 Best STEM Books for 2022
In fall 2022, representatives from the National Science Teaching Association’s Children’s Book Council and from other disciplinary groups met for the sixth time to select exemplary children’s literature in STEM. Since 2014 this joint committee has sought out literature that represents the best of STEM through:
It’s important to note that the criteria above do not require science content—even if it is integrated across disciplines. The best STEM books might represent the practices of science and engineering by:
Some of these books might not cover STEM content at all. They might simply define STEM habits of mind. For example, a biography might be STEM if it shows creative thought, progressive improvement, and even struggle and failure. But just telling a sequential story of achievement in a biography would not make it a STEM book. A winner would have to provoke a sense of innovation in the reader in any genre. All the winners are interdisciplinary in some way: Content, process, and field of endeavor. The list below attempts to classify them, but, of course, the greatest STEM achievements defy classification. Biographies Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer Traci Sorell Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid Victoria Tentler-Krylov A Life Electric: The Story of Nikola Tesla Azadeh Westergaard Benoit Mandelbrot: Reshaping the World Robert Black Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist Evan Griffith Thank You, Dr. Salk!: The Scientist Who Beat Polio and Healed the World Dean Robbins The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe Sandra Nickel Wonder Women of Science: Twelve Geniuses Who Are Currently Rocking Science, Technology, and the World Tiera Fletcher and Ginger Rue Inventions Awards also were given to books about inventions and the process that multiple inventors went through. Bicycle: Eureka! The Biography of an Idea Lori Haskins Houran Light Bulb: Eureka! The Biography of an Idea Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld A Shot in the Arm: Big Ideas that Changed the World #3 Don Brown From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moves Vivian Kirkfield Glasses: Eureka! The Biography of an Idea Lori Haskins Houran Engineering Engineering is prominent in the list, with familiar projects conducted in innovative ways. Uma Wimple Charts Her House Reif Larsen Maxine Greatest Garden Ever Ruth Spiro Someone Builds the Dream Lisa Wheeler Mimic Makers: Biomimicry Inventors Inspired by Nature Kristen Nordstrom Mathematics And mathematics is not a tool but a science in itself. Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! Art Coulson Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries: Ten Interactive Adventures in Mathematical Wonderland Eugenia Cheng Luna's Yum Yum Dim Sum Natasha Yim Computer Science Coding becomes science, too. Artificial Intelligence Dinah Williams Coding as STEM Coding is both language and science in more award-winning books. What Is Nintendo? Gina Shaw Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars Laurie Wallmark The World Around Societal and environmental problems become the theme for more award-winning books. Amara and the Bats Emma Reynolds A Shot in the Arm: Big Ideas that Changed the World #3 Don Brown Scene of The Crime: Tracking Down Criminals with Forensic Science Hp Newquist Bones Unearthed (Creepy and True #3) Kerrie Logan Hollihan Cougar Crossing: How Hollywood's Celebrity Cougar Helped Build a Bridge for City Wildlife Meeg Pincus Upstream, Downstream: Exploring Watershed Connections Rowena Rae Lady Bird Johnson, That's Who!: The Story of a Cleaner and Greener America Tracy Nelson Maurer Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica Rebecca E. F. Barone The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem Colleen Paeff Scene of The Crime: Tracking Down Criminals with Forensic Science Hp Newquist Selling STEM Invention extends to entrepreneurship. Eat Bugs! #1: Project Startup Heather Alexander Innovative books lead to innovative, integrated curricula. For more information on each award-winning book, go to Best STEM Books K–12 2022 | NSTA
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 Online STEM Resources Resilient Educator is an online resource that accumulates STEAM ideas and resources for teachers. It includes current grant opportunities, research, conferences, and lesson plans. “Curricula opportunities range from taking planned STEM lessons and adding in an arts component or perspective, to developing STEAM plans that fully integrate arts education from the very start.” STEAM Teaching Resources for Educators | Resilient Educator  Celebrating Black History Month Black History includes a great STEM star: Actalent is again celebrating Black History and STEAM with the 37th annual Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) STEM Conference Celebrating Engineering Excellence - BEYA 2023 (actalentservices.com)  NSTA Conference Features STEAM Sessions The National Science Teaching Association meets in Atlanta beginning March 23. The program is available online, with many sessions addressing disciplinary integration such as STEAM. To find out more, visit the conference website: https://www.nsta.org/atlanta23 Neuroscience, Creativity, and Innovation: A Collaborative Thought Leader Conversation – Part 211/8/2022
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 and also examined ways to apply their important ideas in STEAM learning. This new series showcases conversations between various Thought Leaders around an important and relevant topic. This third article in this series is Part 2 of the inspiring conversation between a leader in neuroscience, Sandi Chapman, PhD, and a leader in creativity, Bonnie Cramond, PhD. Part 1 of this conversation was published in the Collaborative’s spring, 2022 newsletter. In it, Sandi and Bonnie discussed why it is important for today’s students to develop creative (a novel idea) and innovative (applying the novel idea to solve a problem) thinking skills. In Part 2 of the conversation with Collaborative Executive Director Lucinda Presley, they discuss how to promote these thinking skills, especially though the intersections of the arts and sciences. Sandi Chapman, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist, is Founder and Chief Director of the University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth. She also is the Dee Wyly Distinguished University Professor in the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She is a well-known pioneer in the field of brain health, developing brain health fitness measurements and protocols that benefit students and adults alike in the US and worldwide. (See newsletter article about her.) Bonnie Cramond, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology and Gifted and Creative Education at the University of Georgia (UGA) and former Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at UGA. She is known for her research in the assessment and development of creativity, especially among at-risk students, and for her highly respected work in the creativity field. (See newsletter article about her.) Are there any specific tasks you can recommend for teachers or people in general to do to promote creative and innovative thinking? Bonnie Empathy can be taught. To address that, I think that the Future Problem Solving Program is great. It teaches kids the steps to solve a problem. They do research, they work together in teams, and they have to learn to cooperate. Part of the process is having the students think about how others will react to the problem and their solution, which develops empathy, compassion, and especially appreciating others’ strengths. Teachers can learn to do Future Problem Solving in any subject area. I worked with teachers in Korea who wanted to infuse creativity into science. I taught them how to use the Future Problem Solving process with their science curriculum. I couldn’t just say, “be creative”. They needed something concrete and structured. They embraced this and it really helped them. While the Future Problem Solving program is competitive, you don’t have to do the competitive program and instead can just infuse the process into your curriculum. For example, my daughter, who was in Future Problem Solving throughout her school years, used this process to teach her college students about dystopian literature. Also, there are other good programs teachers can use that give them a structure and that they can use these to teach their standards. Some examples are: The Invention Convention, Invent Now, Odyssey of the Mind, Destination Imagination, and. Dean Kamen’s FIRST Global Programs. Sandi One of the things that we stress for teachers is that siloed academic areas are not preparing students for the future. We have to train them how to think, integrate, and converge ideas across different areas. One way to do this is through data visualization. “Data visualization is one the most important skills that students can learn." Data visualization is where we add simple sketching, which isn’t just art, it also helps people when they are learning something. Sketching is about extracting the big idea concepts, getting down as many quick, bold ideas as you can. In our sketching, we use zoom in [get the facts] and zoom out [get the broad concepts]. We then zoom deep and wide, which is how many different ways can that apply in life. It is sketching as many ideas as you can from a math problem, or a science problem, or an English or history lesson. This triggers innovative, possibility, and creative thinking in a very dramatic and fun way. We are moving into a data visualization age where people want to see their progress. If I can visualize information, I can learn it faster and it’s going to have more meaning to me to change the world. I’m working with Bruce Mau, who is one of the great design thinkers of all time. He says sketching is the magic sauce to innovative thinking and creative problem solving. We need to teach teachers to let the kids have fun with the sketching, whether it’s individually or in teams, and come up with as many ideas as they can from the lesson, such as new interpretations or new applications. In sketching, students don’t have to worry about “is it good art?”