher to create Tono scopes that visualize sound, and used Tinkercad to design playgrounds. Sometimes photos explain lessons best—check them out. |
 | 5th Grade Innovation and Design students collaboratively created stop motion animation films that teach a fraction concept. They paid close attention to the FPS, or frames per second, and edited their work in iMovie by adding sound and text to further express their ideas. |
 5th Grade Innovation and Design students reviewed the concept of matter and experimented with paint rockets! Students combined a liquid (water and paint) and a solid (aka-seltzer) to create a gas. This gas built up pressure in our film canisters and created a fun “explosion” of paint which was documented with these awesome paintings (right). |  |
  | Our 5th grade students started off the year with a 3D modeling unit designing playground structures for our school. We used the Design Thinking Process, TinkerCad, Augmented Reality, and some top-notch photo editing skills to present our ideas to scale. Our proposals were an exciting way to envision how we could improve our school community while considering elements of design, safety, and overall impact. |
  | 5th Grade Innovation and Design students enjoyed learning about autonomous vehicles and the complex programs that enable them to function. We discussed how these vehicles use Artificial Intelligence and asked Chat GPT to program our Sphero for us. We collaboratively analyzed why the JavaScript code did not work and used impressive problem-solving skills to help our robot roll and introduce itself! Next we programmed our Spheros to respond to different lux values, or levels of light created by flashlights in the classroom. Many students programmed them to spin, make sounds, or show an animation on the light matrix. Finally, we discussed the use of GPS, where students plotted different places in our community in the hallway, wrote partner directions, and then programmed our Sphero using these steps! This was challenging but super fun to run their programs with the paper “taxis” students designed. |
book chapter describes kinetic sculpture design
 Kristin Vanderslip Taylor I wanted to share that I have a chapter titled "How might we make this work? Using design thinking to engineer kinetic sculptures in the art room" in the newly-published book: STEAM Education: An Interdisciplinary Look at Art in the Curriculum. The chapter is about one of the STEAM visual art lessons that another Collaborative Innovation Fellow, Kerry Buchman, and I shared with the Innovation Collaborative and tested in multiple classrooms. |  |
 Bonnie Crammond, PhD, Collaborative Research Thought Leader | Bonnie Cramond, PhD, is one of the Collaborative’s highly-respected Research Thought Leaders, who help provide the strong research foundation upon which the Collaborative’s work rests. Dr. Cramond is Professor Emeritus in the University of Georgia Department of Educational Psychology and former Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. |
Every spring the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgia hosts a free online festival of ideas related to creativity. The brainchild of Dr. Anna Abraham, the Director of the Torrance Center, this cultural event was envisioned as a way for “creative and innovative professionals across fields of human enterprise (to) present their new exciting projects and innovative ideas to the general public” (2021, Torrance Festival of Ideas pamphlet).
The inaugural festival, held April 23-25, 2021, showcased 21 speakers presenting their expert views on themes relevant to creativity; imagination; visual art; digital art; music; humor; empathy; consciousness; well-being; mindfulness; childhood; aging; education; equality; identity; healing; health; crisis; curiosity; innovation; entrepreneurship; authenticity; political resistance;, and sociocultural change. The festival also highlighted local non-profit organizations in Athens, Georgia that serve the community in creative and crucial ways.
In 2022 and 2023, the global three-day festival again featured speakers on a variety of topics, but in 2022, an invitation was added for people of all ages and backgrounds to submit their creative contributions, which were displayed on the website in the categories of literary, musical, and visual creativity.
This year, the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Torrance Center, the theme was Creativity and Learning. There were 1,000 attendees from several countries around the world and 28 speakers. Scholars and educators steeped in creativity work will recognize many of the speakers and topics which address critical issues and practical implementations in creativity and learning.
