ABSTRACT
Da Vinci analyzed human movement and then systematically applied his understanding of anatomy to the design of machines, often going though many iterations of the same design. Einstein’s cognitive processing paralleled da Vinci’s in that both manipulated mental images when reasoning how the physical world operated. When Einstein was asked to describe his thinking during the inventive process, he often commented that images were much stronger than written language. There are specific skills and content that students need to master to solve STEM challenges, yet classroom projects, as in the lab or the field, often need to be ill-structured rather than well-structured. The case is sometimes made that STEM lacks a visual or creative component that can be supplied by integrating aspects of art into instruction. There is some validity to this claim as descriptions of STEM programs can fail to reference innovation or visual-spatial skills.