. I think that in art we often expect the students to draw a certain way with precision, but sketching is about exploring ideas and possibility thinking as rapidly as possible and not with precision. It helps the students build stronger gestalt level thinking that can link the many different pieces of facts that may be meaningful to them. Bonnie I think, going along with that, is this idea of webbing [coming up with lots of ideas around a certain topic and then creating a web that links related ideas]. Students often take linear notes and that isn’t connecting ideas the way webbing is. “It’s good to get the students to brainstorm where they can web the ideas and make new connections.” Also going along with what Sandi said, when I was a classroom teacher, I used to let my students do cartooning, especially in science. This is sketching, but, for example, it’s doing a cartoon of a science experiment and seeing what happens in the process. My son was a visual learner, but 98% of learning in schools is verbal. We reach more students when we teach them various ways to think and express their ideas instead of only verbally and in written form. Sandi I agree. How do the intersections (syntheses) of the arts and sciences promote creative and innovative thinking? Sandi Rote learning is the most fragile form of knowledge but it’s the most common form of knowledge that we teach. In the human brain, the frontal lobes start to develop in elementary school through middle school and through high school by connecting these facts to form inner constructs of synthesis. Synthesis isn’t that we need to agree on a single big concept. Instead, synthesis should also engage innovation and possibility thinking to derive as many broad concepts as possible. We’ve shown that the frontal networks are undergoing rapid change around middle school to young adulthood. We’ve shown these networks can be strengthened by having students not just attend and remember a single fact but very quickly pull a set of facts together to form bigger ideas and then create ways these big ideas impact their personal lives. That’s what builds an agile thinker who can also stay on task – take the information in, then zoom out (draft big ideas), then connect the dots in different ways to think of how to apply it to a more general context. This enhances the brain’s health and speed of connectivity. Because of technology, our brains are exposed to 20,000 more pieces of information than they were 7-8 years ago. Our brain isn’t built to deal with so much information in a meaningful way – so it paralyzes learning and thinking about the information in a meaningful way. When faced with too much data, we don’t synthesize; we don’t make decisions, and that’s why our frontal lobes are developing slower than in almost any other generation. Teaching people to find the key information they need to know, how to synthesize that, and what’s relevant to use in a meaningful way builds the frontal lobes. It builds you as an innovative reasoner, a strategic thinker. When we train young adults, the smartest people aren’t those who know the most facts; the smartest are those who, out of the 100 things they are exposed to, can find the 2 most important. How can we help students today vet facts to see what is true and what they need to question and seek more information about? That’s the process that some of the Collaborative rubrics are teaching: how to sort through information and to see if it applies. Bonnie What the Collaborative does with synthesis is excellent. It promotes the fact that we should be doing transdisciplinary teaching, where disciplinary boundaries are erased. Humans have created these boundaried categories of knowledge (science, social studies, art, etc.) that haven’t changed in hundreds of years Those categories can be crossed. We don’t have to live in these silos of knowledge. In Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography of Steven Jobs, he made the case that Jobs’ products were so successful because Jobs married technology and design. Jobs had a background in design and used that to make his products distinctive and appealing. The combination of art and technology was synergistic. That’s the focus of the Collaborative, which is an excellent focus, because our brains originally don’t think in those silos. We learn to do that because that’s the way we are taught but that’s not the way the world is organized. "“The more that we can help students see that everything is interconnected, the better it is." If you look at some of the greatest thinkers of all time, such as Leonardo DaVinci, they are the ones who did combine disciplines. They didn’t separate art and science. What the Collaborative emphasizes that is so important is that information is important but the thinking skills which can cross over are the most important. “People who are able to make those crossovers are going to be the most successful, innovative people.” Sandi Especially in this future we are living in. I know that Susan Hockfield, who was president of MIT, is writing about convergence like you were talking about, Bonnie. It’s not knowledge in a single field any more that’s going to allow us to discover. “We need to work across disciplines." For example, there are so many aspects that feed into brain health, not just cognitive neuroscience, knowledge of how the brain works. It’s having knowledge of data visualization, of how medicine and sleep affect brain health, of how the brain learns, of how we connect with people, of how we have purpose in what we are doing, and of how depression and anxiety affect the brain. So, teaching people to integrate ideas across core content areas is the best way we are going to make progress in solving the complex issues of the day. Bonnie I think that’s a very important point and I think what you have touched upon is the mental health and emotional well-being that creativity supports. I keep reading about with drugs, alcohol abuse, and suicides, how much more stressed the kids are today than in the past. I’ve always thought if we could help kids learn to express their feelings creatively, they would have fewer needs to act out. For example, one of my daughter’s friends in high school committed suicide and my daughter did lots of creative things that allowed her to express her feelings in a positive way such as writing poems, making a website about her friend, writing anecdotes with friends of how they remembered this friend, and planting a garden in memory of this friend. We don’t think enough about how creative outlets can help with emotional health. I wrote a paper for a creativity organization about how I turned to creative outlets when I lost my husband and my son. I paint, I cook, I write poetry, and I garden as ways to deal with the grief. Sandi To your point, Bonnie, when we look at brain health, there are 3 factors that contribute to this emotional well-being. They are emotional stability, clarity of thinking, which is possibility and innovative thinking, and connectedness to people and purpose. We found in our training of adults that these tactical brain strategies reduce depression by almost 60% and stress by 40%. We don’t approach well-being from a mental health perspective, but more as capacity building. We teach people to be innovative, possibility thinkers, empowering them to become more of what they can be instead of defining themselves as someone who is, for example, depressed and unable to find joy. We now have 16,000 people enrolled in the BrainHealth Project from ages 18 to 100 and we are in every state and 23 countries. The whole focus is to help people embrace the potential of the human mind instead of labeling them. Is there anything specific about the synthesis of the arts and sciences that promotes the creative and innovative thinking? Sandi That’s where sketching comes in. If you sketch, it makes you synthesize because you are looking at how many things you can see from this. Sketching makes you synthesize, getting into the abstract and conceptual. It gets rid of the weeds. It moves you out of procrastination where you are bogged down in the details. It also could be done using painting, clay, or food. Art allows you to move forward to capture synthesis about big ideas. Synthesis isn’t about what is the best theme of this or the single interpretation. It’s always pushing innovative thinking that every single thing you do has many possibilities. It’s moving away from “there is a single best answer or single best artform”. By combining art and science and exploration, we are able to elevate clarity of thought and capitalize on what the brain does best – innovate new ways to do things. The art of visualization is becoming a field in itself to convey complex ideas in simple, understandable ways. Bonnie I think it’s also motivation. They talk about how not enough women and minorities go into science and math. A lot of times it’s because these courses can seem so dry. I think that by synthesizing creative activities into the sciences, it makes them more motivating for those who are reluctant to engage. The art/science synthesis can get more people involved than would have been. Thanks to both for an amazing and provocative conversation! You've certainly given our readers a lot to think about