Information about the festival, including descriptions of sessions and speakers, as well as links to recorded sessions and other resources, can be found at the Torrance Festival of Ideas website. The pamphlets from each year are linked and contain information about each year’s event. The 2022 pamphlet, which is linked on the festival website, includes the creative products submitted. A selected number of the 2023 talks can be viewed online. The recordings of all the 2024 sessions can be accessed via the festival website where they will remain for a couple of months before they are moved to the UGA College of Education YouTube channel. Links to the talks on YouTube will also be made accessible via the Torrance Festival of Ideas webpage.
Anyone can register for the festival for free, but registrations are limited. So, mark your calendars to look for the Torrance Festival of Ideas next spring. You are sure to learn and be reinvigorated through interaction with imaginative thinkers and creative practitioners as they share their visions and ideas in relatable ways.
The inaugural festival, held April 23-25, 2021, showcased 21 speakers presenting their expert views on themes relevant to creativity; imagination; visual art; digital art; music; humor; empathy; consciousness; well-being; mindfulness; childhood; aging; education; equality; identity; healing; health; crisis; curiosity; innovation; entrepreneurship; authenticity; political resistance;, and sociocultural change. The festival also highlighted local non-profit organizations in Athens, Georgia that serve the community in creative and crucial ways.
In 2022 and 2023, the global three-day festival again featured speakers on a variety of topics, but in 2022, an invitation was added for people of all ages and backgrounds to submit their creative contributions, which were displayed on the website in the categories of literary, musical, and visual creativity.
This year, the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Torrance Center, the theme was Creativity and Learning. There were 1,000 attendees from several countries around the world and 28 speakers. Scholars and educators steeped in creativity work will recognize many of the speakers and topics which address critical issues and practical implementations in creativity and learning.
Information about the festival, including descriptions of sessions and speakers, as well as links to recorded sessions and other resources, can be found at the Torrance Festival of Ideas website. The pamphlets from each year are linked and contain information about each year’s event. The 2022 pamphlet, which is linked on the festival website, includes the creative products submitted. A selected number of the 2023 talks can be viewed online. The recordings of all the 2024 sessions can be accessed via the festival website where they will remain for a couple of months before they are moved to the UGA College of Education YouTube channel. Links to the talks on YouTube will also be made accessible via the Torrance Festival of Ideas webpage.
Anyone can register for the festival for free, but registrations are limited. So, mark your calendars to look for the Torrance Festival of Ideas next spring. You are sure to learn and be reinvigorated through interaction with imaginative thinkers and creative practitioners as they share their visions and ideas in relatable ways.
 Merrie Koester, PhD, Innovation Collaborative Advisory Board Member | Merrie Koester, PhD, Innovation Collaborative Advisory Board member, is the Science Literacy and Communication Specialist at the University of South Carolina Center for Science Education, an Adjunct Professor, College of Charleston School of Education, and Fellow, Near Center for Climate Studies, The Citadel.  |
For several years, the dangerous socio-scientific situations created by global warming, sea level rise, and an ever-increasing number of extreme weather events like hurricanes have demanded better community preparedness for such disasters. Students ages 11-18 are often being left out of community-based disaster preparedness programs. Even though there is considerable literature documenting that most preparedness decisions are made with or influenced by others such as family members, friends, coworkers, or neighbors, few of these papers explicitly include youth as important community disaster risk mitigation assets. For the last eight years, as a professional STEAM Teacher Educator, I have been developing and field testing a program called Kids Teaching Flood Resilience (KTFR) in highly flood prone Title 1 schools in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1996, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine established the following conceptualization of Scientific Literacy:
Such literacy becomes meaningful knowledge when learners are afforded opportunities to develop and expressively communicate what they know. Arguably, being able to communicate with authority and creative agency is why having science knowledge matters and can save lives.
Towards that end, the work I’ve done in KTFR emphasizes the importance of becoming “Place-Wise” and leans into the fact that our historically marginalized, low-income communities of color disproportionately bear situational flood hazard risks, especially during a hurricane event. Much of this program draws from the powerful work of scholars like urban science educator Christopher Emdin (Urban Science for the Hip Hop Generation: Essential Skills for the Urban Science Educator and Researcher, 2010).
