Conference on Creativity

How can we make STEM flower?

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When I tell folks that I really want our children to become comfortable with STEM, they (naturally) assume I want great courses in science, engineering, technology, and math. Sure, I do. As well as great programs in music, grammar (none of this BS ‘texting vernacular’), history, citizenship, and the rest. Because our kids need to be world citizens.

But, my concept of STEM also includes making kids realize that creative solutions are what the world of the future is going to need. I never was an out of the box thinker- I was way more, a “who gives a rat’s ass” about any boxes.

I feel that I gave my kids the opportunity to recognize that sort of analysis when they were growing up. I’m pretty sure (and wildly hoping) my daughter and son-in-law are providing same for my grandson. But, we all can develop such thinking at any age. Sure, the older we are, the harder it is to make it routine, but that should never stop any of us.

Cultivate interests

The first thing we need to recognize is that we need to cultivate our interests. Yeah, even if we don’t think that interest will make us a bunch of money. (OK, AJA, I can hear you loud and clear. But, you know that I never really spent [in your mind, enough] time trying to see how I could profit from something. Just how well it solved a problem.)

I mean, while I was toiling away on my big thing- the development of an artificial kidney- I also spent time (not necessarily of my own volition) working in the garden. I never did figure out if we grew a garden because my father wanted me to do physical labor, because he loved fresh vegetables, because it was a safe place to banish me when he and my mom had “enough of me”, or what.

At the same time, I was a big fan of Dr. Norman Borlaug, the father of the green revolution. Which made me recognize that we needed to make agriculture more useful, and less wasteful of water and fertilizers. So, I also honed my ideas about hydroponics. Soilless gardening. I set up a set of pumps to circulate water, adjust the chemical composition of the water (ensuring the proper concentration of minerals and nutrients), exposure to light, all capable of growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers- rapidly and at minimal cost. (Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the artificial kidney in time for Science Fairs- but the hydroponic system certainly fit the bill.)

Which brings up the idea of having our kids maintain a list of their top 5 or so “bestest” experiences. Examining that list will help them discern what excites them, what keeps their interest. (Most kids won’t be like me and have the same top two year after year.  Which is why it’s also a good idea to review the list every year or two.)

Diversity is fundamental, humility makes one great

I knew my dad was “wicked smart”. You don’t become ‘smicha’ (an ordained rabbi) at an early age unless you are. Because one of the requirements to get that designation is to master the talmud- the arcane, meandering, set of tomes in Aramaic, overflowing with laws and traditions- and defend your position to a bunch of other scholars. Just like one has to do to obtain a PhD!

But, I also knew that didn’t make him happy (now there’s a word one would rarely pair with my dad). So, I knew life had plenty of other things that were important. (My mom- who only finished 1 year of college- was also pretty darned smart, too. She managed a slew of civilians that provided the US Army its administrative backbone, before the service abandoned Governor’s Island (NYC) for the Pentagon, replacing these thousands of women with a Univac computer. And, I swore my mom maintained her blonde hair, so we would recognize her ditziness [clearly omnipresent], but as a defense mechanism, given the world’s concept of women then- and, unfortunately, still now.)

My grandfather quizzing me all the time about math- things I had to learn as he tested me- ensured that I knew I didn’t have all the answers. (My parents also stressed that my brother had the good looks, so I better have all the answers- fast- or I wouldn’t get ahead in the world.)

And, going to the school I went, where the other kids all grew up in religious homes, where they heard and learned the traditions every single day, meant I was at a tremendous disadvantage in those classes. (OK. It’s also why I studied them so prodigiously. I have a desperate need to know as much as possible.)

But, as I worked on my artificial kidney, I met a slew of very famous, very smart, and very creative folks. Most of whom were not in agreement about what was the right answer- or the absolute wrong one. So, I learned how to synthesize ideas, to take a little bit from here, a little bit from there, to make the better solution.

(To be honest, most of my teams’ creative new developments had grains of knowledge and wisdom from other disciplines, as well as other technologies. It was our genius to discern how to apply what someone else might consider a totally disparate concept into the design platform we created.)

Teaching our kids to learn how to see the other’s point of view, to see why they think the way they do, makes it possible for us to derive a more useful solution, a better idea, something upon which we all can agree.

