Sputnik Moment: 21st-Century Rocket Boys & Girls, NOTES FROM THE FUTURE | by Jim Brazell, January 31, 2011

On the evening of October 4, 1957, at 1912 Greenwich Mean Time, an R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile lifted off from the former Soviet Union carrying a 23-inch shiny steel orb with four metal antennas named Sputnik. The “Space Age” had

begun and along with it a new age of educational urgency and educational reform in the United States. Today, the questions and circumstances are different than the Sputnik Era; however, the need for urgency and the goal is the same—innovation.

In response to last week’s State of the Union Address by President Obama, Dr. Francis “Duke” Kane (Col., USAF, ret.), the Father of the U.S. Global Positioning System, says “Similar to Eisenhower’s answer to the Sputnik threat, we must invest in science and technology, education and human creativity.”  Duke was recognized as a Space and Missile Pioneer and catalyst of GPS by the US Air Force Space Command on March 2, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas.

◼ Lackland Air Force Base, March 2,2010, Presentation of Space Pioneer Portrait, Dr. Francis X. Kane (Col., USAF, ret.).

——

At 92 years of age, he is the President of the Schriever Institute and still a bellwether for what is next in the “Strategy of Technology.” For the past decade Duke has advocated development of programs to inspire the “speed of light generation” to pursue space exploration with an eye toward Mars and how we can harvest “living energy” from space.

Similar to President Obama, after the launch of Sputnik, President Eisenhower, in 1957, faced rising global tensions, a critical time window and very low tolerance for failure. As it relates to K-12 education, Eisenhower discovered the M.I.T. Physical Sciences Study Committee (PSSC) created to reform teaching of introductory courses in physics—shifting from rote learning to learning-by-doing.

The first edition of the new high school textbook, Physics, appeared in 1960 and the Teacher’s Guide explains the shift in pedagogy engendered by this new approach as a shift from “axiomatic” (self-evident truth) to “inductive” (using observation to move from specific to broader conclusions) presentation of the curriculum. Similar to PSSC, modern educational science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) practice is undergoing a systematic transformation.

The term STEM was coined by Dr. Judith Ramaley when she was Assistant Director of the Education and Human Resources Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2001 to 2004 (Chute, 2009). Ramaley’s concept of STEM places learning in the context of solving real world problems and creating new knowledge—pursuit of innovation. Spurred by a public and private sector push for global competitiveness, STEM has become a lightning rod for education in 2011.

Emerging P-20 Strategies, Technologies and Jobs

At work today in your high school or a neighboring high school is a group of students who are learning by creating, designing, building and breaking some new fangled rocket, robot, car, dragster, or video game. These are the rocket boys and girls of the 21^st century and the American answer to national innovation, competitiveness and security.

In the Texas Hill Country, Fredericksburg High School students are launching rockets at twice the speed of sound (Mach 2). Systems Go, a high school aerospace program, has propelled Justin Junell into work as an analysis engineer at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center. During his senior year, Junell and classmates launched a 22-foot-tall Red Bird 12 rocket at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

◼ Fredericksburg High School launched the Red Bird 12 Rocket. Fredericksburg High School launched the Red Bird 12 rocket with support from White Sands Missile Range. The Red Bird 12 was designed and developed to produce 2,200 pounds of thrust for 23.5seconds producing a lift off acceleration of 5-g’s.  The fuel grain and nozzle were designed and developed entirely by high school students. Designed by Brett Williams, the Rocket Man, Ignite Learning’s SystemsGO offers schools nation wide the ability to follow his students into space. (White Sands Missile Range).

——

While the first manned spaceship to go into outer space was the Soviet Vostok I, in 1961, the first entrepreneurs in space are propelled by Virgin Galactic including the engineering of Burt Ratan (US) and Sir Richard Branson (UK). In 2008, the Aerospace Industries Association produced a report titledLaunching the 21st Century American Aerospace Workforce with a call to cultivate a highly skilled workforce of scientists, engineers and technicians critical to our national security, our economy and the strength of our industrial base.

In San Antonio, Information Technology and Security Academy (ITSA) students have advanced to the Cyber Patriot national hacker defense competition in 2011. The CyberPatriot program is designed by Greg White, Ph.D., at the University of Texas San Antonio to spur more interest in computer science and cyber security nationally. In July of 2010, Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity called for a shift from knowledge-based testing to demonstration of learned knowledge (skill) as a critical change for certifications at both technical and professional levels of cyber security.

◼ ROTC Cyber Patriots from US Cyber Patriot Competition, Team Doolittle from Clearfield HS, Clearfield, Utah, ponders a problem with their network, Pictured left to right: T.J. Boender, Eric Takacs, Adam Thurman, Jorge Lerma, and Robert Estrada Jr.

——

The report, Designing our Digital Future, identifies network and information technology (NIT) as a critical lynch pin in the US science and technology workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), from 1998-2008, NIT occupations have comprised between 52% and 58% of all science and technology occupations. Cyberspace is the crucible upon which US wealth creation has been built since the Apollo program—spanning engineering, life science, physical science, and social science occupations. According to BLS 2009 projections, cyberspace (NIT) will add 762,700 jobs growing more than twice as fast as the average for all occupations in the economy, according to the 2008-2018 forecast.

In Florida, Orlando Tech students are building video games and using motion capture technology for occupational and physical therapy. Programs that bolster interest and competency in health care and life science are critical as Baby boomers retire, the care base expands and research and development accelerates. Definitions of health care workforce shortage areas include primary care, long term care, and mental health ranging from doctors to nurses and including many technical specialties from dental to Health Information Technology (HIT).

◼ Orlando Tech Students work on video games, 3-D Modelling and Motion Capture Technology.