Following Emdin’s lead, throughout the KTFR curriculum, cause and effect relationships have been explored and expressed through poetry and rap. Here some examples of my students’ work:
In 1996, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine established the following conceptualization of Scientific Literacy:
- Scientific literacy means that a person can ASK, FIND, or DETERMINE answers to questions derived from CURIOSITY about everyday experiences.
- It means that a person has the ability to DESCRIBE, PREDICT, AND EXPLAIN natural phenomena.
Such literacy becomes meaningful knowledge when learners are afforded opportunities to develop and expressively communicate what they know. Arguably, being able to communicate with authority and creative agency is why having science knowledge matters and can save lives.
Towards that end, the work I’ve done in KTFR emphasizes the importance of becoming “Place-Wise” and leans into the fact that our historically marginalized, low-income communities of color disproportionately bear situational flood hazard risks, especially during a hurricane event. Much of this program draws from the powerful work of scholars like urban science educator Christopher Emdin (Urban Science for the Hip Hop Generation: Essential Skills for the Urban Science Educator and Researcher, 2010).
Following Emdin’s lead, throughout the KTFR curriculum, cause and effect relationships have been explored and expressed through poetry and rap. Here some examples of my students’ work:
 | What’s The Story in the land? Did a creek once flow where buildings now stand? How does a saltmarsh give and give, creating habitat for animals to live? Fill in a marsh and soon you’ll see, flooding’s a problem for you and me. Water always wins if you tell it NO! Let Water teach us where it needs to go. |
 |  |
Backstory: Formerly thriving African-American coastal communities have experienced the destruction and paving over of the expansive salt marsh ecosystems that were central to their culture, religion, commerce, recreation, and nutritional sustenance. As a result, these communities have been placed at higher flood risk, even before sea level rise amplified that risk.
The KTFR research claim is as follows: When positioned, empowered, and legitimized as resources of knowledge and action, middle and high school youth have the energy and ability to assess hazardous flooding and extreme weather situations and create messaging for their families that advocates for risk reduction behaviors.
The Get Hurricane Smart curriculum features five domains of Power Knowledge: 1) Get Weather Smart, 2) Place-Wise, 3) Storm Surge Smart, and 4) Water Safe.
The KTFR research claim is as follows: When positioned, empowered, and legitimized as resources of knowledge and action, middle and high school youth have the energy and ability to assess hazardous flooding and extreme weather situations and create messaging for their families that advocates for risk reduction behaviors.
The Get Hurricane Smart curriculum features five domains of Power Knowledge: 1) Get Weather Smart, 2) Place-Wise, 3) Storm Surge Smart, and 4) Water Safe.
| KTFR methods center Place, Problem, and Project Based Learning (PBL). The empowering “STEAM PBL” learning progression is at once active and performative as the artful making of communication artifacts emerges. Full disclosure: We never know what’s going to happen until it does. Inviting uncertainty and vulnerability into the room is also to welcome Art Spirit and its “What if?” kinds of curiosity. Like a developing tropical cyclone system, we constantly look for ways to draw in energy and find steering currents to sustain and aesthetically transform the work. If the effort flops, we try again. When the experience feels like “creative weather”, we know we’re succeeding. |  |
To date, the KTFR Get Hurricane Smart Toolkit includes a Get Hurricane Smart Rap, a music video, a feature film, Never Say Whatever, Especially in a Hurricane!, a public service announcement, a Kahoot quiz, and a KTFR Sketchbook.
