This book responds to challenging questions about curricular realignment, especially how a more porous approach to higher education reduces the impact of a “siloed” curriculum, lessens the tendency toward the fragmentation of knowledge, allows for the development of cross-disciplinary explorations, and promotes new approaches to knowledge and creativity through interdisciplinary integrative learning. This volume demonstrates how combining two seemingly disparate cultures helps undergraduate students develop creative mindsets needed for addressing challenging open-ended questions, complex social issues, and non-routine problem-solving. In doing so, this book aims to stimulate discussions about integrative interdisciplinary education between STEM and other fields of performance and performance technologies that have been either overlooked or underdeveloped.
Author(s): Nancy Kindelan
Series: The Arts in Higher Education
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 341
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Praise for STEM, Theatre Arts, and Interdisciplinary Integrative Learning
Contents
About the Author
List of Images
Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Include Theatre Arts in New Modes of Undergraduate Education?
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 2: Meeting the Challenges of Shifting Education Paradigms
Introduction
Greater Expectations, AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes, and Principles of Excellence
Educational Practices
Integrating STEM with the Humanities and Arts
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 3: Let’s Get Started
Introduction
Liberal Arts, Liberal Education, and General Education
Why Integration and What Is It?
STEM, STEAM, and SHTEAM
Other Examples of Integration (STS, STIRS, and STEMM)
Modes of Learning: Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Transdisciplinary, Integrative, and Applied
Transformative Learning
Factoring in Implementation
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 4: Enhancing Learning Through Integrative Education: On the Road
Introduction
Learning in the Digital Age
Integrative Learning: Signature Work and Capstones
The Whole Is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts
Disciplinary Knowledge Versus Interdisciplinary Connections
Additional Roadblocks
The Road Ahead
From the Inside Looking Out
A Call to Action
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 5: Bridging the Gap Between STEM and Theatre Arts
Introduction
Theatre Arts Programs and the Theatre Practitioner
Signature Pedagogies
The Theatre Practitioner
The Scientist
The Mathematician
The Engineer
The Scientist, the Mathematician, the Engineer, and the Theatre Artist
Liminal Spaces
The Artistic Paradox: Humanism Versus Practicality
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 6: The Marriage of Disparate Disciplines
Introduction
Bridging the Gap Between Theatre and STEM
The Artist as Scientist and the Scientist as Artist
Leonardo da Vinci and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Collaborative Partnerships
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 7: The Creative Spirit
Introduction
What Is Creativity?
Where Is Creativity?
Can Creativity Be Taught?
Crossing Boundaries: Myths, Misconceptions, and Labels
The New Frontier: “ArtScience” Collaborations
Creative Pathways
The Practice of Making
Design Thinking and Systems Thinking
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 8: Facing the Creative Imperative
Introduction
Decoding the Disciplines
More About Decoding
Unpacking the Language, Strategies, and Creative Process in Theatre Arts
No Muses on Stage Please
Beyond “Soft Skills”
Toward Effective Storytelling
What Is an Imagistic Analysis?
Practicing the Art of Creativity in Theatre
Teasing Out Similarities
Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Various Positions on the Scientific Method
Sharing Creative Practices: Engineering and Theatre
Social and Professional Skills
Walking the Walk
Sitting at the Table of Curriculum Reform
Conclusions
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Chapter 9: Answered and Unanswered Questions
Introduction
Making the Case
Looking Forward
The Players and the Process
Questions, Concerns, and Suggestions for Further Research
References and Suggestions for Further Reading
Appendix V1: Good Questions: Drawing on Theater to Educate Reflective Engineers as Civic Participants, by Alison Wood
Understand Your World
Appendix V2: Constructing and Performing the Self: An Interdisciplinary Course That Transforms Scholars and Selves, by Jonathan M. Adler
Appendix V3: Contemplating Science: A New Educational Paradigm for Interdisciplinary and Integrative Learning in Engineering, by Yevgeniya V. Zastavker and Madhvi J. Venkatesh
Appendix V4: Theater Brings Community Voice to Bear on Wicked Problems, by Sarah A. Brownell
Appendix V5: The Three-Year Theatre Engineering Capstone Experience: Scaffolding the Integration of Theory and Practice, by Rich Dionne
Appendix V6: Portfolios That Build Community, by Leigh Witek
Appendix V7: Going Beneath, by Lance Gharavi
The Players
Appendix V8: Transdisciplinary and Multimodal Live Performance Research and Integration into the Curriculum, by Daniel Fine
The Preamble
Vision
Obstacles to Overcome
Student Engagement
Curricular Outcomes Associated with the Research
Toward the Future
Appendix V9: Data Theatre, by Rahul Bhargava
Appendix V10: Mechanics Meets Metaphor: An Interdisciplinary Web, by Liam Hofmeister
Appendix V11: A Heart–Brain Connection: What Giraffes Taught Me About Science and the Arts, by Virginia Anderson
Appendix V12: Reflections, by Shane L. Collins
Appendix V13: Catalyst Collaborative@MIT: Pictures of Practice, by Debra Wise
Biographies
Index