 Learning Engineering: Supporting Education Contributor: Michael Jay, Collaborative Board Member While the Innovation Collaborative is thoughtfully developing transdisciplinary curriculum and activities, the discipline of learning engineering is emerging to address the larger question of how we design, develop, research, and iterate learning experiences. Learning engineering also can contribute to transdisciplinary learning. The learning engineering initiative making great strides is ICICLE (Industry Connections Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering). A part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), ICICLE is in its fifth year. Learning Engineering, as defined by ICICLE, “is a process and practice that applies the learning sciences using human-centered engineering design methodologies and data-informed decision-making to support learners and their development.” This work can be applied in K-12, out-of-school, and higher education environments. Learning engineering is especially applicable to curriculum development and data collection. It brings together what is known about how people learn with data, informed by engineering processes. This, in turn, generates quality learning experiences that benefit from successive improvement. ICICLE had its annual meeting this year at MIT where a book, The Learning Engineering Toolkit (2022 Routledge), written by many of ICICLE’s active members and edited by Jim Goodell and Janet Kolodner, was released. Though the group has a monthly community call, the real work is done in the Special Interest Group (SIG) and Market Interest Group (MIG) meetings. The SIGs and MIGs include a Higher Education MIG, a Corporate MIG, a Tools and Instrumentation SIG, a Curriculum and Competencies SIG, and many more. It is in these smaller groups where the real work of the initiative is accomplished and most relationships are built. ICICLE is open to participation by IEEE members and non-members alike. You can find out more at the ICICLE website (https://sagroups.ieee.org/icicle/) where you also can sign up to participate and /or to receive information about the work and meetings of Consortium (http://eepurl.com/diEG21). Innovation Collaborative board member, Michael Jay, is serving his third year as ICICLE chair.  Just STEAMagine! Contributor: Merrie Koester, Collaborative Advisory Council member It is important to foster in students who feel alienated in science and engineering environments the rich creative and imaginative natures of these fields. A paper I presented at a past annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association addresses this. Entitled “Imagination and the Arts as Antidotes for STEM Education Malaise and Alienation"’, my talk was part of a session entitled Eisner in Mind: Fresh Perspectives on Inquiry and Education. What I knew first-hand from decades of teaching science to students who also struggle to read: When achieving science literacy depends primarily on reading and listening fluency, there can be break-downs in the processes of communication and meaning making that lead to student shut-downs and alienation. By contrast, leading arts education scholar Elliot Eisner called for more enlightened curriculum practices that use resources from the arts and literature to help children understand what isn’t revealed in any text. He actively called for university professors and researchers to go into classrooms to discern those ‘qualities’ which characterized artistic forms of teaching and multiple ways of knowing and being human and then to re-present their data in ways that authentically and evocatively captured the complexity of classroom interactions. Additionally, scholar Eve Tuck described a ‘desire-based’ framework for STEM education that does not position youth from non-dominant communities as in need of repair, but rather foregrounds these same youth as resources of social transformation. Models for meaningful, culturally responsive ‘STEM-Rich Making’ in afterschool settings also are emerging, as well as scholars’ increasing calls for developing a ‘maker attitude’ in the school science classroom. All these strategies can help move previously alienated students toward an appreciation of and an affinity for the naturally creative and imaginative nature of science and engineering practices  By James Lee from Chester, NH, USA - 2010 08 13 star trail, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30064009 See Cool Images of Space and Earth Phenomena Want to see amazing images of star trails, airglow, and an Earth-bound thunderstorm’s lightning flashes – from outer space? Taken by NASA astronaut and astrophotographer Donald Pettit during a previous mission to the International Space Station, these images integrate the scientific phenomena with inspiring visual imagery.  Visual Art Communicates Scientific Research The Artist + Researcher Exhibition in downtown Phoenix explains complex scientific research through an art exhibition. This project pairs university science researchers who develop concepts that are often difficult for the layman to grasp with artists. The artist uses visual art to explain these scientific concepts and to make them much more approachable, understandable, and relatable. The researchers are from Arizona’s three public universities.  STEAM Dissertation
A recent doctoral dissertation in educational leadership examined STEAM from the perspective of what defines a STEAM school – its instructional, organizational, and cultural practices. Developed by David Holt, EdD, at California State Polytechnic University, the dissertation developed guidelines for school leaders to use in developing effective STEAM programs. The findings include the importance of art education, teacher professional development, project-based learning, development of the school community, and removing barriers. For more information, contact David Holt at [email protected].  Here are the highlights of some notable articles in STEM Integration.
No Boundaries Ani Liu blurs the boundaries between art and science. The research-based artist has found dynamic ways to confront conversations about female empowerment, motherhood, and labor in her artwork. Liu “thinks of her body as a tool — and the subject — of artmaking. In her work, the 36-year-old research-based artist visualizes the emotional experiences she underwent at every stage in her life.” This description by Xintian Wang in The Huffington Post is not only a great example of integration but a potential motivator for young people who refuse to accept boundaries in their work or their imagination. How Ani Liu Is Brilliantly Disguising Her Art As Science | HuffPost Entertainment Unpacking STEM Cassie Bess describes her experiences in looking at human impacts on the environment for young children in "Unpacking the STEM Disciplines". Students leap over disciplinary boundaries in their efforts to reduce the impact of plastic water bottles. This multi-week inquiry supported students’ desire to create a positive change in their community. Follow her step-by-step experience that appears at Unpacking the STEM Disciplines | NSTA Engaging the Unengaged Reflecting on the problem of recruiting engineering students, Cary Sneider and Mihir Ravel summarize research on how to engage students in engineering in the journal Connected Science Learning (August, 2022). Their conclusions support the value of introducing an engineering problem early, continuing it over time, and engaging in relevant problems. These strategies were all components of successful studies. They present guidelines for successful design challenges at https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-july-august-2022/engaging-value-engineering Never Too Young for Photography Kids Gardening presents a number of age-appropriate interdisciplinary activities in https://kidsgardening.org/resources/lesson-plan-photographing-shapes-and-patterns-in-nature/?mc_cid=b33302ff06&mc_eid=60d7e55c7e%C2%A0. It’s a great time for looking at leaves in the fall. This core activity lends itself to extensions like creating a photo field guide and writing about images. Directions and suggestions are included. From the Garden to the Racetrack The roar of a NASCAR track becomes the backdrop for this interdisciplinary unit from NSTA. Students observe a NASCAR engine and notice it only makes sounds when it is running, which raises this question: How does an engine make sounds? Observations and inductive reasoning are all part of the process in this series of activities. How Do Things Make Sound? | NSTA How to Build Bridges The National Science Foundation has explored how to bridge the gap between formal and informal science learning environments. The core group of the research project was the ILETES Collaborative, a group of nine teachers who taught middle or high school science in New York City public schools who also had engaged in ISE (Informal Science Education) either as a part of their preservice or in-service teacher training or both. Participants reflected on how the cultures of each learning environment differed, and addressed the question: “Why can’t we put the (same methods of) informal experiences inside the classroom?”. Among the implications were:
The implications of the study include ways to make connections, center identities, and leverage learner strengths. Teacher-Learning, Meaning-Making, and Integrating ISE Practices in Diverse Urban Classrooms | NSTA STEM from the Start JASON Learning’s Early Childhood STEM program has been recognized with the Trailblazer: Early Learning (PreK-6) award by a consortium of STEM associations. The Trailblazer: Early Learning category recognizes providers who offer products and services that push the boundaries of technology for teaching and learning. This 65-lesson series incorporates not only the traditional STEM disciplines but also reading, art, music, and technology. The lessons are embedded in a storyline framework and each includes use of award-winning literature. The judges describe it as “a robust resource that has intentionally been designed to ignite the curiosity of children” and note “the platform has a vast array of lessons that incorporate all areas of STEM.” https://jason.org/jason-learning-wins-two-best-of-stem-2022-awards/ Neuroscience, Creativity, and Innovation: A Collaborative Thought Leader Conversation – Part 15/16/2022 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 and also examined ways to apply their important ideas in STEAM learning. This new series showcases conversations between various Thought Leaders around an important and relevant topic. The first article in this series featured arts expert Rob Horowitz, PhD, and science education expert Hubert Dyasi, PhD, discussing the intersections of the arts and sciences. The second and third articles in this series feature conversations between leaders in the neuroscience and creativity worlds. In Part 1, cognitive neuroscientist Sandi Chapman, PhD, and creativity expert Bonnie Cramond, PhD, discuss the importance of students’ use of creative and innovative thinking. In Part 2, they will talk about practical applications of these thinking skills.  