The KTFR program is strongly aligned with the higher order “Creative and Innovative Thinking Skills” described by the Innovation Collaborative. During Flood Resilience Friday sessions, the classroom becomes a performance space, where we make it a point to show the similarities between Art Studio Habits of Mind and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices:
The KTFR program is strongly aligned with the higher order “Creative and Innovative Thinking Skills” described by the Innovation Collaborative. During Flood Resilience Friday sessions, the classroom becomes a performance space, where we make it a point to show the similarities between Art Studio Habits of Mind and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices:
The NGSS “Cross Cutting Concepts” take the stage as “characters” in the emerging quest: Whatever “counts” as “hazard risk reduction communication” must be 1) grounded in scientific evidence and 2) show/teach cause and effect relationships, patterns in the data, and/or change over time in ways that make sense. Math matters a lot! All KTFR student “ambassadors” can explain the inverse relationship between Resilience Capacity and Disaster Risk:
In the fall of 2023, in collaboration with the SC Sea Grant Consortium, the Citadel STEM Center, and the Near Center for Climate Studies at the Citadel, we applied for and received a two-year grant from the NOAA National Disaster Preparedness Program so that KTFR might be scaled and sustained in historically underrepresented flood prone coastal communities. Expected deliverables include: A KTFR Field Guide for Teacher Leaders, a series of KTFR & You instructional videos, a board game called Situation, a model for creating your own family-based KTFR event, and a montage film showing what successful KTFR looks like in practice. We have not nearly reached the turning point in this story, and the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season promises to be a doozy. Stay tuned.
 Sharon Delesbore, PhD, Innovation Collaborative Board member | The following commentary on the importance of science and how STEAM can enhance it is from a Collaborative Board member, Sharon Delesbore, PhD. Dr. Delesbore is a campus administrator at Stephen F. Austin High School in the Fort Bend Independent School District in Sugar Land, TX. She also serves as President of the Association for Multicultural Science Education (AMSE) and Chair of the Alliance of Affiliates (AoA) of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). She has been a science teacher, a science department chair, and a science instructional specialist, and teacher mentor. |
Mahatma Gandhi said, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and soul of its people.” This quote resonates resoundingly today as we all work diligently to make our academic institutions stimulating learning environments where students embrace the sciences to become critical thinkers and ecologically productive citizens. More and more, employers are recognizing that their partnership with education is essential in setting the criteria to help produce qualified employees to be productive in the workforce of the future. However, there are several steps the education system needs to take to help this new cadre of students become scientifically literate. Scientific literacy, according to the National Science Teaching Association, “means understanding how science is done, what is science versus non-science, and how to evaluate claims we are exposed to on a daily basis.”
It is my view that school district leaders and campus administrators must realize that science instruction is essential to the sustainability of humankind. Because science understanding is not measured and assessed as frequently as math and reading, it is often underfunded. Thus, the science disciplines’ loss of importance is impacting our workforce, which is suffering from the lack of qualified science-based candidates. Even more dismal is that the science-based candidates from underrepresented populations are a rarity in the global schema. This is not just about ethnicity or low socioeconomic status but now, even more so, access.
What I do see is that teachers who truly appreciate the art of teaching and learning and want to reach all students regardless of race are seeking professional development from organizations to help with their pedagogy. What I do not see is the same influx of campus administrators seeking opportunities to develop their capacity in science education that supports these educators.
As educators and humans in general, we tend to focus and assist in areas where we are strong, confident, and have achieved success. When math or science are discussed, the common comments are, “I was not good at that,” or “Those subjects scare me”. Unfortunately, many adults believe science and math to be difficult subjects and transfer those thoughts to their children at an early age. This then fosters students’ avoidance of science in their school careers. When you couple the negative mental reinforcers with little to poor experiences of science engagement, you are creating a formula for science evasion.
It is time for “Administrators of Advocacy” to step forth in their schools to lead the charge of science for all through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math). This initiative can only happen with a change in mindset regarding STEAM implementation, integration, and involvement. STEAM is not just about exposing students to the STEAM disciplines. STEAM enhances important skills in our students when these disciplines are practiced in an integrated manner. These include:
S: Critical thinking in science
T: Engagement offered by experiences with technology
E: Application of what they have learned through engineering practices
A: Integration of arts content and processes to deepen and enrich critical and creative thinking processes in mandated content areas
M: Calculating and processing information in math
These include attributes that are important for every teacher to strive to help their students to acquire. Is this attainable? I believe the answer is yes if campus administrators refrain from hiding from their fears of science education because of their experiences, thoughts, or lack of content knowledge. In truth, good instruction will always prevail.
