The Innovation Collaborative serves as a national forum to foster creativity, innovation and lifelong learning. It identifies and disseminates information about the many ways that effective integration of the arts, sciences, humanities, engineering, and technology reinforces teaching and incorporates lifelong learning in both in-school (formal) and out-of-school (informal) settings.
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Welcome to the Innovation Collaborative newsletter!
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The coronavirus is affecting all of us in many ways. Each of us, in our own spheres, is working to find the best solutions to deal with its impact in our work, in our personal lives, in our country, and in our world.
The Collaborative has been addressing this situation through:
- Working creatively with teachers and administrators in our national STEAM professional development to make implementation feasible for them.
- Developing a list of online activity resources for students in all disciplines that we are sharing with educators.
- Promoting social distancing by changing our May in-person DC Board meeting to a virtual meeting
- Focusing on the important thinking skills that are the foundation of the Collaborative’s work that also can help us effectively navigate the complexity of this situation. (See Thinking Skills to Navigate the Coronavirus article)
I know that we are in uncharted territory individually and collectively. I also know that we have the rich capacities to support each other, to persist, and to use our rich thinking skills to emerge from this stronger and more resilient than ever.
Best wishes for your health, peace, and safety,
Lucinda Presley
Collaborative Chair/Executive Director
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Nationally recognized researchers, educators, businesses, in addition to research studies, point out that the United States’ future in the global economy could be significantly impacted by how well today’s students are taught to think creatively and innovatively. The foundation of the work done by the Innovation Collaborative is the promotion of these creative and innovative thinking skills in today’s students.
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A Thought Leader and their work are featured in each Collaborative newsletter.
In this issue, we visit with Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D. Bonnie is Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology and Gifted and Creative Education at the University of Georgia (UGA) and the former Director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at UGA. She is known for her research in the assessment and development of creativity, especially among at-risk students, and for her extensive work in the creativity field.
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Innovation Collaborative Projects and News
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By Dr. Hope E. Wilson, Collaborative Board member and researcher, and Assistant Professor, Department of Foundations and Secondary Education, University of North Florida
As the Innovation Collaborative worked to promote highly effective practices for STEAM education, it became apparent that we needed a way to measure the impact of these practices on students. As a result of this work, 4 different rubrics were developed. The background of the research can be read in this article about the rubrics.
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Thanks in part to support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Collaborative is conducting the third phase of its STEAM teacher professional development effective practices study.
In its two previous studies conducted during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, it discovered some important effective practices in STEAM professional development. In the 2019-20 study, it is investigating the best forms of disseminating these effective practices
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Everyone has been impacted by the new COVID-19 reality. Teachers, especially, have been impacted, as they have had to develop new and effective ways to continue to work with their students.
One of the Collaborative’s current online STEAM teacher professionals, Ronda Sternhagen, has demonstrated how Collaborative thinking skills are useful for schools as they adapt to this new reality. Ms. Sternhagen teaches grades 5-12 visual art at Grundy Center Middle School and High School in Grundy Center, Iowa.
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By Julie Olson, Collaborative STEM Innovation Fellow and award-winning science teacher at Mitchell Senior High/Secondary High School, Chance,South Dakota
What started out as an idea for our Physic Photo Contest turned into a full- blown, very engaging STEAM learning experience for several at-risk science students.
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In January 2020, the Innovation Collaborative and collaborative partner the Arts Education Partnership were invited to present on STEAM education at the U.S. Department of Education’s STEM Briefings. Mary Dell’Erba, Senior Project Manager at the Arts Education Partnership, presented on the policy landscape of STEAM education and what is happening in states and districts across the nation. Andrew Watson, Innovation Collaborative Board member, presented on how the arts support the goals of STEM, and how the Innovation Collaborative is supporting research into STEAM education.
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Christi Wilkins, Executive Director of Dramatic Results, Gabriel Gaete from the Long Beach, California, Public Library, and Andrew Watson, member of the Innovation Collaborative Board of Directors, led a panel presentation on developing community partnerships to a group of approximately 40 leading arts education administrators and advocates at the Arts Education Partnership’s annual convening in Fall 2019.
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The dramatic change in work- and lifestyle caused by our response to COVID has given us new perspective on technology. Most of this quarter’s best professional development is online. This format challenges us to find new ways to share what we learn. Here are some options to begin your exploration of digital teaching resources that provide opportunities for STEAM teaching and learning.
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By Merrie Koester, Ph.D, Collaborative Advisory Council member and Science Teacher Educator and STEAM Curriculum Specialist, University of South Carolina, Center for Science Education
I am a science educator, practicing visual artist, and novelist who has, for three decades, worked to link the complementary universes of science and art as ways of more fully knowing the world. My pedagogy – these days called STEAM - centers on the artful making of ideas, performances, and artifacts that ideally lead to a sense of aesthetic transformation, joy, and empowerment.
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Lucinda Presley, Chair and Executive Director | Jonathan Katz, Strategic Advisor |
Amanda Upton, Secretary | Kathi Levin, Treasurer
Jeff Allen | Donna DiBartolomeo | Deborah Gaston | Wendy Hancock | Michael Jay |
Kathi Levin | Roger Malina | Lucinda Presley | Juliana Texley | Amanda Upton |
Andrew D. Watson | Hope E. Wilson
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