From STEM to STEAM: Using Brain-Compatible Strategies to Integrate the Arts

David A. Sousa is an international consultant in educational neuroscience and author of 15 books that suggest ways that educators and parents can translate current brain research into strategies for improving learning. A member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, he has conducted workshops in hundreds of school districts on brain research, instructional skills, and science education at US conventions of educational organizations and to regional and local school districts across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Dr. Sousa has a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Bridgewater State University, a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in science from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Rutgers University. His teaching experience covers all levels. Tom Pilecki, MA, is the former executive director of the Center for Creative Education (CCE) in West Palm Beach, Florida, where, for twelve years, he provided professional development to over one hundred teaching artists, preparing them to teach collaboratively with elementary and middle school teachers in all curriculum content areas. With an MA in educational administration, Tom is a former elementary school teacher as well as a choral and instrumental music teacher. His forty-plus years in education include being founder and principal of St. Augustine School of the Arts in the South Bronx, New York, the subject of the Sundance Film Festival Award-winning documentary Something Within Me as well as feature segments on 60 Minutes, World News Tonight, and The McNeil-Lehrer Report. His expertise in curriculum writing, implementation, and arts integration brought him to Chicago as curriculum director for six West Side schools before going to Florida. He continues to consult with schools and communities on a national basis.