Creative Thinking: Driving the Education Revolution
A Creativity Reading Roundup
#TeachDifferent
Creative Thinking – It’s Time
An increased emphasis on creative thinking in education has never been more important. We are now living in the Innovation Era. Regurgitating the answers to questions that can be answered by a smart phone no longer gives you a competitive advantage. We now need to be producing creative problem solvers, but most of our practices are still based on preparing students to work on assembly lines. It is our responsibility as educators to change this.
Quotes from two of my heroes hang in my office as a reminder of something that I think we forget all too easily. The first is from the most watched TED Talk of all time. It’s among one of Ken Robinson’s many calls to revolutionize education:
“We are educating people out of their creative capacities… I believe passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we are educated out of it.” – Ken Robinson
The second quote speaks to the science educator in me:
“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.” – Carl Sagan.
Creativity Reading Roundup
Below is the start to a collection of handpicked articles and posts from my virtual PLN about creativity in education. I’ll continue to add to this list from time to time.
A Parent’s Message: School Is Choking the Creativity Out of Kids–I'm not an advocate for "unschooling," but I have to agree with the frustrations of many like Ben Hewitt regarding how our standardized approach to education is killing creativity. Hewitt's short letter explains the freedom he want for his children: "Not just physical freedom, but intellectual and emotional freedom from the formulaic learning that prevails in our schools." MindShift
Schools Want Students to Be Creative, but Only on a Thursday Afternoon–"Teachers have been found to display a clear preference for students who show less creativity."
Tom Barrett's concise post takes a critical look at our obsession with compliance and conformity in the classroom. medium.com
Study Shows We “Undervalue and Underutilize” Persistence in Creativity – Author Garth Sundem–"We think that creativity is the result of a magic lightning strike, but creativity really comes from hard work. Creativity isn’t given, it’s earned."
Garth Sundem provides a concise summary of an eye-opening study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Author Garth Sundem
Are We Wringing the Creativity Out of Kids?–“Right now we are grooming our kids to think in a very particular way, which assumes that the right way to be thinking is to be attentive, to stare straight ahead.”
Annie Murphy Paul explains why creativity diminishes rapidly in grades 3-5, and what teachers and parents can do about it. ww2.kqed.org
5 Ways to Instill Creative Problem Solving Skills in Your Child–5 practical tips for parents to encourage creative problem solving. blog.youthdigital.com
On the Edge of Chaos: Where Creativity Flourishes–Katrina Schwartz points to many ways to bring creativity to our classroom, "loosening the rules, giving students choice, celebrating ideas and behaviors that challenge the status quo." She also asks us to consider if that's possible without drastically changing our current models. ww2.kqed.org
I only recommend products that I personally use or know their value, so you’re in good hands. Purchasing products through the recommended reading links above may result in me receiving a couple of bucks. It helps offset the cost of hosting this site, but it’s certainly not enough to buy a pony. I do, however, appreciate your support!
Leave a Reply