Sandi Chapman, PhD, is Founder and Chief Director of the University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth. She also is the Dee Wyly Distinguished University Professor in the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She is a well-known pioneer in the field of brain health, developing brain health fitness measurements and protocols that benefit students and adults alike in the US and worldwide. (See newsletter article about her.)  Bonnie Cramond, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology and Gifted and Creative Education at the University of Georgia (UGA) and former Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at UGA. She is known for her research in the assessment and development of creativity, especially among at-risk students, and for her highly respected work in the creativity field. (See newsletter article about her.) In this conversation with Collaborative Executive Director Lucinda Presley, Sandi and Bonnie engaged in an inspiring discussion about the importance of creative and innovative thinking. Why is it important for today’s students to develop creative and innovative thinking skills? Bonnie: As Hubert Dysasi, the Collaborative’s science Thought Leader, pointed out in the Thought Leader interview in the last newsletter, creativity has always been important, but hasn’t been recognized as such. However, our problems are becoming more complex and are coming at us faster. Also, knowledge is accumulating, and people are interacting more, so that calls on us to be more innovative and creative. For students, we should be teaching creative and innovative thinking with what the students are learning in school. For example, in science, I think students should be dealing with problems that have no answers and then be thinking of solutions. This thinking is not just something that should be taught outside of school. “Creative thinking definitely should be infused in what students are learning in school if we want them to think like this as they grow older.” Sandi: Our brains are uniquely and elegantly wired to be creative. Creative thinking is the brain’s turbo fuel that energizes how we create new ways to solve, learn, connect, and orchestrate our daily lives, starting young and remaining until late life. Creative thinking is remarkably apparent in young children but all too often learning in school shifts to rote learning and memory of facts. Throughout our life, from elementary to middle to high school to young adult, our brain is wired to seek newness and to be innovative. It loves to solve problems. The World Economic Forum has said that some of the most important skills for thriving in the future, in whatever walk of life, are to be a flexible, innovative, possibility thinker, and to be able to solve problems that don’t yet exist. As Bonnie said, our world is changing so rapidly we don’t know what facts we need to know because they are being turned over so quickly. We are moving out of the information age where knowledge and how much you know makes you smart and successful. Now, we can look up facts so quickly, kids often do not see the importance of memorizing so many facts and then ‘dumping’ them after testing. I am not saying that facts aren’t important to learn, it just may be more vital and a better use of our brain’s energy to learn to connect different ideas in new ways. And the added bonus is that such innovative problem-solving builds stronger neural connections. Certainly, our brain can be a massive fact storage machine, but it is designed to achieve so much more. “We are moving into a brain economy where innovation is mandatory.” To thrive wherever we are, we’ve got to train and stretch our brain skills to embrace innovation through “possibility thinking”. The more we engage the brain in this way, the more a child of any age will show excitement about new learning. “Innovation and creative thinking are the key brain skills needed for students in schools and for emerging adults to prepare for our rapidly changing future.” Bonnie: I can see this need for creative and innovative thinking in the different ways that generations think. For example, millennials don’t mail things or print hard copies, but our generation does need to print them out. It’s a whole different way of looking at the world. And the toddler living in my house will see the world even more differently. Things are changing and we can’t become static. Creativity is about moving forward and being flexible. In the business world, they talk about this as being nimble, meaning being able to change and adapt to changing circumstances. We need to be nimble in all fields to keep up with this dynamic world. Sandi: Creativity and innovation are continually seeking ways to improve some task, relationship, or habit. Finding 3 to 5 things every single day you can improve in some way helps the brain’s frontal networks strengthen. The frontal networks develop throughout the teenage years into early adulthood and are responsible for our higher order thinking, decision-making, and problem solving. Oftentimes it is just a small tweak, not a completely new output or task. It’s constantly looking for ways to improve life habits, meaningful relationships, or your big idea thinking. Innovation can be used in so many different aspects of building brain capacity. In our SMART program for middle schoolers, whom the majority are underserved and living in poverty, we train them a lot of the creative and innovative thinking skills from the rubrics that the Collaborative developed. What our research revealed is that students improve their learning when they innovate and create new knowledge across science, history, math, and English. These gains in learning fuel confidence and ignite individual belief in what their brain can achieve. The benefit of students learning to use their brain better to create new knowledge then cascades down to help students ‘learn the facts’ better. As a result, they do better on statewide standardized tests. Innovation helps your brain see what it needs to know and then agilely see the application of these facts in a broader, real-life context. By giving students strategies that teach youth how to learn, not what to learn; we were able to close the gap of these middle school students, who were at least a year or more behind. In sum, by teaching innovative thinking, students improved their scores across all content areas. “Innovation isn’t unique to any certain area; it’s everything. Innovation and creativity are what our brain is wired to do.” Bonnie: When you talk about that, I think of the famous psychologist Abraham Maslow’s quote where he said a first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting. For example, when I talk to groups, I’ll ask if anyone is not intelligent and no one will say that aren’t intelligent. But people say all the time “I’m not creative” because they can’t paint or write poetry. But, when you talk to them, you find out they are really creative teachers or really creative parents. But people don’t credit, as you were saying, Sandi, the everyday things where they use their creativity. “It’s important to understand that people can use creativity in everything they do and the creativity enriches their lives.” Sandi: I agree with you, Bonnie, where we think creativity is only art. “But creativity is everything. It’s our human relationships, our purpose in life, our journey in life, and our ability to find emotional balance when everything is so depressing around us. I say we are moving into a brain economy because our brain doesn’t need to know rote facts. We can look them up on our app. But the brain can use innovation thinking to figure out a road map when we aren’t given one to succeed today. That’s why formal education is hurting our students in some way when they don’t embrace the power of the human mind. Bonnie, I love Maslow’s example of the soup. Bonnie: I think I was my most creative when I came home from work and had to think of something nutritious to feed my kids or to make life more interesting. For example, when I fed my kids leftovers, I called it buffet night with little bits of this and that. My kids thought it was a wonderful treat and never thought they were having leftovers. “Creativity is creating a fun challenge or a game out of everyday things.” Sandi: Bonnie, another part of innovation that we need today more than ever - and that we train individuals no matter what age they are - is the innovation of relating to people, especially people with whom we disagree or have differences. For example, instead of an adult solving an elementary school student’s problem with someone they disagree with, the more effective approach is the adult asking the student to engage in possibility thinking and generate as many innovative ways as possible they can find common ground. We are showing that compassion is one of the most complex cognitive tasks that people tackle in their day-to-day life – young and old. I tell people to forget Sudoku and instead do acts of compassion toward yourself, people you love, and also people you don’t really get along with. It uses your innovative talents to solve problems and it helps our kids to be constantly in problem solving mode to see how they can relate to someone in an innovative way. “Compassion not only helps kids develop better social skills, but it also changes their brain’s chemistry.” When you are nice to someone, you change your neuropharmacy, your brain’s neurochemicals. You get a push of dopamine and the person you’ve just been nice to when you were really mad at them also gets the dopamine push - the feel good brain chemical.
Coming in Fall, 2022 Newsletter See Part 2 of this conversation to learn practical applications of these important concepts. Collaborative Launches STEAM Teacher and Administrator Professional Development Nationally5/16/2022  The Innovation Collaborative is now offering its research-based STEAM professional development (PD) to teachers, administrators, and schools across the U.S. in in-person, online, and hybrid formats.