Specifically, our “Administrators of Advocacy” can do the following:
It is my view that school district leaders and campus administrators must realize that science instruction is essential to the sustainability of humankind. Because science understanding is not measured and assessed as frequently as math and reading, it is often underfunded. Thus, the science disciplines’ loss of importance is impacting our workforce, which is suffering from the lack of qualified science-based candidates. Even more dismal is that the science-based candidates from underrepresented populations are a rarity in the global schema. This is not just about ethnicity or low socioeconomic status but now, even more so, access.
What I do see is that teachers who truly appreciate the art of teaching and learning and want to reach all students regardless of race are seeking professional development from organizations to help with their pedagogy. What I do not see is the same influx of campus administrators seeking opportunities to develop their capacity in science education that supports these educators.
As educators and humans in general, we tend to focus and assist in areas where we are strong, confident, and have achieved success. When math or science are discussed, the common comments are, “I was not good at that,” or “Those subjects scare me”. Unfortunately, many adults believe science and math to be difficult subjects and transfer those thoughts to their children at an early age. This then fosters students’ avoidance of science in their school careers. When you couple the negative mental reinforcers with little to poor experiences of science engagement, you are creating a formula for science evasion.
It is time for “Administrators of Advocacy” to step forth in their schools to lead the charge of science for all through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math). This initiative can only happen with a change in mindset regarding STEAM implementation, integration, and involvement. STEAM is not just about exposing students to the STEAM disciplines. STEAM enhances important skills in our students when these disciplines are practiced in an integrated manner. These include:
S: Critical thinking in science
T: Engagement offered by experiences with technology
E: Application of what they have learned through engineering practices
A: Integration of arts content and processes to deepen and enrich critical and creative thinking processes in mandated content areas
M: Calculating and processing information in math
These include attributes that are important for every teacher to strive to help their students to acquire. Is this attainable? I believe the answer is yes if campus administrators refrain from hiding from their fears of science education because of their experiences, thoughts, or lack of content knowledge. In truth, good instruction will always prevail.
Specifically, our “Administrators of Advocacy” can do the following:
- Support teachers with funding for materials and providing appropriate class space for a safe environment to conduct activities.
- Take interest in the science classroom. The constant emphasis on math and reading relays a feeling of insignificance for science and that does not promote a positive school culture. Science is the one discipline that can enhance all the learning skills that administrators are looking for teachers to develop. With emphasis on nonfiction reading, writing, problem solving, and critical thinking with the use of technology to engage students, a focus on science can increase student achievement.
- Empower teachers to take risks in the classroom. This is vital because opportunities “for all” come with exposure. A science-competent mindset is necessary if we want all students to experience science education. There are no boundaries to learning regarding ethnicity, socio-economic status, or gender. All children are curious, and it is up to administrators and teachers to keep the inquiry in their spirits alive.
- Allow teachers to take risks with the curriculum. It is okay if a lesson may not go as planned. Allow for organic exploration that fosters curiosity and creativity.
- Monitor for the expectation of good science instruction. We inspect what we expect and if teachers see that administrators are not looking for hands-on activities or opportunities for inquiry, then they will not present all students with a rigorous curriculum of fundamental science understanding that will help our students excel holistically in academia and in the workforce.
As George Washington Carver stated, “How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.” So, let us maximize our commitment to our educational system so that the overseers of the funding begin to establish opportunities for students to excel in science education, once and “for all.”
US representatives draw support for STEAM programs at hbcus
Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) attend the Seventh Annual STEAM Days of Action in April. Democratic Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) recently engaged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to support STEAM programs in HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Adams, who is founder of the congressional HBCU Caucus, hosted the Seventh Annual STEAM Days of Action with Congressman French Hill (R-AR) in April.
In a recent article in the Washington Informer, Rep. Adams spoke about the significance of supporting STEAM programs in HBCUs.
