I viewed the Sir Ken Robinson TED
Talk on creativity in the cognition class I took last fall and it definitely resonated with
me. Not only is Sir Ken Robinson a wonderful storyteller who uses laughter to
engage his audience and make his presentation memorable, but he also states
great many truths about our educational system. I completely agree with him
when he states, “We have to rethink the fundamentals on which we are educating
our children” and that we need to “educate their whole being” (Robinson, 2007).
As an educational system, we are not emphasizing the whole child – we are very obsessed
with teaching towards the analytical side and less of the creative side of the
brain. To educate a successful human being in today’s ever changing, technology
rich world, we need to enhance both sides of the brain. Creativity is not held
at a high regard as does the ability to solve math problems or read with
fluency. But as Robinson states, we know in our changing world this isn’t going
to be the priority anymore and the educational system needs to realize this.
To make changes in the
system, teachers need to embrace, foster, and advocate for new ways of thinking
in their classrooms. We need to be open to students finding new ways of
processing their learning. Robinson’s TED Talk reminded me of a presentation
a colleague and I created for a technology conference. We titled our session,
Cultivating Creativity with Technology. In our session we gave examples of
different ways creativity can be cultivated. For instance, we talked about how
not all students can just write down what they hear and think, some will
remember the information better if they use apps such as Paperby53 or Skitch to
doodle their thoughts. Of course augmented reality
also popped into my head.
There are many great
apps and websites available for students and teachers to utilize in emphasizing
and fostering creativity. One of the biggest ways, I believe, teachers can have
creativity come alive in the classroom is to allow students a choice. Because
there is a myriad of options available, allow students to choose what digital
media tool works best for them in the way in which they learn best. As Robinson
states, “Intelligence is diverse – we think about the world in all the ways we
experience it” (2007). According to the 2009 Speak Up report, students are
asking for more ways to collaborate with peers. I can only imagine the creative
thinking that could be developed if more collaboration tools were employed in the
classroom (Project Tomorrow, 2010). According to Howard Gardner, the best
creators are those who are not afraid to fail and try again (Five minds for the
future, p.83). I think we can use technology to increase creativity by having
students understand that it’s okay to fail and try again. On page 87, Gardner
also states that “…it is also advantageous to develop multiple, diverse,
representations of the same entity…” (2008). With technology, we can represent
content through videos, photographs, games, etc. With numerous representations
of material, students can find new and innovative solutions. This also reminds
me of “20 Time” or “Genius Hour” in which teachers (and Google!) allow their
students to research anything they wish. Students have tons of leeway in what
they are looking for and what to do with their information. This also helps
foster discipline and synthesis, which in turn fosters creativity! If we give
students 20% of their classroom time to find something of interest and learn
more about it, imagine the creativity they will bring to their future R&D department
if students already have this experience.
In my classroom I try to
cultivate creativity in my students in having a MakerSpace available to
them. My journey to include a large MakerSpace in my Library has only just
begun this year, but I have already acquired a items such as building blocks,
straws, cardboard pieces, and much more including a MakeyMakey which will be
coming soon. I find ways to get students utilizing the MakerSpace to have an
outlet for their creativity even if it’s just a few minutes at the end of
class. I hope to expand to include items such as a BeeBot and Dash and Dot.
As I stated, there are
lots of site and apps available to aid creativity, but we must also keep in
mind that students need to have a disciplined and synthesizing mind before they
can have full creative capacities.
Resources:
Gardner, Howard. (2008). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business Pres
Project Tomorrow. (2010). Speak up
2009 - Creating our future: students speak up about their vision for 21st
century learning - March 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2011 from Project
Tomorrow Web site:http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09UnleashingTheFuture.pdf
Robinson, K. (2007, January 6). Do schools
kill creativity. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY.
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