——

In Glendale, California, Clark Magnet High School environmental science students dive a small remotely operated submarine as part of the Lexus Eco Challenge. In this initiative, students study pollution levels in the California spiny lobster. Led by teacher Dominque Evans-Bye, publshed GIS analysis indicating that runoff from agriculture in Ventura County travel offshore with ocean currents to affect lobster populations in coastal waters. Industry runoff has a high impact on marine life in and around the LA Harbor. The group of students call their team the ‘Ecosavers’, and are all enrolled in the second year of a marine science class which studies Environmental GIS, a program that covers different ecosystems and detects natural and man-made factors within that ecosystem.

Previous remotely operated submersible operations by students identified heavy metals flowing from the city waterways into the LA Harbor where homeland security and first responders train divers. Student findings resulted in procedural changes for training and certifying first responders. Similar to other STEM areas, the environmental public health workforce is in need of practitioners from program officers to technicians to prevent and mitigate environmental tragedies and maintain high standards of public health.

◼ Clark STEM Magnet School students learning to prep the set-up for Soxhlet extraction of organochlorines.

——

In California, Los Altos Academy of Engineering students regularly show up to theShell Eco-Marathon Americas green car challenge with a surprise for university and industry competitors. In 2007, the inventive high school students entered a fuel cell car averaging 1,038 mpg equivalent—others competitors showed up with solar cars. Fuel cell technology uses a non-combustion chemical process to eliminate sulfur-oxide (SO2), nitrogen-oxides (NOX) and carbon-monoxide (CO) from energy production.

◼ The Los Altos Engineering Academy has a tradition of integrating math and science curriculum with student directed engineering projects. Students apply academic knowledge to solve real-world problems. From solar and electric powered cars to human powered airplanes, students learn to use teamwork to design and construct large scale projects. Partnerships with Edison, Toyota, AQMD, and Boeing give students access to leading-edge technology and expertise. Cooperation with Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State LA, Cerritos College has provided academy students with access to some of the leading hydrogen technology in America.

——

Beyond transportation, fuel cells called “Bloom Boxes” or “Energy Power Servers” available from Bloom Energy in California provide energy efficiency (EE) today for utilities, large industrial plants, and large businesses. As the US push to reduce dependence on foreign oil and to reduce the carbon footprint marches on, energy efficiency (EE) initiatives at utilities, industrial plants, and large employer sites hunger for “multi-skill” professionals and technicians across the entire spectrum from research and development to plant operations.

In Dallas, Texas, Denton ISD Advanced Technology Center students drove their “Bat Mobile” to a National Electric Dragster Association world record in October 2010. Similar to the PSSC, this is not your traditional science class. These are examples of Career and Technical Education (CTE) transforming rote learning into practice with high academic standards. These STEM efforts underscore a tectonic shift in K-12 education from narrow disciplines to transdiciplinary initiatives–situating learning within the context of solving real world challenges and opportunities.

◼ The Denton ISD Advanced Technology Center dragster designed and developed by the Denton ISD ATC Engineering, Auto Technology, Welding and Computer Numeric Control Programs has set the world record for speed at 9.93 seconds with a new design of an electrical powered engine. The ATC dragster designed and developed by the Denton ISD ATC Engineering, Auto Technology, Welding and Computer Numeric Control Programs has set the world record for speed at 9.93 seconds with a new design of an electrical powered engine.

——

Our Personal Sputnik Moment

Perhaps more than any external threat such as that posed by the Soviets in 1957, today our personal Sputnik is our feeling of inadequacy in the face of all of the technology present in our lives. Many of us hold back and are afraid of technology. We are conservative in the face of change and hold onto the status-quo because we have a sense of control.

As the 21^st century “Sputnik moment” penetrates the national conscience after the recent State of the Union address, it is time for reflection about our perceptions and attitudes about “shop class” and “vocational education.” The role and scope of technology in our world is changing rapidly. Our cell phones now have more computing power than the computers used by NASA to put man on the moon.

The X-box game console has more computing power than any single supercomputer in 1994—with estimates by the super computer association of $120 million to achieve X-box calculation speeds at the time. Computers are embedded in toys, wash machines, dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners, heaters, sprinkler systems, planes, trains, automobiles, and traffic lights. These systems represent a shift from personal computers to mechatronic and robotic systems—now part of the fabric of 21^st century society.

What we are missing in the 21^st century is the view that technology is not the gadgets and the hardware and the software. It is not the atoms or the photons or the electrons pulsing through the Internet or our home appliances. Rather, the technology is us. According to Dr. Kane, “Technology is human creativity and artistic expression… it is knowledge in action… knowledge with a purpose… it is the art in science and engineering…” According to this view, “technology is the space between our minds and our hands.” It is our imagination, our ability to tell stories, our drive to exist and make the world a better place. For Dr. Kane, “…this space is where the speed of light generation operates.”

Career and Technical Education and Career Pathways have a role to play in this creative transformation. At Denton ISD and in pockets of innovation through out the United States one can pursue law, pre-med, engineering, architecture, animation special effects and other career pathways relevant to 21^st century society. At schools such as Denton’s Advanced Technology Center, Fredericksburg HS, ITSA, Orlando Tech, Clark Magnet and the Los Altos Academy of Engineering, the woodshop has become an animation studio, a rocket design lab, an eco automotive workshop, an oceanography laboratory and the conclave for ethical hacking and cyber security.

CTE is an educational movement with a purpose. It is the high school workbench for the inventors, scientists, technicians and artists who will transform our economy and our hopes as we reach for the stars and what is next in the human story. This is the new face of Career and Technical Education. And, it is the hands and minds and dreams of the 21^stcentury rocket boys and girls that are creating how the future works—today!

◼ WHAT YOU CAN DO TO GET INVOLVED

__Inquire about Systems Go rocketry, the Lexus Eco Challenge and Shell Eco-Marathon Americas STEM programs for your school.

__Enter a High School in the Cyber Patriot Defensive Hacker Competition Sponsored by the US Air Force Association for a total cost of $350. Teams that place into nationals travel free to Washington DC in 2011. Learn more about Cyber Patriot.