“HBCUs produce over a quarter of African American STEM/STEAM graduates in the United States, and it has never been more important to make sure every talented student has access to a world-class science, technology, engineering, arts, and math education,” Adams said.
The conference featured discussions with Janet McCabe, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/hbcu-stem-education-investment/
In a recent article in the Washington Informer, Rep. Adams spoke about the significance of supporting STEAM programs in HBCUs.
“HBCUs produce over a quarter of African American STEM/STEAM graduates in the United States, and it has never been more important to make sure every talented student has access to a world-class science, technology, engineering, arts, and math education,” Adams said.
The conference featured discussions with Janet McCabe, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education. https://www.washingtoninformer.com/hbcu-stem-education-investment/
Syracuse Museum Announces $3 Million Earmarked for STEAM Renovation Project
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)and US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and US Representative Brandon Williams (R-NY) recently secured $3 million for renovating the south wing of the MOST Museum in Syracuse.
Formerly the New York State Armory built in 1907, the building now houses the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology. The project supports science and art education for future employees of Micron, a microchip processing manufacturer planning to relocate to central New York.
“From Micron’s major investment in Central NY to the exciting research going on at SU [Syracuse University], places like the MOST that combine learning and fun are how we can spark interest early on for the STEAM jobs that will be building Syracuse’s future,” Sen. Schumer stated on UrbanCNY. https://bit.ly/3Wn3oJ4
Formerly the New York State Armory built in 1907, the building now houses the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology. The project supports science and art education for future employees of Micron, a microchip processing manufacturer planning to relocate to central New York.
“From Micron’s major investment in Central NY to the exciting research going on at SU [Syracuse University], places like the MOST that combine learning and fun are how we can spark interest early on for the STEAM jobs that will be building Syracuse’s future,” Sen. Schumer stated on UrbanCNY. https://bit.ly/3Wn3oJ4
100 Black Girls STEAM! introduces Certification program
 Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash | This San Diego-based project aims to provide an Informal STEAM Learning Certification for 100 Black girls in middle and high school in California area and across the country, with the goal of introducing them to a variety of career choices and role models in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The in-person & virtual #RemakeDays learning events launched on April 20 and formally concludes on May 31 but can still be accessed HERE. |
Crayola launches Campaign for Creativity
For the past year Crayola researchers and educators have worked with the National Ad Council, the renowned organization that specializes in messaging campaigns that shift public perceptions and increase intentional actions, and the creativity scholar Dr. Gerard Puccio, in studying current perceptions of creativity and ways to motivate parents to create more creative moments with their children. Dr. Gerard Puccio has more than 30 years of experience as both a thought leader in the field of creativity and as a creativity researcher. Dr. Gerard Puccio, a State University of New York Distinguished Professor and chair of the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, shared his vast knowledge of the field to verify the content validity of the Crayola Campaign for Creativity. Dr. Puccio conducted a comprehensive literature review of contemporary creativity research to inform several new studies that Crayola and the Ad Council conducted to document what parents think about the role of creativity in shaping children’s future.
Highlights from their work include a set of interesting challenges that creativity advocates face. While parents believe creativity is important, more than half say they don’t have the creative skills or confidence to help develop creativity in their children. Good news is that:
Yet the majority of parents say, “people outgrown their creative mindsets as they age beyond childhood”; “creativity is something a few lucky individuals are born with and most people lack”; and “creative experiences as a child will only help kids develop skills they need for jobs in the arts, fashion, or design” — without the acknowledgement that creativity is an essential life skill that can be taught, must be nurtured, and leads to success in any career.
To increase parents understanding of creativity and provide them with inspiration to create more creative moments, Crayola launched the campaign to help everyone #StayCreative.
To learn more, visit https://www.crayola.com/featured/campaign-for-creativity
Highlights from their work include a set of interesting challenges that creativity advocates face. While parents believe creativity is important, more than half say they don’t have the creative skills or confidence to help develop creativity in their children. Good news is that:
- 96% of parents believe that creativity is important to society.
