The STEM acronym, introduced in 2001 by scientific administrators at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), was initially SMET. In 2001, the words, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics were rearranged to form STEM. We can think of STEM as describing what you do.

Fast forward to ESTE™ – Entrepreneurial, Scientific, Technological, and Engineering. The ESTE™ framework helps in the identification of preferences that you might have in any given point in time. We can think of ESTE as describing who you are. Similar to how your preferences (or mindset) for certain foods might evolve over time, your preferences for the ESTE domains can also evolve over time. Our experiences, self-exploration, and life/career goals are fundamental to our growth and self-realization. We learn who we are by living. As we continue to grow, our preferences and mindset will not stay the same, because we do not stay the same.

To help understand how ESTE™ can help solve problems, we need to first understand transdisciplinary vs interdisciplinary

Relying on experience within one discipline can be limiting. For example, if you only live in the world of the scientific discipline, you might be limited in the ability to solve problems that cross over to, or exist more in, the technological discipline. This describes an ‘interdisciplinary’ situation or learning.

However, if your experience in problem solving crosses into not only the scientific, but also the technological and entrepreneurial disciplines, you will be more successful in problem solving in general. In other words, the more contexts or disciplines in which something is learned, the more we are better able to apply learnings to a situation, even though we may have never encountered the situation before. Your breadth of learning predicts your ability for breadth of transfer, or conceptual thinking across disciplines. As powerfully described in David Epstein’s book, Range, ‘people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive’. This is the concept of a ‘transdisciplinary’ situation or learning (see Figure). The ESTE™ framework is depicted in 3-dimensional form to convey that experiences, problem solving, and outputs inevitably cross discipline boundaries. In fact, transdisciplinary thinking results in broad, deep, and enriched outputs that are also more likely to be broadly applicable.

The answer is to apply analogical concepts to the ESTE™ framework in your transdisciplinary thinking

Merriam-Webster defines analogical to mean of, relating to, or based on analogy. Analogical thinking is the practice of recognizing and applying conceptual similarities in multiple disciplines that appear to have little in common. Based on its definition, analogical thinking is more likely to occur if you have transdisciplinary experience. In other words, analogical thinking transcends discipline knowledge. For example, your preferences may place you more in the scientific discipline. You tend to think like a scientist – ask questions, make observations, pose hypotheses, and seek answers to your questions. However, your analogical thinking allows you to apply scientific analogies to other disciplines. Let’s say you become aware of a problem within the engineering discipline. Although you may not have direct experience in engineering, your experience in the scientific discipline – asking questions, seeking answers, identifying patterns in cause and effect – allows you to apply similar approaches to problem solving irrespective of discipline. You can quickly see how to use a scientific approach as an analogy to inform an engineering problem.

How to use analogical thinking in problem solving

1.    Leverage experiences that cross over into different ESTE™ disciplines

2.    Apply experiences and perspectives to a completely new situation

3.    Engage in analogical thinking to solve a problem today

4.    Help team members understand the value of analogical thinking when solving problems

For example, you’re tasked with a new project that is initially overwhelming. 1. Knowing that you think like a scientist and entrepreneur, you take in the information while letting your mind think divergently, asking many questions. 2. Your experiences working with engineers and technologists in a previous situation reminds you that your free thinking will need to link to a requirement, so at the end of the day you determine what information is needed and ask the questions that will converge on an answer. 3. To solve the problem, you’ll need to balance your ease with divergent thinking in collaboration with your engineering team members, and be the entrepreneur who keeps the ideas flowing, while keeping a key performance indicator in mind. 4. In doing so, you’ll be able to show your team members, by example, the value of analogical thinking.

[The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…”; Range – Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, published in 2019 by Riverhead Books, was a #1 New York Times best seller]

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