__Attend the National Career Pathway Network Conference, October 12-14, at the Orlando World Center Marriot to learn more about how CTE, STEM and Career Pathways can propel your students to college and career readiness in the 21^st century.

__Introduce a Middle School Class to www.Whyville.net and become an entrepreneur, run for Senator, write an article for the whyville times, design a green energy home or design a cure for the whypox in the bio informatics lab. Whyville is 100% free and offers career simulations in addition to many other activities with over 6 million subscribers served.

__Connect Earth Science and service-based learning in your community with GLOBE.  The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE’s vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA, NOAA and NSF Earth System Science Projects (ESSP’s) in study and research about the dynamics of Earth’s environment.

__Contact Donna McKethan at Waco ISD about her “Robot Math” course calledAnalytical Integrated Mathematics funded by the US Department of Education. The course delivers rigorous career and academic preparation and represents a new standard for vocational mathematics. Funded by a Gear Up grant, the curriculum is free. In Texas, the Career and Technical Education math course counts for post Algebra II academic credit.

__Schedule a free teleconference, webinar or web video conversation with Dr. Francis X. Kane, Father of the Global Positioning System to inspire your students in their pursuits for living, learning and working in a GPS world. Contact Jim Brazell at 210-381-2835 orjim.brazell@radicalplatypus.com to make arrangements.

◼ THE 21st-CENTURY EQUIVALENT OF 1960′s PSSC PHYSICS: OP TEC.

The modern equivalent of PSSC’s approach to physics (hands-on and high academic rigor) is the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education. Otherwise known as OP-TECthe high technology program for high schools and colleges is a model answer to Obama’s rhetorical “Sputnik moment.” The consortium, like PSSC, was founded in anticipation of needs in academic physics and industrial research and development. Optics is at the center of next generation health care, life science, medicine, cyber security, computing, networking, home entertainment, green energy, aerospace, and more. Optics and photonics impact everything from HDTV to new flexible displays to new diabetes blood tests that require less blood and time for analysis to robotics that index entire human genomes in four (4) days. Founded by Dan Hull, Ph.D., OP-TEC offers a vocation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)related to optics and photonics in collaboration with high schools, two-year colleges and universities.

◼ Texas State Technical College Science & Technology R&D Technician at the Baylor Nano Lab (Casper).

——

Jim Brazell is a technology forecaster, public speaker and strategist focusing on innovation and transformation. Since 2003, Jim has authored several emerging technology forecasts and briefs in addition to consulting on international technology innovation strategies in Portugal and the U.S. In October of 2011, Jim will deliver the keynote speech for the National Career Pathway Network conference in Orlando, Florida. Jim’s mentor and collaborator is Dr. (Col.) Francis X. “Duke” Kane who was recognized in March of 2010 as a catalyst of the global positioning system (GPS) among other achievements. Jim and Duke are the co-founders of spaceTEAMS in San Antonio, Texas, targeting the first person to walk on Mars to be from San Antonio. On January 28, 2011 Jim delivered a webinar for MATEC Networks titled STEM: Mainstreaming CTE. To watch all or part of the 2 hour program online free, visit MATCH Networks and “create an account” with NSF funded program to view the recording of the webinar from your computer.

A Sputnik Moment for Education: The Role of CTE and Arts in STEM Innovation, NOTES FROM THE FUTURE | by Jim Brazell, Feb 28, 2011

Hailed as this generation’s “Sputnik moment,”science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is slotted to receive $3.4 billion in President Obama’s 2012 budget request. The President’s “Winning the Future” strategy includes $13 billion in overall investment to stimulate innovation. The many voices calling for more rigorous STEM education in the United States range from the National Academies of Science to the board rooms of industry, the halls of Congress, and the nation’s military leadership.

Fueled by the accelerating rate of science- and technology-based innovations, and unsatisfactory U.S. benchmarks on international university (percent of STEM graduates) and K-12 education (math and science scores) performance, STEM is the investment President Obama is asking for among other funding trade-offs.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), states that primary and secondary (K-12) STEM education include mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, environmental science, and geology. PCAST avers that STEM education will help produce the capable and flexible workforce needed to compete in a global marketplace; however, its narrow classical education definition misses the mark in terms of how STEM fuels innovation.

In the United States, science- and technology-based innovations have contributed an overwhelming proportion of economic growth to our national economy and in per capita income since the beginning of the 20^th century. The STEM workforce transcends the mere 5% of jobs usually categorized as “STEM” by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, arts and “middle-skill” jobs are not typically counted as part of the STEM workforce but require knowledge and understanding of science, technology, engineering and math in their practice:

(1) Of the two million U.S. arts jobs requiring significant technology proficiency: 10% are architects; 11% are fine artists, art directors and animators; 7% are producers and directors; and 7% are photographers. The products of these disciplines represent 6.4% of the U.S. economy and over $126 billion annually in revenue from foreign trade. Read more at Arts in the Workforce.

(2) The Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University estimates that approximately seven million “middle-skill” job openings will be filled by workers with an associate’s degree or occupational certificate between now and 2018. Students who obtain an engineering certificate from a technical or community college earn an average income of $46,596.00 and those who hold a certificate in a health related field earn a median salary of $46,000.00. Read more at Pathways to Prosperity.

STEM, therefore, deserves special status in terms of how we define related workforce and educational practice—and thus concomitant funding. Albert Einstein once said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” If we are to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” as President Obama has proclaimed, we must ask: What is missing in the innovation agenda?

The answer is the arts.

The separation between the arts and science, technology, engineering and mathematics is artificial and relatively new in terms of human history. All of the disciplines of science, engineering and mathematics are born of Mother Art. And, she has somehow lost touch with her children.

A grassroots movement has emerged, connecting STEM and the Arts with acronyms such as TEAMS and STEAM. In South Korea, the Ministry of Education recently announced that its innovation agenda will be buttressed by investments in STEAM—STEM and the ARTS—not just STEM. In the U.S., the National Science Teachers Association and the Arts Education partnership both have STEM and arts integration on their professional development agendas. Career and Technical Education (CTE) initiatives in Ohio, Texas, Florida, Maryland, and California are pursuing similar STEAM initiatives to deliver students to higher education and workers to industries ranging from the defense department to Disney.

