Milton Resnick integrates arts and STEM when talking about his idea for the mothers day card. This idea is an integration of arts and STEM because people made what would generally be a stationary card into an interactive card or game. By creating the interactive cards, students were able to show their fluency with the program. He said that today, people refer to kids as natives of technology, but he doesn’t necessarily believe that. Milton believes that young people are very comfortable with new technology but “it’s almost as if they can read but not write” with new technology. Using scratch is a great form of expression, because kids are able to explore their ideas and try new things that interest them. Because young people are comfortable using technology, it is great to introduce technology into the art classroom. Incorporating technology gets students to think in different ways and adds unique elements to their work. This relates to our class because we use some traditional elements of art while adding creative uses of technology in order to incorporate digital culture into our work.

Milton’s ideas with scratch directly relate to design thinking because “while they are learning to code, they are coding to learn.” Design thinking is a way of coming up with innovative solutions to any given problem. Because students are learning to code and coding to learn, they are coming up with solutions as they are working, enabling them to learn many other things while they are working. In the arts, you want students to be able to make connections to other things while working and use the skills that they are building in future projects. If students use the design thinking process, they will problem solve and come up with unique solutions to the given problem. This relates to our class because much of our work follows the design thinking process.

Milton’s talk relates to discovery and learning because there were many students that he was sharing about that were having difficulties and he helped them through it and they made new discoveries. When students have a reason to learn something, they are more interested and willing to learn. If what students need to learn relates to their projects, they will be much more interested in learning these skills. “Most people won’t grow up to be professional computer programmers, but the skills that they develop when using scratch are things that they can use in their regular work lives.” If students can make connections to things that they care about, then they will be more interested in learning. This relates to the arts and what we are learning because by using big ideas to create projects, most students can make connections to the projects and be more interested in creating a unique piece.