This professional development is based on the Collaborative’s five years of National Endowment for the Arts-supported research into the most effective practices that promote K-12 STEAM teacher and administrator success. The research was done in collaboration with master and classroom teachers, along with administrators throughout the country. K-12 educators from science, technology, engineering, the arts, math, English Language Arts, and social studies participated. One hundred percent of the reporting participants said this STEAM PD helped them understand STEAM more deeply. They also stated that the PD resulted in effective changes in their practice. Comments included: “… one of the best (and most useful) professional development opportunities I have taken part in for quite some time” and “it had real stuff you can take ….and use right away”. It also was noted by participants that because of this training, there was an increase in their students’ abilities to think across disciplines for greater creativity and content understanding. The professional development options are: In-person: 1 day or 2 days, including virtual support Online: A choice between 15 hours (basic) or 30 hours’ (comprehensive) training Hybrid: Integrating in-person and online learning. These trainings are customizable to meet the needs of specific schools and districts. For more information, contact Lucinda Presley, Collaborative Executive Director, at [email protected].  Would you like to be up to date on the latest news in the STEAM world? Be the first to receive information about Collaborative STEAM lessons, STEAM teacher and administrator professional development, and much more that the Collaborative offers.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn -- enjoy being in the know!  Jasmine Sadler, MBA, influential member of the Collaborative’s Advisory Council and its Diversity and Out-of-School-Time Committees, has published a very helpful manual for beginning professionals. Though addressing STEM careers, the book is applicable to early-stage professionals in any careers.
It offers helpful advice on identity, interpersonal relationships, time management, planning for the future, work-life balance, and much more. It guides young adults through the complexities of beginning a promising career. Ms. Sadler also is CEO of the STEAM Collaborative, which develops leaders to promote success for underrepresented groups. She integrates her degree in aerospace engineering with her training as a ballerina to enhance the education of diverse students though integrating STEM and the arts. Winner of numerous awards, Ms. Sadler was recently selected as an IF/THEN Ambassador by the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The IF/THEN Ambassadors are females who have made a significant contribution to STEM. Her statue, along with those of other IF/THEN Ambassadors, was on view this spring in Washington DC. They were on view at the Smithsonian Castle and participating Smithsonian galleries across the National Mall. Ms. Sadler has an MBA and is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership. To find out more about the book, go to: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991052153  Tinkering for Early Childhood Tinkering is great for early childhood settings, but there is a great need for resources providing information on how to offer these important experiences. A great resource is now here! Tinkering Together: Exploring Findings and Futures in Early Childhood Tinkering is a National Science Foundation-funded online multimedia site that explores, “tinkering, making and STEAM in early childhood”. It is led by tinkering experts at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco and features important early learning practitioners such as childcare providers and representatives of programs in libraries and museums. On this website you can see informative videos, podcasts, and reflections from these experts, along with tinkering practices in a variety of settings in addition to resources to develop your own early childhood experiences. To find out more, go to https://tinkeringtogether.org/  Why is STEAM Important in Today’s Education? As today’s students prepare for a workforce and future problems that can’t be imagined today, innovation is key. That is where STEAM comes in. It can teach students not only the mandated disciplinary content but also how to question, experiment, solve problems, and create. Learn more by following this link: https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/steam-education-in-schools/  Increasing STEM Diversity Through Dance The STEM from Dance (SFD) initiative reports that Black and Latina women occupy only 4% of the STEM workforce. This initiative uses dance to empower and encourage low-income minority girls to pursue STEM careers. It operates in 14 states and 3 countries. It has received numerous awards, including being recognized worldwide by Zoom as a Zoom EdInnovation Award Winner. The SFD founder, Yamilèe Toussaint Beach, like the Collaborative’s Jasmine Sadler (see Collaborative Member Authors Useful Book for Early-stage Professionals in this newsletter) was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) IF/THEN Ambassador as a STEM female role model. She has training in mechanical engineering in addition to dance. Find out more at https://www.stemfromdance.org/  Addressing Overcrowding in STEM/STEAM labs and Makerspaces STEM/STEAM labs and Makerspaces have specific requirements to ensure student safety. However, according to research, these labs are experiencing overcrowding with larger class sizes. This overcrowding affects occupancy loads that take into account lab size, types of hazards, and number of exits. The overcrowding also is affected by teacher-student ratios. This can lead to accidents. Learn more about this by following this link: https://www.nsta.org/blog/lab-safety-overcrowded-stemsteam-labs-and-makerspaces  Transform Learning with Digitized Museum Collections With COVID restrictions, many educators have had to re-imagine what learning looks like. This includes developing effective online learning tools to engage and educate students. One impressive tool is digitized museum collections. These fascinating collections make available to students and teachers a wide variety of opportunities for exploration. While this article points out how science museum resources can be used, these strategies also can be adapted to other museums, such as art and history museums. Integrating these can provide engaging STEAM experiences. Learn more at https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-march-april-2022/rethinking-online-science  In the March/April, 2022, issue of National Science Teaching Association’s (NSTA) journal for middle school teachers, Science Scope, authors Laura Blue and Sarah Redick provide a framework for teaching science through the lens of social justice. This was inspired by a resource called Facing History (see below). Standards for the program were derived from the work of an organization known as Learning for Justice. This activity provided an entry point for teachers to incorporate a sociotransformative approach to teaching in the context of life science.
The curriculum incorporates four key elements of the social justice approach:
Resources: Facing History identity map activity Learning for Justice Socially Transformative Teaching
.National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). The National Science Teaching Association will host educators in Houston March 31-April 2, 2022. Conference strands include: Developing Scientific Literacy in the Classroom, Strategies for Creating Inclusive Science Classrooms, Using Science Inquiry to Facilitate Learning for Multilingual Learners, Promoting Effective Assessments in the STEM Classroom, and Developing Accountability Systems for Expanding STEM Participation. Go to Houston National Conference on Science Education | NSTA to learn more. 22 Education Conferences You Won’t Want to Miss Go to 22 Education Conferences You Won't Want To Miss In 2022 (weareteachers.com) for a description of 21 other conferences, in addition to the NSTA conference listed above, designed for collaboration and inspiration. International STEM in Education Conference There is still time to apply to present in Waikiki, Hawaii, June 8-10, 2022 at the International STEM in Education conference. The conference intends to stimulate our nation’s future economic prosperity through encouraging and inspiring more of our brightest academics in the study of STEM/STEAM and Education fields. Overview | HUIC (huichawaii.org) Other Conferences
“Necessity is the mother of invention”, as they say. And the resurgence of COVID variants, especially as they affect younger children, has encouraged educators to greater cooperation and forced the re-examination of ways to connect. Here are just a few of the initiatives in recent journals and conferences.
Their description of the event is in the January/February issue of National Science Teaching Association’s Science Scope. It includes valuable tips for preparing presenters before the event, debriefing students afterward, and establishing structures that will allow the effort to continue over time. Recognizing that the future will require a variety of integrated skills, they remind planners: “Although STEM-specific subject knowledge is the focus of the day, many other content areas can find connections to the skills and habits of mind required for the workforce of tomorrow.”
“The extraordinary work…to alleviate the SARS-CoV2 pandemic would not have been possible without collaboration between academia, industry, government laboratories, and regulatory agencies that speak the common language researchers around the world know—science.” The authors provide many more examples of collaboration beyond the pandemic: “Life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, communication technologies, modes of transportation, energy-efficient building materials, or early severe weather warning systems are just a few examples of STEM inventions with a global impact.” While the article is primarily directed toward those who design curricula, it also can provide a framework as students look for examples of multidisciplinary efforts in other areas.
Participants were deeply immersed in this topic through panel discussions with experts and workshops led by facilitators. Topics included “Raising the STEM Imagination”; “Unearthing the STEM Imagination”; “Imagination and STEM Futures”; “Positioning Imagination in STEM Practice and STEM Education”; ‘Cultivating Contexts for Imaginative Thinking in STEM”; “Creating Conditions for Imaginative Engagement with STEM; and “Framing a More Imaginative Future for ISE (Informal Science Education) Research and Practice”.