When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding for the war effort, he asked: “Then what are we fighting for?” Similarly, as we begin this journey of making sacrifices and investing in education and research we should ask: What is the role of the arts in innovation? What is the role of the arts in wealth creation? What is the role of the arts in creating jobs? What is the role of the arts in national security? What is the role of the arts in defining who we are as Americans? And, what is the role of the arts in STEM initiatives?

Michael Lesiecki from MATEC Networks in Arizona explains, “Our industry partners are seeking a more entrepreneurial type of knowledge worker… one who understands the creative and innovation processes. I think this is why we need to integrate STEM and the arts.” Community College and high school CTE programs should target STEM initiatives including grants to build STEM consortia and networks, teacher recruiting and professional development, CTE-STEM-ARTS integration and online learning. A special emphasis should be placed on the intersection of network and information technology (NIT) with the arts, cyber security, games and simulations, health, energy, transportation, environmental science, physical science and health science.

Model TEAMS initiatives include Valencia Community College arts and entertainment program, Indian River State College, Clark Magnet High School, Orlando Tech gaming, and Ohio’s TEAMS model. A key differentiator for CTE will be to emphasize a systems perspective including movement through the process of concept, design, implementation and operations (CDIO) in relevant technical and engineering programs.

CTE programs should work to organize knowledge into a system-of-systems similar to Marcopa Community College’s eSyst—an emerging model of systems technicians displacing antiquated electronics programs. Learn more at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology CDIO program, the Society for Design and Process Science, and the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.

Middle- to high- skill workforce education initiatives should be emphasized in CTE, including a greater focus on adopting practices, professional development and curricula from the NSF Advanced Technology Education programs. Learn more about these high rigor CTE-STEM programs at the upcoming Hi-TEC conference, NSF ATE program grant site or at ATE Centers online.

——

Jim Brazell is a technology forecaster, public speaker and strategist focusing on innovation and transformation. Since 2003, Jim has authored several emerging technology forecasts and briefs in addition to consulting on international technology innovation strategies in Portugal and the U.S. In October of 2011, Jim will deliver the keynote speech for the National Career Pathway Network conference in Orlando, Florida. Jim’s mentor and collaborator is Dr. (Col.) Francis X. “Duke” Kane who was recognized in March of 2010 as a catalyst of the global positioning system (GPS) among other achievements. Jim and Duke are the co-founders of spaceTEAMS in San Antonio, Texas, targeting the first person to walk on Mars to be from San Antonio.

Connecting STEM and Arts (TEAMS) to Spur U.S. Innovation: 5 Part Series of Essays, By Jim Brazell, Edutopia, July-August, 2008

Connecting STEM and Arts (TEAMS) to Spur U.S. Innovation: Part 1 of 5, By Jim Brazell, Edutopia, 7/30/10, Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jim Brazell, a technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant. This is the first article in a five-part series.

In 2010, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference featured a "crowd sourced" keynote selection. People voted over the web and the most popular nominee was given the closing keynote of one of the largest educational computing conferences in the world.

On July 1, Hawaii's Jeff Piontek declared: "It's no longer STEM. It's STEAM." His presentation slides had white typeface for the words science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and bold red typeface for the word arts. The educator drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd of thousands.

The term STEM was coined by Dr. Judith Ramaley when she was assistant director of the education and human resources directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2001 to 2004 (Chute, 2009). Ramaley's concept of STEM situates learning in the context of solving real world problems or creating new opportunities—pursuit of innovation. Spurred by a public and private sector push for global competitiveness,STEM has become a lightning rod for education in 2010.

People involved in the movement to integrate STEM and the arts use the acronym "TEAMS" or "STEAM." Advocates from both the world of science and the world of arts have converged in a grass roots movement. The movement is about transformative practices in education that unify knowing and doing—theory and application.

According to the NSF, the great scientific and technological breakthroughs are expected at the intersection of disciplines. Related to TEAMS, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) both have emerging practices. Model schools and states are emerging though they are highly differentiated. Part three of this article series covers a TEAMS model school in California and part four identifies Ohio as a TEAMS model state.

On January 11, 2010, the National Science Teachers Association published "Reaching Students Through STEM and the Arts." The article describes efforts underway across the U.S. focused on integrating science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) curricula.

In 2007, the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) released Arts Integration Frameworks, Research and Practice: A Survey of the Literature on Arts Integration as a free online book. The book is a complete survey of the literature related to arts integration. Today, integrated technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and science (TEAMS) initiatives are grass roots and emerging but not yet part of the formal national STEM innovation agenda.

During President Barack Obama’s April 2009 visit to the 146th congress of the National Academy of Science he announced more planned investment in STEM education, research and commercialization than America spent to answer Russia's Sputnik and ultimately to pioneer space travel to the moon. In his shadow are Eisenhower’s investments in the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA and the Defense research and development office DARPA.

Today, the questions and circumstances are different than the Sputnik Era; however, the goal is the same -- innovation. On July 28, 2010, the Father of the U.S. Global Positioning System, Col. (Dr.) Francis "Duke" Kane read this article. Duke’s response is: "STEM represents the knowledge, tools and processes to invent the future, however, the arts are what make us human. They are inseparable."

Energy innovation, workforce innovation, educational innovation, and economic innovation are all part of the U.S. innovation agenda. The arts; however, are struggling to find a voice and a place in the 21st century story. Stay tuned for part two of the five article series: Emerging TEAMS Innovation in Florida, New York and Texas.

The TEAMS Model: Unifying Arts, Academics, and Career and Technical Education, By Jim Brazell (Part 2 of 5), 8/6/10, Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jim Brazell, a technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant. It is the second in a five-part series on the convergence of STEM education and the Arts (TEAMS).

