Framing Failure: Leveraging Uncertainty to Launch Creativity in STEM Education

Abstract

The sentiment that creativity is the most important skill needed to solve the problems that we face is repeated by different business and industry leaders around the world). Since January 2020, the call for creativity has been amplified in response to the problems and obstacles caused by COVID19. Yet, creativity remains the most neglected 21st century skill addressed in STEM education. This paper develops the strong conceptual connections between creativity and failure within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to propose the Intersection of Failure and Creativity Framework (IFCF). The IFCF represents an improved way to engage students in integrated STEM activities that call for the development of solutions to real world problems by engaging in engineering design. The IFCF will better prepare teachers and students to address the changes and uncertainty of a rapidly-evolving world and address the calls of businesses for a workforce capable of innovation.

Beyond the basics: a detailed conceptual framework of integrated STEM

“…• Students are expected to have opportunities in engineering design (NRC, 2012) • Students should engage in the full engineering design process, with opportunities to learn from failure and iteratively improve their design solutions NRC, 2012;Stretch & Roehrig, 2021) • Teachers need to empathize dimensions of ethics, care, and empathy to promote attention to socio-political aspects of engineering design (Gunckel & Tolbert, 2018;Jackson et al, 2021) Teachers need to ensure that students have opportunities to evaluate their designs and use collected data to redesign. Design decisions should include analysis of social and political considerations in addition to technical factors such as cost, materials, and functionality.…”

“…The ill-defined nature of real-world problems and engineering design challenges requires that students engage in critical thinking, drawing on their STEM content knowledge and lived experiences to propose possible design solutions. Engaging in the engineering design process inherently incorporates creativity and critical thinking as there is no single correct solution, thus promoting the potential of transformative and innovative design solutions (Stretch & Roehrig, 2021;Petroski, 2016;Simpson et al, 2018). As students iteratively test and improve their design solutions, they will experience design failure.…”

It's Not a Perfect Thing: Facilitating an Independent Engineering Fair with Fifth Grade Students

“…They embraced classroom noise to varied extents but relied on existing classroom norms of how students worked and requested and received help. Both teachers seem to encourage and value the creativity of their students, and the IEF created an additional space to support student autonomy and creative thinking by capitalizing on the role of failure in engineering (Stretch & Roehrig, 2021).…”

Enhancing the effects of creativity training for business school students through art-based methods and blended learning

“…Problem-solving skills, such as creativity are critical in higher education and employment (Egan et al, 2017;Snyder et al, 2019;Matraeva et al, 2020;Puccio and Lohiser, 2020;Driver, 2001;Finch et al, 2013;Mareque et al, 2019;Stretch and Roehrig, 2021). The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (2021) believes that students from business colleges should possess both creative problem-solving and innovation skills.…”