My BIG IDEA is creative teaching and real life connections, specifically using dance and music to teach STEM! I am drawn to this idea because I am a professional dancer and I love teaching STEM (specifically math and science) in creative ways! I see the connections between the academic subject areas and the dance aesthetic in so many ways - patterns, rhythms, number sense, geometry, physics, etc. Students become intrinsically interested in academic content when it connects to what they already relate to in their real lives. Research also shows that “creativity in learning is often highlighted as a skill essential for success in the 21st century. (Henriksen and Punya, Learning from Creative Teachers).
I feel these images reflect the idea of real life connections and creative teaching because the objects, people and scenes show the academic concepts, abstract/creative ideas, and real life relativity as well as the curiosity of the subjects that could be peaked through creativity.
I used my camera phone (Android) and a tool called www.pixlr.com to create these images.
This is my STEMulating Dance video, showcasing the math and science connections in dance! I utilized Youtube Video Creator to create this video. See the credits at the end. Enjoy!