TEAMS in Florida

"We are witnessing a new Renaissance," Bob explains, "where TEAMS work and disciplines are the key to Florida's creative enterprise from film to educational technology to medicine." On Friday, June 18, 2010, Bob Allen spoke to the Florida Association of Arts Education (FAAE) about the importance of integrating technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and science (TEAMS). To Bob, integration of STEM and the arts is a no brainer. Bob is the chief storytelling officer of IDEAS, an innovation studio that was spun out of Disney in Orlando.

Florida is a critical state in terms of TEAMS-based education because cultural and technical arts industries accounted for $28 billion dollars in revenue in 2007 with forecasted job growth exceeding biomedical and defense (as a percentage) between 2008 and 2018 (Harper, 2008). The arts are also viewed systemically in Florida across many STEM high technology industries.

TEAMS programs underway in Florida include: (1) the Florida High Tech Corridor Council techPATH program, (2) the Orlando Science Center's Otronicon video game initiative, (3) University of Central Florida's Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) and (4) coordination across Career and Technical Education (CTE) industry advisory boards for STEM, Information Technology (IT) and Arts, A/V Technology and Communications (ARTS).

Texas TEAMS Developments

On April 7, 2010, Texas Governor Rick Perry launched GameOn! Texas to discuss video games, film, new media and educational strategies for the state. Dr. Peter Raad from the Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) stated, “STEM and arts are two sides of the same coin.”

Texas projects integrating STEM and the arts include: (1) spaceTEAMS, a P-20 STEM-ARTS-IT diversity initiative feeding San Antonio's emerging national cyberspace defense and hacker competition Cyber Patriot sponsored by the Air Force Association, (2) the Guildhall Academy and its masters program in game design and summer camp for K-12 game designers, (3) Spencer Zuzolo’s Game Camp for middle, high and college students, (4) P-20 initiatives being staged by the Texas State Technical College System Associate Vice Chancellor of STE(A)M and (5) CTE-academic integration across all Texas high schools supported by the Texas Education Agency.

New York Embraces TEAMS

New Visions for Public Schools launched Quest to Learn in New York City. The sixth-to-twelfth grade school is designed around theories of engagement and learning embedded in the arts, play, games and creativity. In 2008, New York City launched a bold initiative to make career and technical education (CTE) innovation a city-wide priority.

CTE programs in New York City and the state are supported by an emphasis on the arts including standards that support arts inclusion, while the grand CTE experiment in the city redefines traditional “vocational education” and “general education” by integrating arts, academics and career education for all students in select schools.

A Quiet Revolution

What is common across Florida, Texas and New York is an emerging model that unifies arts, humanities and career and technical education (CTE) to redefine “general education” and the idea of a “well rounded student.” The well rounded student of the 21st century is academically prepared and also able to put knowledge into action to solve real world problems and opportunities.

In these states, legacy general education is giving way to a quiet revolution. The revolution consists of technologies that once cost hundreds of millions of dollars now available for thousands and courageous teachers who dare ask: “What kind of world do you want to live in today and can you imagine and design it?”

Case Study: TEAMS Model School - Clark STEM Magnet in Glendale, CA, part 3 of 4, By Jim Brazell, 8/13/10, Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jim Brazell, a technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant. It is the third in a five-part series on the convergence of STEM education and the Arts (TEAMS).

In the sleepy hills of Glendale California, near the LA Zoo, is a pioneering high school challenging everything we know and accept about the American high school experience. The school is Clark Magnet School, home of the Panthers. Clark's next goal is to be the first high school to launch a functioning satellite into orbit. The school's aspiration is to participate in the U.S. Air Force Academy's initiative to enable students to "learn space by doing space."

At Clark, robots dive to get underwater samples of pollution and as a result have changed the way Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies train underwater divers in Los Angeles. Students make movies, build robots, conduct chemistry experiments and do all of the things anyone would expect in a STEM Magnet School -- with one exception -- the emphasis on STEM is met with equal emphasis on the arts, careers and the humanities.

Clark serves an ethnically diverse population of students with STEM programs at the same cost per pupil as other district schools (plus grants). About one-half of the school's students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Eighty-five percent of the school's population speaks a language other than English at home, with primary languages being Armenian, Korean and Spanish.

At Clark, the focus is leadership, character and culture of innovation. This culture of innovation includes connecting real world events, challenges and opportunities to the curricula across high school disciplines and grades. Students organize for worldly challenges by assuming project roles and responsibilities and by using industry standard tools, systems and processes when possible. A senior class project is required for every student and is a big part of the way Clark maintains a conversation with the community.

Clark students participate in many competitions, but the art of the school is the internalization of technology-based competitions, careers, and projects across curricula and grades. The school does not have the latest equipment for every project, but that does not stop Clark from building, creating, constructing, simulating and designing new worlds of possibility.

The culture of innovation is a reflection of the school’s participatory leadership style, where every stakeholder in the school is involved in the design, execution and sustainability of the school, its story and its future. Clark is about innovation at its core. Clark is recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School (2006), California Distinguished School (2005 and 2009), and has received a California Exemplary Career Technical Education Program Award (2005), and a California Title I Academic Achievement Award (2010, 2009, 2008).

Clark has great pride and humility in their achievements and their school. Principal Douglas Dall is open to visits from anyone who wants to experience the school. This leadership and caring is what makes Clark so special. At Clark, the school is the community. The community is the team. And the students rise with great energy and from all backgrounds to meet the challenge of asking and answering what kind of school, community and world they want to live in. Clark is an answer to what works when TEAMS unifies the arts, academics and career and technical education practice. Stay tuned for part 4 of 5: TEAMS Model State - The Ohio Arts Integration and STEM Initiative.

TEAMS Model State: The Ohio Arts Integration and STEM Initiative (Part 4 of 5), By Jim Brazell, 8/20/10, Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jim Brazell, a technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant. It is the fourth in a five-part series on the convergence of STEM education and the Arts (TEAMS).

