Peixoto, N., & Seshaiyer, P., & Zhang, L., & Matto, H. (2023, March), Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning  Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45050

\bibitem{asee_peer_45050}
  Peixoto, N., \& Seshaiyer, P., \& Zhang, L., \& Matto, H. (2023, March), \emph{Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning}
  Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia.
  10.18260/1-2--45050

Nathalia Peixoto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Linghan Zhang, and Holly Matto.  "Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning".  ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia, 2023, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/45050 Internet.  15 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_45050}
  Nathalia Peixoto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Linghan Zhang, and Holly Matto.
  "Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning".
  \emph{ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia, 2023, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/45050 Internet.  15 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_45050
author = "Nathalia Peixoto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Linghan Zhang, and Holly Matto"
title = "Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning"
booktitle = "ASEE Southeast Section Conference"
year = "2023"
month = "March"
address = "Arlington, Virginia"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/45050}
number = {10.18260/1-2--45050}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - We examine here the short-term impact of a hands-on, project-based intensive summer experience for undergraduate students. Motivated by prior reseacrh showing that creativity is driven largely by specific curiosity (Hagtvedt et al, 2019) and that positive project outcomes are correlated with the sense of ownership (Ikonomidou and Peixoto, 2014), we proposed and delivered a 10-week intensive (40 hours/week) summer program to undergraduate students majoring in STEAM. We recruited from a diverse pool of applicants (64 undergraduate applicants from 14 different majors). The selected cohort had 10 undergraduates, 3 high school students, and one graduate assistant. The diversity in majors (Biology, Computer Science, Bioengineering, Game design, Psychology) and level of study (freshmen to seniors) as well as the split in females/males (6/4) contributed to the multiple perspectives and insights during the program. Four faculty (Cyber Security, Social Work, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering) were directly involved with the organization of the program, and 20 other faculty and community partners were involved as customers. For the first two weeks of the program, students were introduced to the design cycle and offered hands-on activities related to enhancing creativity (e.g. lateral puzzles), brain storming, convergence, emergence, and divergence, affinity mapping, scamper, collaborative sketching, and SMART goals. During those first two weeks faculty and community partners (“customers”) were invited to attend the workshops and pitch their problems or projects. There were over 25 projects/problems pitched to the summer students. Students were often curious about those problems and brainstormed solutions during the pitches. By the end of the second week each student had an individual interview with a faculty mentor to discuss their strengths and weaknesses in relationship to the projects pitched. Students were asked what their “favorite” 5 projects were and asked to describe why. The faculty mentors redirected student’s interests to the projects that fit with their specific curiosity and possible impact (for ownership purposes). 
From the third week on each student was involved in at least 2 projects and some students took all 5 projects. Each student became the project manager for one project. A list of projects and their websites is available online (http://stip2022.onmason.com/  ). There was a total of 13 projects, with 85% performed by teams of 3 to 6 students (one individual project and one two-person team). 92% of the projects were completed and delivered by the 9th week of the summer. One project was discontinued due to its simplicity. 
Teams presented minimal viable products (MVP) to their faculty or community partner customersby the 5th week of the program, and obtained feedback on how to improve the project. Working every day, all day long, led to much faster turn-around time for deliverables. On the other hand, team dynamics became more apparent earlier than in previous summer programs. All teams delivered final video presentations, as well as written reports. 60% of the projects were submitted for publication at national conferences (BMES, biomedical engineering society), or journals. Final videos for all projects were presented during the university’s undergraduate celebration (available online: https://go.gmu.edu/videos ). In this manuscript we discuss our methods, delivery, and outcomes observed in the intensive muiltidisciplinary program for STEAM undergraduate students.

References
Hagtvedt, Lydia Paine, et al. "Curiosity made the cat more creative: Specific curiosity as a driver of creativity." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 150 (2019): 1-13.
Ikonomidou, Vasiliki N., Caitlin Laurence, and Nathalia Peixoto. "Project Ownership and student performance in user-centered senior design projects." 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings. IEEE, 2014.

AU  - Nathalia Peixoto
AU  - Padmanabhan Seshaiyer
AU  - Linghan Zhang
AU  - Holly Matto
CY  - Arlington, Virginia
DA  - 2023/03/12
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Supporting creativity and innovation in STEAM undergraduate curriculum through hands-on learning
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/45050
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--45050
ER  -