Can Children Deprived of Arts Education Still Grow Up to Be Innovators?
While the current push toward STEM is much needed, it's important that students maintain the chance to expand their curiosity and wonder through the art.
How does a society rear innovators? Is it through rigorous curricula focused on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)? Is it exposure to art or the experiences associated with play? These are questions Justin Brady attempts to answer in a Washington Post column about innovative roots. And while Brady spends ample time defending STEM and praising the value of an education emphasising its tenets, he opines about one of its main weaknesses:
"A foundation in STEM education is exceptional at making us more efficient or increasing speed all within set processes, but it’s not so good at growing our curiosity or imagination. Its focus is poor at sparking our creativity. It doesn’t teach us empathy or what it means to relate to others on a deep emotional level."
Art, says Brady, is the perfect addendum compliment to a STEM education. Its emphasis on creative thought helps bridge the gap between theory and reality. This, he explains, is what leads to innovation:
"Michigan State University observed a group of its honors college graduates from 1990 to 1995 who majored in the STEM fields. Their research uncovered that of those students, the ones who owned businesses or filed patents had eight times the exposure to the arts as children than the general public."
To learn more about why the arts are essential to a robust core curriculum (as well as to read up on STEM's younger sibling, STEAM), check out Brady's article in The Washington Post.
Photo credit: PedroMatos / Shutterstock
'Upstreamism': Your zip code affects your health as much as genetics
Upstreamism advocate Rishi Manchanda calls us to understand health not as a "personal responsibility" but a "common good."
- Upstreamism tasks health care professionals to combat unhealthy social and cultural influences that exist outside — or upstream — of medical facilities.
- Patients from low-income neighborhoods are most at risk of negative health impacts.
- Thankfully, health care professionals are not alone. Upstreamism is increasingly part of our cultural consciousness.
Meet the Bajau sea nomads — they can reportedly hold their breath for 13 minutes
The Bajau people's nomadic lifestyle has given them remarkable adaptions, enabling them to stay underwater for unbelievable periods of time. Their lifestyle, however, is quickly disappearing.
- The Bajau people travel in small flotillas throughout the Phillipines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, hunting fish underwater for food.
- Over the years, practicing this lifestyle has given the Bajau unique adaptations to swimming underwater. Many find it straightforward to dive up to 13 minutes 200 feet below the surface of the ocean.
- Unfortunately, many disparate factors are erasing the traditional Bajau way of life.
After death, you’re aware that you’ve died, say scientists
Some evidence attributes a certain neurological phenomenon to a near death experience.
Time of death is considered when a person has gone into cardiac arrest. This is the cessation of the electrical impulse that drive the heartbeat. As a result, the heart locks up. The moment the heart stops is considered time of death. But does death overtake our mind immediately afterward or does it slowly creep in?
Scientists create a "lifelike" material that has metabolism and can self-reproduce
An innovation may lead to lifelike evolving machines.
- Scientists at Cornell University devise a material with 3 key traits of life.
- The goal for the researchers is not to create life but lifelike machines.
- The researchers were able to program metabolism into the material's DNA.
SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by The Big Think, Inc. All rights reserved.