Ohio has cracked the educational innovation code with TEAMS. In 2007, newly elected Governor Ted Strickland signed into legislation funding supporting both STEM and arts education in Ohio's schools. Backed by Battelle and the Ohio State University System and a very broad and energized stakeholder community, Ohio is an emerging model of both STEM and arts integration best practices.

During the Arts Education Partnership's (AEP) national forum in Cleveland, Nancy Pistone, a representative of the Ohio Department of Education, linked Ohio's emphasis on 21st century skills and the arts. At the 2007 event, she announced the formation of a statewide arts advisory committee—the Committee for the Arts and Innovative Thinking (CAIT). The announcement included expansion of outreach to schools and arts teachers through increased professional development opportunities (Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Department of Education, 2007).

The new initiative rested on a solid groundwork. Over the past ten years, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) deployed the Initiative for Cultural Art in Education, supporting arts integration across subject areas in fifty-nine schools. With funding from the Ford Foundation and the Cleveland Integrated Arts Collaborative, CMSD launched the Art is Education initiative. By supporting a whole school model, Art is Education addresses important issues of academic achievement and school climate (Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Department of Education, 2010).

The Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) offers a "Pofessional Development in Arts Integration." The program is supported by Columbus City Schools in partnership with BalletMet Columbus, Opera Columbus and the Jazz Arts Group. The program is a national model for professional development for educators teaching methods of integrating performing and visual arts throughout the curricula. The program adheres to district and state academic content standards (GCAC, 2010).

During the 2007 AEP national forum, Nancy Pistone clearly articulated the responsibility that the Ohio Department of Education has to lead the state and the nation in innovation that systemically embrace the arts as a basis of educational reform. And in doing so, she created an open space and a dialogue about the fundamental importance of embracing the arts as a transformational catalyst for innovation in education, workforce and economic development. Pristone also delivered a roadmap, free of charge, to support the opening of the AEP's arts integration initiative.

The book, Arts Integration Frameworks, Research and Practice: A Survey of the Literature on Arts Integration is available free to those who wish to learn more about how to do arts integration. Stay tuned for Part Five – The Path to Innovation: Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) Integration.

The Path to Innovation: Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) Integration (5 of 5), By Betty Ray, 8/23/10, Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is Jim Brazell, a technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant. It is the fourth in a five-part series on the convergence of STEM education and the Arts (TEAMS).

The mandate of the 21st century and what everyone in the STEM game is pursuing is the capacity for "knowledge innovation." According to Debra Amidon, the mother of the knowledge economy, “Knowledge innovation is the creative process that delivers new knowledge, intellectual property and ultimately adaptation and survival.” (Debra Amidon, July 28, 2010, Email Interview)

In the context of our schools and communities knowledge innovation questions include: What is innovation? Can we teach innovation? Can one learn to innovate? How do we do innovation? Can we create innovative schools, organizations and businesses?

The STEM Push

In 2010, national organizations that traditionally serve America’s schools with educational technology, professional development and instructional programs are asserting their leadership on STEM. In October 2010: (1) The National School Board Association's Technology and Learning Conference in Arizona will focus on STEM. (2) In Florida, the League for Innovation in the Community College will launch STEMtech, and (3) The National Career Pathway Network (NCPN) will hold its 19th annual meeting dedicated to the vocations of STEM and the arts.

Other recent examples of this focus include the July 2010 STEM Florida hosted its first annual conference. Texas, California, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts and Minnesota among virtually all states are underway with similar efforts. In all, the arts are budding but not significantly part of the STEM innovation agenda in the US—while some Nordic countries, parts of Asia and some Latin American countries are developing “innovation economy” strategies linking STEM, arts, design and culture.

TEAMS - How do we do innovation?

The source of innovation in all of us is storytelling. It is what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Our ability to tell stories—fiction and nonfiction—are at the root of our survival, adaptation and our existence. When stories are about what is next or more specifically what is being done next, they are most powerful-they are transformative.

Below is a series of Haiku from a workshop the author conducted with the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS) in Dallas, Texas, June 2010. The poems are the result of Bob Allen's "STEM Blossom" story exercise. SDPS “next generation” members were challenged to compose a series of Haiku to express how the group can partner with other groups to harness science and the arts for the betterment of humanity:

The Civilizing Effect of Science

Education and
knowledge have a power when

transdisciplinary.

Love is
commitment to
each other.

Beauty

is adaptation to 
the world.
Social thought generates

ideas and connectivity
to change the world now.

These Haiku are an answer to the question: how do we innovate? The answer is simple but not simplistic. Knowledge innovation can only happen when we engage the world in creating a new story.
In the case of SDPS, their story is about engaging the world beyond disciplines to create the future--transdisciplinarity. It is in this playful space between imagination, the physical world and each other that we find what it is that makes us human—the human element. "Stories..." as Bob Allen from IDEAS explains, "...are how we organize our reality and project our future."

Stories of Innovation

In San Antonio, Texas the Pre-K-to-Mars initiative called spaceTEAMS is an exciting example. Since 2006, Andrew Schuetze from Alamo Community College has been telling children that they can be the first person to walk on Mars. Spurred by Ramiro Cavazos in Economic Development, the city created a partnership with local school districts, businesses, and universities to deliver a P-20 pipeline to feed the city’s growing demand for knowledge innovation.

The vision for this TEAMS program came from the father of the Global Positioning System—Dr. (Col.) Francis X. Kane, who now believes that we must think beyond Mars: “There are black holes expanding and collapsing, stars birthing and dying—there is energy everywhere….. There is energy in the food we eat, the piano my wife is playing and the muscles we use to chew our food. Energy is everywhere.”

This is TEAMS thinking—it is what is next in thinking and working and learning and playing in the 21st century. We are moving into a new world—a new worldview and a new epoch of humanity. This worldview is marked by a deep personal, social and global feeling that the world and humanity are on a great precipice of change and we must go forward over the horizon into the unknown in order to create what is next in the human story.