Many valuable resources from the convening are now available on informalscience.org. Follow this link to access the convening’s proceedings, including panel and workshop details, resources, and much more. Of particular interest are:
At this school, the arts, in addition to leadership and communication skills, are integrated into curriculum. The Collaborative’s training embraces the school’s goals and includes teachers from the arts, science, math, English Language Arts, and social studies. The Collaborative helps these teachers effectively integrate their curriculum using science and arts intersections. This is made possible through the teachers’ participation in the Collaborative’s research-based online STEAM PD and through mentoring as the teachers develop, implement, and assess their STEAM-based curriculum.
At the school, the course is facilitated by Rebekka Stasny, Rowlett Science Department Head. She is a member of the Collaborative’s STEAM Effective Practices Teacher Advisory Panel and is a 2020 graduate of the Collaborative's STEAM PD. Like Ms. Stasny, selected teachers currently being trained will become mentors for cohorts who follow them. This training is an example of the STEAM PD that the Collaborative is offering to schools and school districts. 100% of Teachers in Collaborative Professional Development Report Improvement in Their Practice2/25/2022
Building on two previous NEA grants, the project included teachers and administrators from the arts, sciences, math, English Language Arts, gifted education, technology, and social studies in grades K-12. To support the initiative, the project convened its Innovation Fellows, top teachers identified in the Collaborative’s first round of research, and selected administrators in Houston, Texas, to develop the PD. The Collaborative’s Fellows and selected teacher and administrator participants from the first cohort then became project leaders, mentoring the next two cohorts’ participants and helping guide their growth throughout the PD.
Online course components included readings and activities with related discussion posts, mentoring webinars with facilitators, and creation and implementation of STEAM lessons and experiences, using the Collaborative’s STEAM rubrics. An important component of the PD was the integration of Responsive Teaching, a methodology developed in collaboration with Collaborative partners at Texas Southern University to address the needs of underserved students, including those in rural and high poverty communities and historically marginalized or learning challenged students. The Responsive Teaching strategies used align perfectly with STEAM and contributed to the project’s success. One administrator participant pointed out that the link between STEAM and Responsive Teaching made all the difference in identifying opportunities for this type of teaching throughout her school district. Another administrator in secondary science said she had originally thought that, in STEAM, art was the icing on the cake. Through the PD project she came to realize that art was the primary ingredient that makes the cake and that, without it, there would be no cake. She also said that art can help STEM students understand the STEM content better. Another aspect of the course identified by participants as highly important was the use of the Collaborative’s creative and innovative thinking skills and its STEAM continuum from multi to transdisciplinary learning. An administrator highlighted what others thought in saying that the continuum and thinking skills “made everything gel”. Both an elementary science teacher and an elementary music teacher said they considered the thinking skills so important that going forward they will have the thinking skills as posters to use in their lesson planning. Using the Collaborative’s rubrics also made a difference, teachers and administrators reported. One STEAM coordinator said, “I will be using them (the rubrics) in my planning. They provide me a consistent tool…aligned for both teacher and student.” It was noted that the teachers’ and administrators’ students also benefitted as they learned to think across disciplines for greater creativity and also content understanding. In spite of COVID, participating teachers were highly enthusiastic about the course. A teacher said the training had “real stuff you can take…and use right away”. Another teacher said, “This is probably one of the best (and most useful) professional development opportunities I have taken part in for quite some time.” Encapsulating what many teachers felt, an administrator said, “This work has been absolutely game-changing for me”. The Collaborative is now making this teacher and administrator professional development model available to other teachers, schools, and districts. COLLABORATIVE’S THOUGHT LEADER CONVERSATION ON CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE ARTS AND STEM2/24/2022 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 and also examined ways to apply their important ideas in STEAM learning. This new series will showcase conversations between various Thought Leaders around an important and relevant topic. This first article in the series features a conversation between leaders in the arts and STEM worlds. Rob Horowitz, PhD, is Executive Director, ArtsResearch, and Associate Director, Center for Arts Education Research, Teachers College, at Columbia University. He is well-known for his arts education research that demonstrates the important relationships between in-school arts learning and cognitive, social, and personal competencies (see newsletter article for resources and information about him). Hubert Dyasi, PhD, is Professor of Science Education, The City College, City University of New York (CUNY) – retired. He is known for the teaching and learning of science in pre-college education in the US and in Africa (see newsletter for information about him and his recounting of how curiosity led to science centers across Africa). Future articles in the series will feature further conversations about the intersections of creativity, neuroscience, the arts, and STEM.
In this conversation with Collaborative Executive Director Lucinda Presley, Rob and Hubert engaged in an inspiring discussion about the importance of creative and innovative thinking and these thinking skills' relation to their disciplines and to the intersections of the arts and sciences. Why is it important for today’s students to develop creative and innovative thinking skills? Rob: Not only today. We have always said this is important. “The arts can be a counter to the rote learning that often happens in education.” However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Each discipline can be as creative as any other discipline in a lot of ways. Along with creativity, I’ve really been impressed in this pandemic by some ways the arts are the glue bringing social and emotional perspectives to children. You can see this, when parents are trying to get their kids to stay online and stay focused on schoolwork, that it’s often an arts activity that gets the student to move or do something creative. Hubert: It would be very useful for us to go to the Innovation Collaborative’s effective ways of dealing with creativity and the Collaborative’s creative and innovative thinking skills because those actually relate to science learning. In science teaching, there’s always this important question relating to facts about a phenomenon: How do we know what we say we know? Also, what kind of evidence are we going to use to decide if this is something worth considering and is it based on the field’s standards for valid evidence? These Collaborative thinking skills help address that. Why is creativity important in the science field? Hubert "Imagine if people in science never questioned what they were told, or never thought of other ways to answer a particular science question." For example, around 200 AD it was believed that blood originated in the liver and went from there to different organs in the body where it was used up. Imagine if no one ever questioned that. In fact, people didn’t publicly question it for over 1500 years. It took a long time for scientists to say there has to be another way of looking at this because they had seen in animals they dissected that the heart beats all the time while the organism is alive and they had asked: “what is its function?” The scientists who thought seriously about this surmised that the blood goes from the heart to different parts of the body and returns to the heart in a continuous flow; it’s the heart and not the liver that pumps blood to the rest of the body. But there wasn’t an easy way to find this out. At the time, this was really creative thinking. A British doctor named William Harvey (1578-1657) said we know that every time the heart contracts, the amount of blood it pumps out is only about 2 oz. Knowing that the heart normally beats 72 times a minute, Harvey calculated that the heart pumps out 8640 ounces of blood per hour. It was inconceivable that the liver could make this large amount of blood from food and distribute it to every organ in the body every hour of the day. So, based on his knowledge of the heart’s anatomy and functioning, Harvey proposed that the blood must be flowing in a closed system and circulating throughout the body from the heart and back. He also concluded that the heart acts as a pump to move the blood to and from the organs. This process all started with knowledge and curiosity and creatively developing evidence to support a scientific theory. Scientists had to use their creative thinking abilities to come up with an explanatory model that fits the evidence, something that can be replicated or checked by others. They also had to use the creative thinking skill of envisioning - visualizing in their minds what they were thinking - to develop the investigations. So, creativity in science is important. These investigations don’t come out of nowhere. They build on what’s known and the evidence that’s there, and that’s very important. How do the arts look at creativity? Rob "The arts aren’t inherently more creative or innovative than other disciplines." Like Hubert said, there is all this creativity in science. I agree with Hubert that there is no reason that creativity and innovation couldn’t apply equally to science and math – or maybe any subject. "What distinguishes the arts are the interpretation and the representation of an idea and the emotive aspects within it." And the representation in that creativity is artistic. That leads to the intersection of art and science because the arts have an inherent communicative component where you are expressing ideas and feelings that could be scientific, too. As in science, there’s also this idea of building on a prior network of knowledge and understanding. This is inherent to scientific inquiry, but also to creating meaning and expression in the arts, especially when we add the affective or emotional dynamic. We work with less well-defined constructs than science and so it’s often harder for us to scientifically test those ideas. For instance, testing the notion of creativity. We don’t have a single definition of what that is. To define it and put it in a quantitative research model is very challenging. It’s more challenging than in the hard sciences where things are more easily defined and testable. Some of the more interesting constructs are some of the hardest to measure, such as transfer (of skills and knowledge between disciplines) or innovation. The arts are unique, in that there’s a combination