Abstract
Academic preparation of science researchers and/or human or veterinary medicine clinicians through the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum has usually focused on the students (1) acquiring increased disciplinary expertise, (2) learning needed methodologies and protocols, and (3) expanding their capacity for intense, persistent focus. Such educational training is effective until roadblocks or problems arise via this highly-learned approach. Then, the health science trainee may have few tools available for effective problem solving. Training to achieve flexibility, adaptability, and broadened perspectives using contemplative practices has been rare among biomedical education programs. To address this gap, a Cornell University-based program involving formal biomedical science coursework, and health science workshops has been developed to offer science students, researchers and health professionals a broader array of personal, contemplation-based, problem-solving tools. This STEM educational initiative includes first-person exercises designed to broaden perceptional awareness, decrease emotional drama, and mobilize whole-body strategies for creative problem solving. Self-calibration and journaling are used for students to evaluate the personal utility of each exercise. The educational goals are to increase student self-awareness and self-regulation and to provide trainees with value-added tools for career-long problem solving. Basic elements of this educational initiative are discussed using the framework of the Tree of Contemplative Practices.
Highlights
In developing a university course to prepare students for a lifelong career in research, an opportunity arose to consider the conflicting duality that exists in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) based preparation of a well-educated, fully-prepared research scientist
The course materials and associated textbook Science Sifting: Tools for Innovation in Science and Technology [1] arose as a result of personal contemplative training and experiences that produced (1) a series of concept papers [9,10,11], (2) material connected to an in-production documentary film (MicroBirth, AltoFilms), and (3) encouragement from colleagues to teach whatever it was that I was doing in my own science career
In 2012, a new initiative was undertaken at Cornell University to introduce contemplative practices into the biomedical science curriculum
Summary
In developing a university course to prepare students for a lifelong career in research, an opportunity arose to consider the conflicting duality that exists in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) based preparation of a well-educated, fully-prepared research scientist. There are other phrases that are useful in describing researchers who have achieved the most significant breakthroughs in scientific discovery Those descriptors are more likely to include such phrases as follows: are flexible and adaptable, can move into new areas and help to define new research arenas, will readily discard outdated paradigms, will forge new thinking by swimming against the predominate scientific current when necessary, and are visionaries whose work will become recognized as important in the future [1]. The “Tree” template of contemplative practices has as its roots communion, connection, and self-awareness as supported by seven major branches of activities/states (creation, movement, stillness, activist, generative, ritualistic/cyclical, and relational) It serves as a useful pedagogical foundation for the design, incorporation, and pursuit of activities that can aid the student in both the immediate academic endeavors as well as the longer-term life’s goals. The course materials and associated textbook Science Sifting: Tools for Innovation in Science and Technology [1] arose as a result of personal contemplative training and experiences that produced (1) a series of concept papers [9,10,11], (2) material connected to an in-production documentary film (MicroBirth, AltoFilms), and (3) encouragement from colleagues to teach whatever it was that I was doing in my own science career
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