Why Early STEM Instruction is Vital for Brain Development and Creativity Artwork

The I Heart STEAM Teacher Podcast

Learn about my adventures in STEM/STEAM and Project-Based Learning when you listen to the I Heart STEAM Teacher Podcast. I will share the good, the bad, and the joyful with you on my mission with a team of educators creating the ultimate STEAM certified school! Anything and everything you will ever need to know about STEM/STEAM and project-based learning will be shared right here in the I Heart STEAM Teacher Podcast.Hey y'all! I'm Bonnie Kirkley anSTEAM Educational Coach and Consultant. I help Elementary Teachers and Administrators create classrooms that grow STEM or STEAM as a community culture, so that they can foster students who will become creative critical thinkers engaged in Project-Based Learning which allows for deeper insight and understanding to take place across ALL the core subjects. I believe that now more than ever our students need to develop their own creativity, critical thinking, collaboration with peers, and communication skills beyond their comfort zone.-We have all been taking for granted what our students ACTUALLY understand and know for a long time.

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The I Heart STEAM Teacher Podcast

Why Early STEM Instruction is Vital for Brain Development and Creativity

September 17, 2021 • Season 2 • Episode 30

How to develop creativity in the classroom should totally be part of your teacher growth and development list.

Yes friends, the time has come to say it out loud. It’s not the easiest skill to work on with students at all. Especially if you feel like you aren’t creative yourself, but that’s NOT true. It takes a plan and some active research.

We even need to research this topic on a class by class or student by student basis. Why? It is literally something that we have to unlock, and it may take different approaches. But let’s be clear… being creative or teaching others to be creative just means having one thought inspire another thought!

Jump into the episode and get the low down on optimizing for brain functioning at different age levels to improve retention and creativity.

I simply love studying concepts of how the brain functions to optimize learning in the classroom. For sure, we all need to dig into it more! The 4 C’s for 21st Century Learning are:

Creativity
Critical thinking
Collaboration
Communication

Your lesson goals should be to strive for these concepts to be included in your lessons as much as possible! But we don’t always know how to include these in our lessons and especially how to develop creativity. I know you believe creativity is something you have or don’t have, but it’s developed. Yours can be developed, too. Here’s a little something to help you out in the classroom: STEAM Concepts Posters