Monday, December 19, 2016

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] YASMIN discussion: how does STEAM change the way that science and enginering are taught ?

Hi everyone!

Very happy to be having this discussion with you all, thanks to Roger for
organizing.

I come here with a background in neuroscience and fine art, and run the
company SciArt, but more relevant to this discussion - I'll be teaching a
STEAM course in January at Rutgers University. This is the first time this
course is being taught (it is largely experiential, we will be going around
NYC to different art-science-tech things) so I have the opportunity to
create what STEAM education should be.

I think that STEAM can mean a few different things, but the aspects of it
that I'm interested in are:

1. How perspectives from different fields can improve on others
2. How two or more fields can create innovative solutions

There is a huge gap between how students are taught (single disciplinarily)
and how one has to operate in the work place in order to be successful -
scientists spend as much time grant writing as researching (science,
writing), artists spend as much time managing their websites and social
media presences as making art (tech, art), and the list goes on.

There has been some intersting research lately into how arts-based
creativity can boost creative capacity in other fields:
http://www.artofsciencelearning.org/
And there are now companies (or at least one) that places artists into
non-arts working environments to inject and foster different ways of
thinking (preliminary results are good): http://project61.com/

As with many art-science discussions, the one of STEAM comes down to
functional value. Sure it sounds nice, but what will it actually do? The
links above indicate it could do at least a bit of 'something'. So how do I
instill in a bunch of freshman that squeezing an art class into their
pre-med schedule may be of functional value? Perhaps by focusing on these
functional outputs - these career and success driven goals.

I welcome all of your thoughts on this!

*Julia Buntaine*
*Neuroscience-based art: www.JuliaBuntaine.com
<http://www.juliabuntaine.com>*

*Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers UniversityDirector at SciArt Center
<http://www.sciartcenter.org>*
*Editor-in-Chief of SciArt Magazine <http://www.sciartmagazine.com>*


On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 5:13 PM, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> Yasminers
>
> I will take the moderators prerogative and do an initial post for our
> discussion
>
> One of the hot debates in STEM to STEAM is how STEAM approaches will
> change the way that science, engineering and medecine are taught.
> Scientists and Engineers are happy to promote the integration of
> science and engineering
> into the way that art and design are taught,
> but few scientists and engineers think that they need to intragrate
> art and design into the way they each.
>
> Anne Balsamo , (
> http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2016/5/9-32042_Anne-Balsamo-
> Appointed-Inaugural-Dean-of-ATEC-Scho-_story-wide.html
> )our new dean at ATEC at UT Dallas has initiated a 'teach the
> teachers' discussion.
>
> Here is one of the faculty presentations a few weeks ago:
>
> Karen Doore:
> Curriculum Re-Design: Computer Science for ATEC Students Karen Doore
> will present an overview of curriculum for CS programming-sequence
> courses for ATEC and will include student projects showcasing top
> student works. There are significant challenges and difficulties in
> attempting to teach complex technical material to a diverse student
> groups, particularly when many students question the premise that
> these CS courses provide value for the effort that is required to
> learn the course content. There are
> current efforts to re-design curriculum for these courses. She is
> looking for feedback and suggestions that can further guide the
> curriculum re-design efforts.
>
> About Karen Doore: http://cs.utdallas.edu/people/faculty/doore-karen/
> ( you can find links there to her publications on computer science
> education )
>
> Karen Doore is a Senior Lecturer and PhD Candidate in the Computer
> Science Department at UT Dallas. Her research focus is Computer
> Science Education, with an emphasis on curriculum design for
> Non-Majors. She earned her BS in Material Science and Engineering from
> the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN and an MS in Computer
> Science with a focus on Intelligent Systems from UT Dallas. She
> currently teaches required CS programming-sequence courses for ATEC
> students, and has been working for several years as part of the
> re-design effort for the curriculum of these courses. Her new
> curriculum has an enhanced focus on computational modeling, so that,
> in addition to learning fundamental programming concepts, students
> learn how to model dynamic, interactive systems. One goal of this
> modeling focus is to provide students with skills to design,
> communicate about, and implement dynamic interactive programs, such as
> games, animations, and design tools
>
>
> If any yasminers are involved in using STEAM to teach STEM subjects in
> new ways, please tell us about it !
>
>
> Roger Malina
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SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/