What is next in the human story?

Why we should think about the arts in the context of STEM and all of our global challenges and opportunities today is simple: The EARTH is our modern day Sputnik.

Recently, the physicist Stephen Hawking announced to Big Think that we must abandon Earth or face extinction: “It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load."

During the summer of 2006, Dr. Kane and the author created a poem for spaceTEAMS participants to help teachers and children from 3rd grade to high school understand why they should learn about computers and design and space. The poem is called "The Universe" and it closes:

Dr. Kane answers, "Our mission is to pursue 'The Last Question' on Earth, throughout the Heavens and beyond. To be the questions, that is what it is, Being in the Universe of ROBOTS that tick and tock.”

Innovation in K-12 Education Markets: Accelerate STEM Innovation with Free Ed Tech Tools by JIm Brazell, May 15, 2012

It is generally accepted that one can not design education today to prepare young people and adults for the future because we do not know what the future will be. Today, technology has zoomed past schools, industry, government, consumers and civil society. The modern world needs a new way, or more accurately, an old way of seeing technology. 

The question is not whether we can design for the future; rather, the question is: Can we update antiquated practice more closely aligned to what is emerging today in our own backyards?

Education is one of the key areas where technologies and even human systems outside of the educational domain are 20x to 100x ahead of public K-12 schools in many areas of learning and human performance. This surplus of innovation and the accompanying market gaps represent immediate unrealized growth potential and efficiencies in education markets and the educational technology industry.

The Technology Availability Education Market Gap

Recently I was asked by a colleague to help raise support for free STEM resources in schools. I was really surprised when virtually all of the principals, superintendents and K-12 state and regional contacts we selected responded with a quiet "Thank you, we do not have time after some consideration."

When we approached people who are outside of schools but interested in school transformation, we experienced an overwhelming, "Yes. How can we help facilitate." An example of the kinds of resources that are available today free to schools and often packaged with free online teacher professional development include:   

• MATEC Networks (NSF): 100's of STEM Webinars for Teachers 
• Numdeon (Private Enterprise): Whyville Sims and Virtual World   
• Science Hosue (Non-Profit Foundation): Learning Kits & Online Teacher Development 
• CK12.org (Non-Profit Foundation): Free K-12 Digital Textbooks for kindle, IPAD and Android  
• Carnegie Mellon (DARPA): Computer Science Student Network 

100's of free online webinars for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education are available from the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded MATEC Networks paid for by U.S. tax dollars. The programs are successful in reaching a broad array of teachers and administrators focused on "Advanced Technological Education."   

Numedeon's whyville.net is a free virtual world with 100's of micro simulations across virtually all middle school subjects. it is designed and sustained especially for tweens (11-14 years of age). Sciencehouse.com is focused on professional development and robotics, environmental science, and microscopes for U.S. schools. Science House is also giving away microscopes and online teacher professional development for schools around the world.

Finally, Computer Science Student Network (CS2n.org) is run by  Carnegie Mellon Robotics and funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The initiative aims to bolster Computer Science and STEM (CS-STEM) and American competitiveness. Specific resources for K-12 schools today include "cloud-based" delivery of computer programming, 3-D animation, and simulation environments. Programs include the popular ALICE (the legacy of Dr. Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture) to connect ARTS and STEM education and virtual environments for VEX and FIRST Robotics.

Calling All K-12 Innovators

Innovation is where invention meets human need (demand-side markets). Entrepreneurs are actors who are successful bridging the gap between technologies potentiality, industry state of practice (supply-side) and human need (demand-side markets).

Innovation is not exclusively the domain of business. Innovation in the commercial marketplace (the traditional notion of entrepreneurship) and in the domains of art, governance, strategy, defense, civil society, and education are important for global competitiveness and collaboration. 

As adults, we must find the time to facilitate innovation in the best interest of children. We are well served when we are planning educational transformation initiatives to ask: "How are the children?" Nobelist Herbert Simon (June 15, 1916 - February 9, 2001) said: "The availability of technologies to youth is its own instructor."

We have the technology for educational transformation. Our cell phones, automobiles, tablets and video game consoles now each have the equivalent of the computing power used to land man on the moon and return safely. When it comes to closing the gaps between technology availability and market adoption in schools, the path to technology integration is facilitated by children rather than the other way around.

More accurately, children and technology are our path to the future, all we have to do is enable the access to technology and treat the technology as a subject of discourse in every educational discipline. In this way, we empower children with the processes and tools of technology and at once prepare children for the critical questions and designs they will pursue in creating the future.

It Takes a Village to Educate a Child

The economy is the single most important issue for a sizable majority of voters in the 2012 presidential race according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll. Similarly, U.S. competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and innovation are the hot topics in politics and business.

On Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Harvard released a survey of approximately 10,000 alumni, from the  Harvard Competitiveness project, indicating American competitiveness will decline over the next three years, according to 71% of those surveyed. The "greatest current or emerging weaknesses [were perceived] to be in America's tax code, political system, K-12 education system, macroeconomic policies, legal framework, regulations, infrastructure, and workforce skills."

The reports authors indicate, there is "no single silver bullet that will fix" the nation's competitiveness problem and "it will be hard for America to tackle its competitiveness problem if leaders in the country lack a shared perspective on the issue and a common sense of urgency."

Paradoxically, the report calls for firms "to stop taking actions that benefit one's own firm but, collectively, weaken America's business environment." Therefore, collaboration is one of the keys to American competitiveness. Though Harvard's report calls on American business and labor to take action, in addition to government, the report falls short on highlighting what schools can do to strengthen competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and innovation. 

How can K-12 schools contribute to U.S goals related to economic competitiveness and raising living standards? A few steps K-12 schools can take include (1) opening the doors to collaboration with business and industry, (2) expanding the definition of educational excellence, and (3) transforming educational practice from fact-based education to process-centered learning.

