Course Content
Introduction
Activities and exercises developed within this methodology aim to increase fundamental soft skills in female students who are currently attending STEM university courses. Following the introduction of "Arts" in STEM - i.e. implementation of creative and artistic thinking - we developed a methodology that helps mentoring students while elaborating different types of projects with the aim to empower their skills through an art thinking process. The proposed methodology follows an input-output process that leads students through the development of a project, where each output activity represents the input of the following activity.
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Technology & STEM
The methodology
WeSTEAM methodology
Useful links
Incubation
In the Incubation Phase the participants carry out research in relation to the topic of their interest and begin to put the foundations for a more concrete and precise idea.
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Creative visualisation
Connections and analogies
Conceptual reworking through photography
Learning questionnaire
Imagination
In the Imagination Phase participants begin to idealize and define the key steps for the development of the project. During this development phase, the first goals and objectives are set.
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Interactive mind map
Your project storyboard
Visual storytelling
Learning questionnaire
Creation
During the Creation Phase, participants begin to concretely develop their product, project, or idea. After a prototyping step, this phase is accompanied by testing moments, where participants begin to understand what works and what should be changed. The testing phase is accompanied by the collection of external feedback, crucial to implement transversal points of view useful for the finalization of the project.
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Shape your prototype
Collecting feedback
Art data visualization
Learning questionnaire
Evolution
During the last Evolution phase participants aim to complete the project and present it to the audience of experts and external auditors. The Evolution Phase is a finalization phase but also a phase that looks to the future, as participants can take the key decisions on what should be changed in order to make the project more successful and to plan potential follow up.
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Strengths and weaknesses towards the finalization
Pitch your project creatively
Wind and anchors of your project
WeSTEAM Methodology
About Lesson

ACTIONS

Choosing tools and content: shaping the idea by establishing its main components (e.g., the materials or tools to be used to implement it and/or the macro-sequence of content that will make up the whole)

SHORT DESCRIPTION

This exercise aims to identify the contents and tools that will be useful for creating and developing their project. Using support software such as Miro, participants will be able to create interactive mind maps with the aim of outlining the key steps needed to realize their project.

A mind map is a form for capturing ideas, exploring concepts, taking notes and thus gathering information in an understandable format, while at the same time the aesthetic visualization aids comprehension and memorisation.

Visually representing the main steps of a process is useful to create a firm structure of what you want to do and to highlight the key elements to be considered.

This activity can be divided into two macro phases.

The first phase is related to content. Participants will have to outline the contents of their project/idea.

The second phase is related to tools. Participants will have to identify the tools that will be useful in the creation phase for the realization of the project.

In detail we can summarize the steps as follows:

  1. Starting from the previous exercise, the participants will have to create a mind map relating to the contents and objectives they want to analyze and express in their project. Using the Miró software, they should enter all the words that come to mind and try to link them together and rank them in order of importance.
  2. Starting from this first mind map created, participants will have to create another one with the materials and tools they will have to use to create their project. These should then be ranked in order of importance.

At the end of this activity, participants will have an outline of the information organized in radiant form, starting from a center and expanding spatially through ramifications. These general schemes will be useful to clearly understand the development needs of their project. With these mind maps, participants can represent their thoughts and organize their cognitive activities (ideas, concepts) visually and graphically.

TOOLS

Colours and Paper, post it, a software to create Mind Maps, computer and projector

DURATION

2 hours

SKILLS

Goal-oriented thinking: in order to achieve a goal, you need to think ahead, estimating the steps and the resources necessary to pursue it: this means being able to establish achievable, prioritized and timetabled tasks and to manage your time and resources accordingly.

Open-mindedness: During the creative process you must be able to welcome inputs from outside, in order to seize opportunities, prevent risks and solve problems: this means being receptive to novel ideas and willing to modify your opinions and actions, understanding the context and adapting yourself to it.

USEFUL LINKS

https://miro.com/templates/   

https://www.canva.com/graphs/mind-maps/



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