- 92% of parents believe creativity has life-long benefits for their kids.
- 87% of parents believe creative thinking is critical to problem solving and career success.
- 78% of employees say creativity is important to their current career.
Yet the majority of parents say, “people outgrown their creative mindsets as they age beyond childhood”; “creativity is something a few lucky individuals are born with and most people lack”; and “creative experiences as a child will only help kids develop skills they need for jobs in the arts, fashion, or design” — without the acknowledgement that creativity is an essential life skill that can be taught, must be nurtured, and leads to success in any career.
To increase parents understanding of creativity and provide them with inspiration to create more creative moments, Crayola launched the campaign to help everyone #StayCreative.
To learn more, visit https://www.crayola.com/featured/campaign-for-creativity
Collaboration Offers STEAM Activities to Students in Underserved Urban Community
A new collaboration between the Citizens Science Lab and the Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens (YBMKQ) is bringing STEAM education to kids in an underserved Pittsburgh community known as Penn Hills. YBMKQ offers low-cost afterschool and summer activities to roughly 60 elementary, middle, and high school students in the town’s community center.
The story was reported in Kidsburgh, a news outlet focusing on youth news and activities. Dr. Andre Samuel, founder of the Citizens Science Lab, told Kidsburgh why the five-year partnership is significant.
“Nationally, only less than 5% of PhD’s handed out in the biological and life sciences are held by African Americans,” he said. “And so it’s important for us to get out there, create more Black scientists so that we can address more issues that deal with our communities.” https://www.kidsburgh.org/partnership-brings-steam-education-to-penn-hills/
The story was reported in Kidsburgh, a news outlet focusing on youth news and activities. Dr. Andre Samuel, founder of the Citizens Science Lab, told Kidsburgh why the five-year partnership is significant.
“Nationally, only less than 5% of PhD’s handed out in the biological and life sciences are held by African Americans,” he said. “And so it’s important for us to get out there, create more Black scientists so that we can address more issues that deal with our communities.” https://www.kidsburgh.org/partnership-brings-steam-education-to-penn-hills/
MIT Sponsors steam challenge for sustainable living
The Village School of Houston and MIT are partnering in a "Build Better: Plants, Energy, Everything" STEAM challenge that inspires solutions for sustainable living. Primary and secondary students are brainstorming ways to develop a more sustainable future with less environmental impact. The challenge leads students to collectively explore sustainability in production of food, energy, and manufacturing of everyday objects.
The Houston school belongs to Nord Anglia Education of London, which has international schools with more than 80,000 students.
Luke Thurston, communications director for the Village School, told the journal Digital Engineering that MIT sponsors the annual competition for Nord Anglia students around the world.
“[Students] use active research to meet each challenge so they get thinking about creative solutions to problems,” Thurston said. “[They] will take part in the challenges to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the world today.” https://bit.ly/3wTH0fR
The Houston school belongs to Nord Anglia Education of London, which has international schools with more than 80,000 students.
Luke Thurston, communications director for the Village School, told the journal Digital Engineering that MIT sponsors the annual competition for Nord Anglia students around the world.
“[Students] use active research to meet each challenge so they get thinking about creative solutions to problems,” Thurston said. “[They] will take part in the challenges to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the world today.” https://bit.ly/3wTH0fR
wallace foundation measures data collection in out-of-school programs
A recent study by the Wallace Foundation reveals how out-of-school programs measure and collect data, especially regarding equity. The New York City-based foundation analyzed obstacles to data collection, as well as how to remove them.
One key finding was that programs measured outcomes that reflected their content, which ranged from arts, to workforce readiness, to civic engagement, to social emotional outcomes. https://bit.ly/48z70dF
One key finding was that programs measured outcomes that reflected their content, which ranged from arts, to workforce readiness, to civic engagement, to social emotional outcomes. https://bit.ly/48z70dF
Creating Equity for Black Science Students
Creating equity for Black science students requires deep listening and can be achieved with phenomenological qualitative research and a community of inquiry. This phenomenological study examines the lived experience of a phenomenon by a student. The article investigates how Black students perceive advanced science classes and what prevents them from enrolling. To create equity, a community of inquiry consisting of educators analyzed the student perceptions of advanced courses, identified barriers, and then proposed solutions to reduce or remove obstacles. Research methods, student data, and study results are discussed. Suggestions for readers applying the author's plan are also provided. READ MORE.
