Preparing STEM Graduates for the Future through Cultivation of Creativity and Innovation , Integrated with Critical Thinking
Professor Melissa Knothe Tate Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering , Faculty of Engineering
When asked how can creativity and other “ soft skills ” can amplify STEM skills for landing a first professional job and maximising professional and personal growth , I respond simply : Employers are seeking humans not robots . Professionals have specific skill sets . Personal growth means becoming your best person throughout life . Employers are seeking resilient , problem solving ( innovative , critical thinking ) employees with excellent listening skills , open minds , and a willingness to learn . Together these attributes embody lifelong learning [ 1 ].
Yet there is a difference between getting an education and seeking a job . Education is an aspirational pursuit . We never finish becoming educated , as there is always more to learn – that is the point of education ! In this Do It Yourself ( DIY ) era , one might ask why go to uni at all ? This is where the university defines its raison d ' être , as an institution and as a forum for dissemination and exposure to new and disruptive ideas , as well as a place to learn and practice critical thinking skills [ 2 ]. The university provides a unique environment to learn and to be mentored by thought leaders and global experts in the field [ 2 ].
An additional aspect of personal and professional growth is the capacity to appreciate ethical , interpersonal and communications challenges that one faces when applying STEM knowledge . In my BIOM9561 Mechanics of Biomaterials course , students have the opportunity to apply their core engineering knowledge in context of human health and devices designed to promote and preserve such health . I use the aforementioned paradigms in two , multi-week tutorials to
1 . give the students the experience of working in a failure analysis team to determine root causes of failure in realistic medical device ( wearables as well as implantables ) failure scenarios ; insodoing they engage with a client in a manner emulating a real professional engineering experience and
2 . use blue sky design thinking processes to envision new , stimuli responsive biomaterials that solve currently unsolved problems in the human health and medical device arena . These tutorials give the students unique opportunities to foster personal and professional growth whilst digesting and integrating knowledge from different disciplines to solve real world , health related problems .
Yet , a major challenge in teaching and learning across disciplines is the capacity to understand how material learned in one context , e . g . cell biology , apply to a wholly different context , e . g . mechanics of natural materials . The power of empathy to enhance understanding , visualisation and problem solving strategies serves particularly well to address this challenge , e . g . “ Design thinking processes empower engineers to empathize with their cells , imagining and feeling what they experience and envisioning their responses . In empathising with their cells , engineers may be better equipped to prototype mechanoactive materials and architectures as cells do , from raw materials that they themselves produce and adapting their own structure and function , and ultimately their own niche to survive .” [ 3 ]
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