of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills. There are interesting and valid measures for creativity, but they probably have more error built in than measures in the hard sciences, where the testable idea is well-defined. We try, but we can only start to approximate the constructs that are the result of artistic experience. I’ve done a lot of work with the Torrance test of creativity. It’s a very interesting test and a valid measure. It worked well in many ways. But we saw that there are things it didn’t capture that relate to arts education and how we were thinking about creativity. That is, it only approximated the manifestation of creativity through the arts that we observed in arts classes. "And there are notions of creativity that are still being debated in arts education." For example, the Torrance test values originality, or thinking differently about a problem. However, some people believe that there could be a true, or perfect, solution that could reflect the highest artistic expression. I know this is debatable but worth thinking about when measuring creativity. For example, Bach had a phenomenally creative way of resolving cadences that are odd, and different – original – but also seem perfect and true. There are similar examples in other art forms and across cultures. How do the syntheses of the arts and sciences promote creative and innovative thinking? Hubert I want to go back to something Rob said about representation and communication as used in the arts. These actually are equally inherent in the sciences and engineering. Communication is essential in science and is one of the key components of science inquiry. If a scientist is poor in communication, their representation is going to be lacking. A scientist may visualize an idea but if (s)he can’t go beyond that and represent and communicate it so that someone else can understand it, the field is not enriched. "In relation to innovation and creativity, if you are going to think of an event or a way to test something, you can do it the way it’s been done before, or you can think of a truly innovative way of testing that principle that people haven’t thought about before." An example is Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), an outstanding botanist and evolutionary biologist. She challenged many peoples’ notion that at the base of evolution is idea of competition. She said that there is some evidence that basically within a plant cell there actually is symbiotic, mutually supportive, collaborative activity. In the plant cell, chloroplasts (organelles that contain chlorophyll which gives the green color to leaves) and mitochondria (an organelle that helps produce energy in the plant) - have different DNAs from each other and from the cell, itself. Their functions are to help the plant cell carry out its life processes. On its part, the plant cell serves as a sustaining host. The organelles and the cell are thus in a symbiotic co-existence. So, when we support thinking in innovative ways, it’s not just about challenging ideas but it is also about thinking of new ideas or of other ways of looking at something that is not the standard way. But, like Rob said, just because it’s innovative doesn’t mean it’s better. But in Margulis’ case, it actually was enriching the science field by increasing the knowledge. You have to have creativity to know what to look for. "We also talk of visualization in science and science education. Part of the thing about creative thinking is actually visualizing something and then saying, “let’s see if we can do it that way” and then seeing what happens. Saying “what happens if” is the outcome of the art skill of visualization and of the use of knowledge and creative thinking." Rob Talking about what Hubert was saying about communication, in the arts there’s always a need to share – even if you are sharing with others in your imagination. When we have an idea, we often build a mental structure in a spatial way. This could be a complicated science idea needing a complicated depiction, and you reproduce that in a physical sense. This could be an intersection with the arts where you can see the boundaries between disciplines break down. These spatial representations take shape in art forms besides the visual arts, such as in music. There are many ways artistic representation coincides with scientific investigation. These disciplines may not be that separate, after all. Also, there can be a conforming quality to education, which is no one’s fault, but this structure can lead to a rote instructional approach that does not support creativity or innovation. In line with the Collaborative’s work, we have seen how teaching artists come into a classroom and shake things up, getting students to look at things differently. Scientists can do that, too. "A scientist can come into a classroom, like a teaching artist does, and get students to look at things differently to enhance their learning. The Collaborative can shake that up and get people to work across disciplines. This can lead to creative and innovative thinking." Hubert I’m so glad you made that point. We try to do that in science education with science inquiry and with students raising their own questions to investigate. That is now totally strange in schools. It’s not the fault of the teachers; it’s how education is done. I see what you are talking about how the Collaborative could play that role in increasing creative and innovative thinking. A key part of that is including science practices in the learning, as long as we keep in mind that you can’t separate the practices from the development of science ideas. I want also to note that the practices and the content are both important. "The arts, the sciences, and the humanities all start by considering the same world and as we go in different ways, we must remember that connection, that we are dealing with the same world, the same nature, and the arts people are dealing with the same materials as the science people." Rob
That idea of exploring materials in visual art is important. It parallels the scientific process. Scientific understanding really is inherent to all artistic creation. So, the arts and sciences do work well together.  The Collaborative’s Research Thought Leaders help provide the strong research foundation for the Collaborative’s work. 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 previous newsletters, we brought you interviews with each of our Thought Leaders. This new series, launched in the Winter 2021 newsletter, reflects on how you might apply some of their most important ideas to your work in STEAM education. To do this, we’re using Collaborative research findings and examples of successful applications of these ideas in teaching practices. The first article in this series examined creative and innovative thinking. The second article explored STEAM and interdisciplinary learning. This third article in the series looks at collaboration. A future series article will address STEAM models. The information below is based on Thought Leaders’ interviews and an in-person convening in Washington, D.C. in 2016, that was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Collaboration A hallmark of effective practices in STEAM education is collaboration, both among students and among teachers. Thought Leader Input:
** Transdisciplinary:
 By Mary Dell’Erba, Collaborative Advisory Council member
On July 13-14, 2021, the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) hosted a Policy Academy on STEAM Education. The event convened teams of five leaders from three states—South Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia. Participants created action plans to advance STEAM education in their respective states. During the two-day event, state teams received information and coaching from AEP and Education Commission of the States, with which AEP is aligned. Participants also received coaching and information from STEAM leaders in Georgia, Ohio, and Nevada. The proposed state plans include items such as instructional resources; assessment considerations; defining STEAM education at the state level through policy statements; hosting a statewide summit to convene STEAM leaders and facilitate collaborations; and articulating pathways for STEAM school certification. AEP will continue to offer targeted technical assistance to these states, in collaboration with the Innovation Collaborative, for up to 18 months. This assistance will support implementation of the states’ plans in alignment with the goals of the Innovation Collaborative’s States’ Initiative. The technical aid may include: information requests, providing testimony or research on STEAM education, facilitating meetings, or conducting state visits, travel permitting. The Collaborative’s State’s Initiative, led by AEP’s Mary Dell’Erba, focuses on providing the Collaborative’s STEAM research findings to support STEAM education at the state level. Mary Dell’Erba is the Arts Education Partnership’s Senior Project Manager. For more information about the Policy Academy, please contact her at [email protected].  The Collaborative’s first goal is conducting and sharing research on the many ways that STEAM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Humanities, and Math) promotes creative and innovative thinking for all demographics. Throughout the 7 years of this research in K-12, the Collaborative has focused on discovering the most effective practices in classroom implementation and teacher professional development. This work has been generously supported in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
To share its research, the Collaborative publishes its findings in peer-reviewed journals, among other venues. The third Collaborative research article, “Effects of Transdisciplinary STEAM Lessons on Student Critical and Creative Thinking”, has just been published by The Journal of Education Research, a publication of Routledge, Taylor, and Francis, the leading publisher in academic education. The article is primarily authored by Bess Wilson, PhD, Collaborative K-12 Co-chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Foundations and Secondary Education, University of North Florida. Secondary article authors are Collaborative Executive Director Lucinda Presley, Collaborative Innovation Fellow Kimberly Olson, and Dr. Wilson’s graduate assistants HwanHee Song and Julie Johnson. The article shows how STEAM classroom lessons and experiences can strengthen student creative thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and persistence. In line with another Collaborative goal, applying research to practice, these findings, along with all other research findings, will be applied to the Collaborative’s upcoming STEAM teacher professional development and classroom implementation in the 2021-22 academic year. These findings will be integrated with the Collaborative’s Culturally Responsive Teaching strategies to meet the needs of all learners, especially those in underrepresented populations. You can find the article at: Effects of Transdisciplinary STEAM Lessons on Student Critical and Creative Thinking.  The Collaborative’s Visibility Committee has been researching strategies and content to help raise the public profile of the organization, motivate membership, and provide more value to member educators, administrators, and other invested stakeholders. Much of its proposed work focuses on website content and social media engagement. This includes:
 Arts education institutions and their members across the US are addressing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) in a variety of ways.
