STEM is now STEAM?

I'll find the article...soon, its in my stack at home. I can't say I teach creativity directly but create environments where students must use creativity and ingenuity to solve the problem. So can it be taught? I'm not sure. I would fear biasing the "creativity" process if I had to teach the process. I'll look for that article.....

The product of the creative process is a novel thought. The thought may just be novel to the individual.

Of course the creative process can be taught at any age. Can the brain be rewired during that training to make it as better at creative thinking? … the earlier the better: 2 to 5 years old and drops off as people age.

Before creative thinking, is critical thinking: Recognizing a problem and defining it. Then acquiring knowledge and using creative thinking to apply knowledge to solving the problem. Critical thinking also makes predictions based on models etc…

Creative thinking uses divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is fun (I love to lead a braining storming in class). Convergent thinking also has a lot of fun tools available. Many people come up with the same novel idea which leads to a group’s novel idea. Putting the pieces of the solution puzzle together and testing it produces a product and that is an accomplishment!

The subject doesn't matter; creativity education is essential. BTW - USA TTCT (Torrance) scores have fallen since 1990

SEMATIC Science, Engineering, Math, Arts, Technology and Individual Creativity

I could not be more surprised by the merging of art and creativity inot the STEM agenda. At first it seemed so counter-intuitive that I thought it was just a weird political alliance.

However, having heard the pitch made at a few conferences, I'm now a believer although I'm still not able to articulate the rationale and logic for the merging of the efforts. Somehow, it unifies developing a broader understanding of how we understand, perceive, and interact with our world.

Here is a link to Modern Automata Museum in Italy
http://www.alivola.it/00-CLOHE.htm
which is pure STEAM fun...
and across all of Europe...

more links to follow

Toymaker, Allen

1.Modern Automata Museum in Italy – youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=r0VUfuJS7RM&feature=endscreen

2.CLOHE-Automata Tablet by Modern Automata Museum – youtube video: Constructing
your first cardboard automata mechanism tool box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMvRQqB4dq4&feature=youtu.be

3.Making a simple automata box and gear mechanism toy - youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6nn49HXMQ&feature=channel&list=UL

4.Cabaret Mechanical Theater – London and worldwide links
Including the best automata blog, by maker Dug North
http://www.cabaret.co.uk/

5.Jouet Rustique –an inspirational blog by a teacher artist in France, Daniel Descomps
http://jouet-rustique.blogspot.com/
emphasizing the natural environment for sources of handmade toys

6.Aquio Nishida was the Director of the Japan Museum of Contemporary Toys
and had his work displayed in a German Museum exhibition at this link:
http://www.spielzeugmuseum-seiffen.de/japan/nishida_10.htm

7.The beautifully photographed comprehensive automata book in English is by
Rodney Peppe: Automata and Mechanical Toys, available online.

Allen