Becoming Botanical Garden Educators: Using Flip to Engage High School Students in Botany
It is critical to develop students’ science communication skills as they progress through their education. One way this goal can be accomplished is by integrating Flip cameras into educational programs. Through Flip educators create prompts that students respond to in video form, which leads to deeper discussion on various topics. This brief will share an example of how Flip was used with high school students spending time at a botanical garden to not only promote science communication skills but also to help engage them with plant life. In this activity students assume the role of “educator” by becoming an expert on a specific plant species and recording a video introducing others to that organism. READ MORE.
Co-Development of a Museum-Based Scientist-Teacher Partnership
Scientist-led K–12 outreach offers many benefits to scientists, teachers, and students; however, many of these programs are top-down rather than collaborative. This team facilitated a museum-based scientist-teacher partnership to co-design a lesson on shark biology for middle school students. Following the implementation of the lesson, they conducted interviews with the scientist and teacher participants. The participants described several benefits for the students including contextualizing science in the real world, providing exposure to new careers, and humanizing scientists. Teacher benefits included increased content knowledge and feeling reenergized to teach their subject. The scientists gained knowledge about science standards and classroom pedagogy. The challenges to the partnership included time constraints and restrictions enforced by the school districts. Using the findings from the study, they describe how other organizations can facilitate similar scientist-teacher partnerships to help improve science literacy and career aspirations. Scientist-teacher partnerships are highly effective for improving scientists’ communication skills, increasing teachers’ content knowledge, and contextualizing science for students. READ MORE.
Creating equity for Black science students requires deep listening and can be achieved with phenomenological qualitative research and a community of inquiry. This phenomenological study examines the lived experience of a phenomenon by a student. The article investigates how Black students perceive advanced science classes and what prevents them from enrolling. To create equity, a community of inquiry consisting of educators analyzed the student perceptions of advanced courses, identified barriers, and then proposed solutions to reduce or remove obstacles. Research methods, student data, and study results are discussed. Suggestions for readers applying the author's plan are also provided. READ MORE.
Becoming Botanical Garden Educators: Using Flip to Engage High School Students in Botany
It is critical to develop students’ science communication skills as they progress through their education. One way this goal can be accomplished is by integrating Flip cameras into educational programs. Through Flip educators create prompts that students respond to in video form, which leads to deeper discussion on various topics. This brief will share an example of how Flip was used with high school students spending time at a botanical garden to not only promote science communication skills but also to help engage them with plant life. In this activity students assume the role of “educator” by becoming an expert on a specific plant species and recording a video introducing others to that organism. READ MORE.
Co-Development of a Museum-Based Scientist-Teacher Partnership
Scientist-led K–12 outreach offers many benefits to scientists, teachers, and students; however, many of these programs are top-down rather than collaborative. This team facilitated a museum-based scientist-teacher partnership to co-design a lesson on shark biology for middle school students. Following the implementation of the lesson, they conducted interviews with the scientist and teacher participants. The participants described several benefits for the students including contextualizing science in the real world, providing exposure to new careers, and humanizing scientists. Teacher benefits included increased content knowledge and feeling reenergized to teach their subject. The scientists gained knowledge about science standards and classroom pedagogy. The challenges to the partnership included time constraints and restrictions enforced by the school districts. Using the findings from the study, they describe how other organizations can facilitate similar scientist-teacher partnerships to help improve science literacy and career aspirations. Scientist-teacher partnerships are highly effective for improving scientists’ communication skills, increasing teachers’ content knowledge, and contextualizing science for students. READ MORE.