View this Arts Are Education Talk It Up podcast to learn some of the ways this is being accomplished. The podcast is hosted by Jim Palmarini, Educational Theatre Association Policy and Advocacy Advisor and Director of the Arts ARE Education (ARE) campaign. ARE is sponsored by the National Coalition for Core Arts Education (NCCAS), a coalition of national arts and arts education organizations working to make standards-based arts education available for every student. This ARE podcast features Erika Hawthorne, Education Specialist for the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), a national network of organizations dedicated to promoting arts education. In this podcast, Ms. Hawthorne discusses AEP’s Equity Working Group and its current efforts.  By Sharon Delesbore, PhD, Collaborative Board Member
Sharon Delesbore, PhD, is a Collaborative Board member and President of the Association for Multicultural Science Education, an affiliate of National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). She also is Asst. Principal, LV Hightower High School, in Ft. Bend ISD, Missouri City, TX. This article is an adaptation of a blog she was invited to write for the STEM Teacher Leadership Network. This network is an NSTA affiliate that focuses on improving schools, policy, and the future of STEM education. As the Collaborative focuses on serving the needs of diverse populations, this article points out the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion in science education. I must preface this piece with honesty. It was difficult for me to pull my thoughts together to write given the many incidents of injustice, white privilege and racism that remind us of the continued inequities in our society. In an effort to create an America of equality, we, as a nation, have worked hard not to offend “others”. When I say “others”, I mean the different groups of people who have felt neglected, negated, and punished for not fitting into the idealized image of being an “American” that is commonly communicated by our mainstream and social media. Truthfully, this country’s forefathers created a document framed in biased ideologies. Their definition of being “created equal” was limited to white men of financial means. It is 2021 and things have changed, with new, courageous voices speaking up, asserting that individuals and organizations must become self-reflective practitioners and conscientious reformers willing to meet the challenges of creating equity in all aspects of our society. The need for equity is most pressing in the education of our students, including in science education. Our work to create equity in science education will not come to fruition until educators recognize and realize that the work starts from within. Are we truly ready to look ourselves in the mirror and ask tough questions that go to the root of our beliefs about how we think about all people, whether black, white, Hispanic, Indian, male, female, rich, poor, disabled, or gifted? I am speaking particularly of and to anyone who feels that they have not been represented with dignity. I am speaking of and to anyone who believes that they do not have a seat at the table of decision-making. I invite you to pull up your own chair because your thoughts are valued and your input wanted. For any conversation to begin, I always like to start with an operational definition of words. There are many shared definitions of diversity, equity and inclusion; the ones I’m sharing here are but one example. Diversity refers to the demographic subgroups within educational institutions. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), released in April 2013, identified student diversity through seven case studies noted in Appendix D – “All Standards, All Students: Making the Next Generation Science Standards Accessible to All Students". The four accountability groups defined in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act [ESEA], Section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) were;
Further, student diversity is extended by adding three groups:
Equity is the intentional consideration, formulation, and implementation of practices, policies, and procedures within an organization to deter systemic biases that can hinder the measurable outcome of programming as well as create barriers that can affect student achievement within demographic subgroups in comparison to institutional expectations and performance standards. Equity fosters accountability between stakeholders involved in the decision-making process and those designated to perform within the organization. A conscientious, equitable mindset can help begin the process of desegregating and reversing bias implications of practice. To create equity in science education will demand individual and corporate reflection that includes asking some tough, fundamental questions. One strategy that might help is the application of the A-List Approach©, which was developed by Dr. Delesbore to create equitable opportunities in science education for all students. It can address this dilemma by:
Creating equity in science education is a ginormous undertaking. As scientists, we thrive in data. The challenge is reminding decision-makers our students are the deliverable outcome of the curriculum we develop, time we invest, budgets we anticipate, and futures that we hold in the palm of our hands. Every decision we make determines the destiny of every child. We must take the blinders off, remove bias, prejudice, and racism from the equations that we formulate in our society to ensure that all students have the same opportunity to excel and contribute to our America, whether in science or whatever endeavor they pursue, given the educational opportunity they so richly and equally deserve. About the Author: Dr. Sharon Delesbore is the president of the Association for Multicultural Science Education (AMSE), an affiliate organization of the National Science Teaching Association. AMSE was organized to stimulate and promote science teaching to students of culturally diverse backgrounds and to motivate such students to consider science-related careers; to explore and promote the improvement of science curriculum, educational systems and teaching methods in school; to assist such stimulation; to recruit and involve teachers of all minorities in science education; and to initiate and engage in activities and programs to further improve the science education of culturally diverse students.  In case you missed it when published in 2017, The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World is well worth a weekend of deep thought. Authors David Eagleman (a neuroscientist) and Anthony Brandt (a musician) take a unique look at human history and innovation from their diverse but complementary perspectives.
Eagleman is the Emmy-winning writer and host of the PBS series, The Brain. He also is the director of the Center for Science and Law at Stanford University. Brandt is a composer and Artistic Director of the contemporary music ensemble Musiqa, winner of two Adventurous Programming Awards from Chamber Music America and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Not an “odd couple” at all, the co-authors look at art and science together. They examine how many innovators--from Picasso to Steve Jobs--build on what already exists to create something new. Their paradigm is organized into three categories:
The book is filled with countless other examples, including how the invention of flamboyant hairstyles, bicycles, and stadium designs might share the same basic processes. As one reviewer noted: “Understanding ourselves and our creativity is a journey that also helps us to understand what makes us human". What makes this book especially valuable to educators is that these examples can be models for students to use when innovating. A question such as “Could you solve this challenge by bending or breaking or blending?” can be the spark. Students who might have been convinced that they were not creative can find ways to appreciate themselves and their own unique ways of thinking. “Thriving in a constantly changing world requires us to understand what’s happening inside our heads when we innovate', the authors remind us.  In Fostering a STEAM Mindset across Learning Settings, Laura D. Carsten Conner, Blakely K. Tsurusaki, Carrie Tzou, Perrin Teal Sullivan, Mareca Guthrie, and Stephen M. Pompea describe their seven-year project to connect both out-of-school and in-school practitioners and settings. They initially developed their conceptions of STEAM mindset in out-of-school summer academies for youth. The STEAM kits they developed in these settings were eventually adopted by the local school district. Their report, in Connected Science Learning (October - December, 2019) describes “a tapestry of STEAM connections between in-school and out-of-school settings.”
Most impressive in their report is evidence that “self-compassion, rather than self-judgment, can help quiet (a child’s) negative inner voice and promote creative practice”. They describe these key principles:
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