STEM 660 – Creativity & Systems/ Critical Thinking in Education
Important aspects of current K-12 educational goals/ standards are Creativity and Systems Thinking and “Critical Thinking,” each of which can be largely impacted with integrative-STEM education methods.
This 3 credit course is a graduate level course centered on effectively impacting creativity and systems/ critical thinking. This course puts creativity and thinking processes into context with the elements and principles of design of common products (widgets / processes / services). The course introduces the creative process practiced by artists, designers, engineers (& teachers), and how this knowledge is valuable in the K-12 classroom.
The course uses recent research into the creative process of humans to set a context. Content includes processes/ methods of creative thinking, drawing and modeling skills commonly used by designers; development of a design vocabulary; the nature and evolution of technological design; the impacts of design on the individual, society, and the environment (global and economic impacts); human factors; team formation/ design; and appropriate educational technology. This course ties systems thinking to creativity, across the STEM (and non-STEM) K-12 curriculum. This course also has students experience methods for assessing creativity and systems thinking.
To take this course, you must be an iSTEM graduate student who has successfully completed STEM 610. You MUST take this course alongside STEM 700.
STEM 700 – i-STEM Education Culminating Experience (Capstone)
A capstone project requires the student to design, organize, deliver and assess a “substantial” i-STEM curricular unit or a “substantial” i-STEM PD event(s). The “audience” of the event could be students (formal or informal setting), parents, teachers, administrators or other important education stakeholders. Students will work with faculty in defining the i-STEM event/ curricular unit. The i-STEM event will demonstrate the student’s in-depth understanding of i-STEM methods and content.
This course MUST be taken along with STEM 660.