Opening the doors to collaboration with business and industry 

First, related to business-education partnership, many educators and administrators have long maintained that business and industry influence in education is non-productive. Business is most often accepted in education circles as the "sponsor" and "financial benefactor" of school scholarships and fund raising initiatives; however, when it comes to curricula, this is sacrosanct.

Beyond the accepted role of business as a financial contributor to schools, businesses can provide  professional development to faculty and staff in key topics related to technology use, technology planning, technology accountability, and technology process improvement. Peer mentoring, job shadowing, student internships, entrepreneurial development, marketing and other areas of development are also fruitful opportunities for business-school partnership. 

For example, nationally cyber security is a burgeoning area of collaboration where industry is able to provide schools with professional development for faculty to cultivate basic and advanced teaching skills related to computer science, information technology and cyber security. 

At the university level in New York, HackNY aims to federate the next generation of hackers for the New York innovation community. Co-organized by faculty from NYU and Columbia, and with a board of advisors which includes educators, technologists, and entrepreneurs, hackNY organizes the summer Fellows program and student 'hackathons' during the school year in order to create and empower a community of student-technologists. To learn more about high school-business partnerships in cyber, read, "Alamo Cyber Patriot and Cyber-STEM" at San Antonio Heart of Innovation online.

DeHavilland Associates is a company specializing in community/school partnerships. DaHavilland offers a free newsletter named the K-12 Partnership Report to support strong and sustainable partnership programs. Learn more online at DaHavilland Associates.  

The Center for Occupational Research and Development acts as a clearinghouses of best practices, convening practitioner groups, and building partnerships between educational and business entities. Among those most notable are CORD's establishment of two national networks for educational improvement and innovation: The National Career Pathways Network (formerly the National Tech Prep Network) and the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers, a network of colleges whose collective goal is to enhance economic and workforce development programs and services through technology applications.  

Expanding the definition of educational excellence

Second, expanding the definition of educational excellence requires that we shed the perception and the incentives that only reward educational systems that produce students ready for a university education. Academics are fundamental and important; however, categorizing students who fail to pursue university education as failures undermines American productivity, economic competitiveness and civil development. 

Today, entry-level work requires at least two years of education beyond high school, equivalent work experience, and/or industry certification for approximately 60% of the workforce. In the past a high school degree was enough for a job and a livable-wage, today, it is not. By the same token, not all students need a university degree.

According to 2008-2018 workforce projections that factor in educational attainment, which were produced by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University and included in the Harvard Graduate School of Education Pathways to Prosperity report, 36% of jobs are forecast to require a high school degree or less, 30% of jobs will require two years of post secondary education, and 33% of jobs are expected to be held by people with a Bachelor's degree or higher. To learn more, read, "STEM 1957-2012," at The Art of the Future online.

It is time to balance educational opportunities for students to include topics such as career studies in areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), entrepreneurship, and the knowledge-intensive jobs of today and the future. This means preparing "vocational and academic" students for both 2-year and 4-year college entrance readiness--rather than the university path only. 

Today, both 2-year and 4-year entrance requirements dictate the same level of language and mathematics education to earn credit toward a degree. The preparation for college and university entrance requires the same level of rigor. Therefore, this is not tracking toward one or the other type of degree, rather, it is preparing students for life, work and education beyond high school necessary for success in today's economy.    

Transforming educational practice from fact-based education to process-centered learning

Third, transforming educational practice from fact-based education exclusively to a balanced approach that includes facts and process-centered learning will enhance educational performance and student engagement. In this shift we find the necessity to shift the paradigm from an almost exclusive focus on educating young people to fostering self-motivated learning. 

This is a major paradigm shift from teachers and schools focused on information delivery and summative assessment to teachers and schools balancing information delivery and inquiry (discovery) and balancing summative and formative assessment. This strategy worked in the  1960's as a platform for the reform of teaching physics as a national priority in response to the launch of Sputnik I and the need for more students and workers in science and technology related studies and jobs. 

MIT's Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) developed a new approach to physics to stimulate students' interest in the subject and to teach students to think like physicists. PSSC's first edition of the new high school textbook, Physics, appeared in 1960, and the PSSC Teacher's Guide  explains the shift in pedagogy engendered by this new approach as a shift from "axiomatic" (self-evident truth) to "inductive" (using observation to move from specific to broader conclusions) presentation of the curriculum. 

The shift in pedagogy engendered both process improvements to education by modeling the way experts work and think affording students the opportunity to approach the content knowledge in the same way that experts approach problems in the field. This contextual-, inquiry- and process-oriented approach is now taking hold today as an emerging K-12 and even college approach to enhancing educational performance, engagement and recruitment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

CORD's HI-TECis a national conference on advanced technological education where technical educators, counselors, industry professionals, and technicians convene to share best practices related to high-technology education that mirrors this authentic learning practice. HI-TEC is supported by a consortium of NSF Advanced Technological Education centers and projects and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and contributions from corporate and industry partners.

To learn more about high schools who model expert practice, read, Rocket Boys and Girls of the 21st Century or view a 1 hour video of the speech The Role of Career Pathways in U.S. Competitiveness, at the Art of the Future online.

Conclusion 

The acceptance and pursuit of a culture of innovation within the nation's schools, will in part depend on (1) opening the doors to collaboration with business and industry, (2) expanding the definition of educational excellence, and (3) transforming educational practice from fact-based education to process-centered learning. 

The economy is the hot topic for Americans this political season; however, education and economy go hand-in hand. Education is fundamental to the "multidimensional, holistic, and sustained" strategy called for by Harvard required to transform the U.S economy. Though U.S. education is often criticized for a lack of innovation, there are pockets of educational innovation from coast-to-coast. The places that have transformed K-12 schools into centers of community innovation are often models of collaboration. This transformational practice often involves business and industry, government, and even higher education working together proving that it takes a village to educate a child.