Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
In My eSTEMation...
In my eSTEMation, one of the unexpected side-effects of the
Governor’s STEM initiative is giving teachers permission to be creative with science and math. That may sound counter-intuitive at
first: people usually don’t think of
science or engineering as “creative” disciplines. They worry that a STEM emphasis might stifle kid’s
imaginative efforts. They write me
letters and send me links advocating STEAM instead of STEM (with the “A” for
art). And, quite frankly, they are correct
in the sense that true STEM work must be right-brained as much as it is
left-brained, creative as well as constructive.
I wish we could invite STEAM advocates to one of our STEM
professional development training sessions.
Teachers play. There is a lot of
laughing. We design and test and
re-invent the wheel. We become makers
and producers instead of receivers and consumers—and that is the magic of
STEM. See for yourself!
Traditional math and science training invokes a “don’t make
mistakes” mentality that is often difficult to shake. It’s no wonder that teachers (and
consequently, students) need to be given permission to be creative. Still, I believe that the Governor’s STEM
initiative is making genuine strides toward bringing a fresh approach to
science, technology, engineering and math classrooms and clubs. Tinkering with LEGO robots, racing solar cars
and writing code for creative new apps can be both artistic and STEMtastic at
the same time. Rather than simply
inserting an “A” into the acronym, in my eSTEMation, we should weave the
artistic, creative and innovative spirit of learning in, around and through it
all.
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