It’s a fundamental skill to listen to others- and not judge what they say. Let what you hear and read fester for some time- and then unpack it, then discern where there’s merit and where there’s folly- or no folly at all. (Yeah, it often turns out that it’s our idea that sucks big time.)

Our kids need to learn from feedback. Even if the feedback is off the mark, I’m betting that there’s still some truth to it, something we can learn. Like when I came home one night in November, asking my father what a “mamzar” was. When he was done beating the crap out of me (I had just turned 7), he wanted to know where I learned such a vile word. (My teacher, Mrs. Kekst, called me that.) Now that I knew what it meant, I could determine if I wanted to change how I acted in class andwhat I did- or not. [You guessed it- NOT.]

(Oh, yeah, you probably don’t know Hebrew. Mrs. Kekst had called me “a little bastard“.)

We must determine why someone did what they did. Recognize that just like we have bad days and overreact at times, so do others. My brother and I often fought (amazingly, he never got into trouble, until I was out of the house)- but the bickering taught me how to consider different actions that might yield the results I wanted- or could accept.

Or maybe, some folks do what they do because they don’t want us to know what they are really doing- and we need to pay attention.

(How many of you realize that TheDonald deliberately makes outrageous statements to keep you off the main topic, so you don’t realize or announce what’s happening there. No, TheDonald doesn’t do magic- but he uses the magician’s tools to hide certain glaring facts or actions he wants you to miss until it’s too late. )

See Opportunities

I’ve told you how my grandfather took me all around New York, letting me see the museums, the zoos, the beaches, the bridges, and the racetracks. When I would complain about the slowpokes (the tourists who walk about 200 feet an hour, as opposed to the New York natives who walk about 20 feet a second), the smells (racetracks really do smell badly), the way the candy windmill would spin off the handle in seconds- he would tell me, “Don’t complain. Figure out why that happens- but more importantly, figure out how you can make things better, what could I do that would let me have more fun in spite of this.”  (Yes, it’s a paraphrase.)

It was that sort of thinking that helped me hone my ideas about hydroponics. I had no need to hoe the soil, get on my knees and weed, drop the seeds into furrows and cover them up. Nope, I could just add a few seeds to the mesh and vermiculite, turn on the pump, and watch them grow and mature.

Learn from others, from great innovations

Going to all those museums, reading books about scientific greats, even Popular Science (I am not sure that magazine still exists), taught me how these folks think. I’ve told you how mesmerized I was by Da Vinci when I was exposed to his ideas when the special exhibit made it to Manhattan. My grandfather was a big fan of cool design, so I knew about Ray Loewy long before I met Sam, who is the best industrial designer since Mr. Loewy.

I also managed to catch every Mr. Wizard show. This science teacher taught us kids (via the television, of course) about chemistry (and a little physics, on the side.)

Nowadays, those same things can be found in museums, on educational TV, and on the web. There’s no excuse for not exposing our kids to such ideas.

A diary. A journal

When I found out that Da Vinci kept a regular journal to express his ideas, his reactions, and his thoughts, I started one too. (The trick was figuring out where to hide it from my parents.)

Expressing our thoughts helps us understand what we feel and what we think. It helps us understand others. Managing and expressing our thoughts are the keys to becoming vital citizens of the world- and making sure we can make our mark.

 

Those are the skills we want to develop in our kids. Along with imparting knowledge and empathy. So our kids will be who we hope they can become.

Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

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6 thoughts on “How can we make STEM flower?”

  1. I would add to STEM “music” – first, because music is basic to all of us, but second because (or so I’ve been told” music ties right in with mathematics. I had no – and I mean – no – music education my first few years in school, if you don’t count playing the triangle and sandblocks in kindergarten. My parents never augmented that (my Mom had a lot of things going on in her life, including increasing health problems). Who knows what sparks of learning may be triggered by music – fun music education, that is.
    Alana recently posted..The Healing Power of Music

  2. By the way – you did mention music (at the beginning of your post) – I also wanted to mention that, back when I went to the Bronx High School of Science in the late 1960’s, I don’t remember much of a music program there – I could be wrong, memories may fade, but it bothers me a bit, now that I think of it.
    Alana recently posted..The Healing Power of Music

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