Full STEAM Ahead: Creativity in Excellent STEM Teaching Practices

The STEAM Journal Volume 1 Issue 2 The Quantified Self Article 15 February 2014 Full STEAM Ahead: Creativity in Excellent STEM Teaching Practices Danah Henriksen Michigan State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Educational Methods Commons, and the Science and Mathematics Education Commons Recommended Citation Henriksen, Danah (2014) "Full STEAM Ahead: Creativity in Excellent STEM Teaching Practices," The STEAM Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 15. DOI: 10.5642/steam.20140102.15 Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol1/iss2/15 © February 2014 by the author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives License. STEAM is a bi-annual journal published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2327-2074 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam Full STEAM Ahead: Creativity in Excellent STEM Teaching Practices Abstract This article emphasizes the value of creativity and arts-based learning in the sciences (STEAM education), using one example from a recent research study of creative and effective classroom teachers. The future of innovative thinking in STEM disciplines relies on breaking down the distinction between disciplines traditionally seen as “creative” like the arts or music, and STEM disciplines traditionally seen as more rigid or logical-mathematical (Catterall, 2002). The most exceptional thinkers in fields like science or math are also highly creative individuals who are deeply influenced by an interest in, and knowledge of, music, the arts and similar areas (Caper, 1996; Root-Bernstein, 2003; Dail, 2013; Eger, 2013). In light of this, STEAM must become an essential paradigm for creative and artistically infused teaching and learning in the sciences. I recently conducted a study of creative teaching practices among highly effective teachers (winners/finalists of the National Teacher of the Year program). This article looks at a single case drawn from this study, and considers the arts-based science teaching/learning employed by one of these teachers, Michael Geisen, the 2008 National Teacher of the Year award winner, and a middle school science teacher. Author/Artist Bio Dr. Danah Henriksen is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Educational Psychology & Educational Technology program, in the Michigan State University College of Education. Her current work and research interests focus on several strands of research related to creativity and technology, such as evaluation schemas for creative work, trans-disciplinary thinking, and creative-cognitive skills for teaching and learning. She is part of the Deep-Play Research Group in the MSU College of Education, which focuses on research related to creativity, trans-disciplinary thinking, and 21st century issues of teaching and learning. Dr. Henriksen teaches a variety of courses in the area of educational psychology and learning technology, with focuses on issues of design/creativity, technology for teaching, and the psychology of learning in technology-rich contexts. More information on her work (and a complete vita) can be found at http://www.danah-henriksen.com. Keywords transdisciplinary thinking, creativity, STEAM, STEM disciplines, arts-based learning, creative teaching, science, art Cover Page Footnote Special thanks for this article go to Dr. Punya Mishra, of Michigan State University, Department of Educational Psychology & Educational Technology (member of the Deep-Play Research Group). His invaluable collaboration on research in this area, as well as feedback on this article itself, have been instrumental in this work. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in The STEAM Journal: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol1/iss2/15 Henriksen: Full STEAM Ahead Full STEAM Ahead: Creativity in Excellent STEM Teaching Practices Danah Henriksen The value of the arts in STEM disciplines has long been recognized. Pythagoras characterized his fellow mathematicians with the comment, “we are poets” (Riley, 2012, p. 31) – and Max Planck, the father of quantum theory, commented that pioneer scientists must have “a vivid intuitive imagination, for new ideas are not generated by deduction, but by artistically creative imagination” (Planck, 1950, p.109). In the historical accounts of many great scientists and mathematicians, it is clear that the boundaries between art and science or music and math are more fluid than conventional learning paradigms suggest (Root-Bernstein, 1999; Shlain, 1991). As the readers and editors of this journal understand and appreciate, the field of education must begin to exemplify this boundarybreaking reality through the tenets of a STEAM, rather than a STEM approach. The multifaceted issues and complex problems served by scientific thinkers today require 21st century professionals who go beyond disciplinary content, and are also creative thinkers who can work between disciplines (Mishra, et al., 2013; The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007). Teaching and learning that connects the arts and sciences is essential, because historical evidence demonstrates that these connections are already innate for the most effective and innovative STEM practitioners (Mishra, Henriksen, & the Deep-Play Research Group, 2012; Root-Bernstein, 1999). Yet, arts-infused instruction in STEM disciplines is often times not the norm in the U.S. educational system, and educational policies often make it difficult for teachers to teach this way without deviating from standards-driven curriculum (Fusarelli, 2004). The future of innovative thinking in STEM disciplines relies on breaking down the distinction between disciplines traditionally seen as “creative” like the arts or music, and STEM disciplines traditionally seen as more rigid or logical-mathematical (Catterall, 2002). The most exceptional thinkers in fields like science or math are highly creative people across disciplines, who are deeply influenced by an interest in, and knowledge of, music, the arts and more (Caper, 1996; Dail, 2013; Eger, 2013; Root-Bernstein, 2003). In light of this, STEAM has become an essential paradigm for creative and artistically infused teaching and learning in STEM disciplines. The Deep-Play Research 1 The STEAM Journal, Vol. 1, Iss. 2 [2014], Art. 15 Group (a group I work with at Michigan State University) focuses on creativity and transdisciplinary thinking. A recent study I conducted there focused on creative teaching practices among exceptional teachers, specifically through in-depth interviews with teachers who had received the National Teacher of the Year award (Henriksen, 2011; Henriksen & Mishra, 2013). Some key findings of this study indicated that arts-based teaching leads to m (...truncated)