Cultivating the Next Generation of STEAM Thinkers

What is STEAM education? How is it different from STEM education? In this talk, Dr. Rie Kijima (University of Toronto and SKY Labo) and Dr. Mariko Yang-Yoshihara (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education & SKY Labo) will discuss key concepts related to STEAM learning in the 21st century. Discussion will include the gender gap in STEM, what it takes to reverse this trend, and the importance of key mindsets, such as failing forward and thinking out of the box. The talk will centre around an innovative education program offered for female youths in Japan that utilizes design thinking to cultivate the next generation of STEAM thinkers.

• This is an exclusively online event to begin at 6:30 PM EST on Thursday, January 7. Registration is required. A link to the talk will be sent to the registered email address 24 hours prior to the start of the event. There will be Q+A session immediately following the event.

Rie Kijima is an assistant professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. Her research addresses topics such as international assessments, education reforms, gender and STEAM learning. Previously, she was a Lecturer and Interim Director in the International Comparative Education/International Education Policy Analysis Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in International Comparative Education from Stanford University and her B.A. from International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. She has previously worked at the World Bank as an education consultant specializing in monitoring and evaluation and traveled frequently to Morocco, Tunisia, Vietnam, and Laos. She has been affiliated with the Stanford Program in International and Cross-Cultural Education, Keio Graduate School of Media Design, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Silicon Valley Japan Platform, and the United States Japan Council. She is the Scott M. Johnson Fellow of the United States Japan Leadership Program. In 2016, she co-founded SKY Labo, an education non-profit organization to promote inquiry-based approaches to STEAM learning. She co-authored a book on Design Thinking and STEAM Education which was published by Asahi Shinbun Press in January 2019 (Japanese only). She was featured as one of 100 women entrepreneurs around the world by Forbes Japan in March 2019.

Mariko Yang-Yoshihara is an instructor at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) and an affiliate professor at Ritsumeikan University. She utilizes design thinking and inquiry-based pedagogies to design, develop, and facilitate online and in-person courses that explore topics including entrepreneurship, global citizenship, and research methods targeted from high school to graduate students. As a researcher, Mariko is currently investigating the aptitudes, motivations and career trajectory of individuals who do innovative work in science and technology. Her academic works can be found in the volumes published by the MIT Press (1999), the Tokyo University Press (2016), and Hakuto Shobo (2019), as well as in the Journal of Science Policy and Research Management (2014). In 2016, Mariko co-organized the Stanford-Silicon Valley U.S.-Japan Dialogue: Womenomics, the Workplace, and Women and published the final report. That same year, she co-founded SKY Labo, a Japanese non-profit organization to empower girls with “STEM + arts/humanities” (STEAM) education. Her co-authored book on STEAM education and Design Thinking (Asahi Shinbun Press, 2019) has sold over 8000 copies in Japan. Mariko received Ph.D. and M.A in Political Science from Stanford University, B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine, and B.A. in Literature from the University of the Sacred Heart in Japan.