BLOG 701 #5 Can We Teach Creativity?
Creativity, like intelligence, seems to me to be a result of some nature, some nurture, some life experiences, and some personal awakening. All human beings rely on creativity as a source of problem solving and our survival as individuals and as a species depends on creativity. There is that old saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have all gathered plenty of evidence for just how creative even very small children can be in order to get something they want, something they have determined they “need”. In my experience volunteering with preschoolers, I have been so entertained by their creativity and unique way of interpreting the world and it does seem that some preschoolers just have more creative expression in their play, art, and ideas than other children. The way a child is raised, the nurture factor, is presented by Gardner as he talks about the Creative Mind. Gardner says that there are things we can do to foster a creative mind and one of these ideas is to not have just one right answer. A lot of what Gardner describes as the right way to foster creativity sounds like Carol Dweck’s ideas about growth mindset. Teaching people to see failure as a way to learn and not a final end of story. Gardner states that people who are labeled as creative are often risk takers, not afraid to fail, and when they do they simply bounce back from failure and see it as a learning opportunity. Carol Dweck calls this “growth mindset”. Gardner holds up people like Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and Vincent Van Gogh as examples of creators and stresses that the creators’ work “changes the way other people think and behave”. He also points out that sometimes the creator’s brilliance is not understood by the masses until after the person is dead. It takes a long time for the rest of humanity to catch up to the ideas of the creators. I remember thinking this during our geology unit this year in my classes. We were studying plate tectonics and continental drift, which was a theory put forth by Alfred Wegener in the early 1900s. Other scientists laughed at his ideas but it was only a matter of time before more evidence confirmed what Wegener had creatively proposed decades before. Louis Mobley from IBM shares this view that creative thinking begins with asking radically different questions that create a non-linear path of learning. This made me think of our discussion last time about brain cells and intelligence being the result of many branches between brain cells. The more connections between the brain cells, the more branching, equates to more intelligence and creativity. Steve Jobs is famous for his creativity and innovation in the technology world. Jobs is famous for saying, “Creativity is just connecting things.” It seems like vision has a role to play in creative thinking. In order to create the connections the creator has to have a different perspective in order to see a pattern between things or ideas and make the connections. Mobley highlights this in his six insights about teaching people to be creative. He says it means unlearning old ways of thinking and thinking in a new way- that’s when creativity is born. He also says that if you want to be more creative, hang out with creative people. There is a synergy that happens when people are creating together. I have seen this in my classroom which is why I appreciate the powerful learning that comes from doing projects together. Every spring when students begin state testing, my PLC partner and I do an endangered species project as part of a unit on ecosystems. It is a group project with roles, jigsaws, presentations, and model building. It is as Mobley describes “controlled chaos” for 2 weeks. It is a perfect release from the pressure and intensity of testing. My classroom is transformed into an art studio and the most beautiful projects are created with so much creativity, collaboration, and enthusiasm for learning. I remember watching a student that had been very unproductive all year come to life as his “homo faber” as JSB refers to it came to life. Finally I was speaking his language. He was a maker! He was an expert maker and his team recognized and celebrated his skill immediately. He never looked so happy in my class as when he held a glue gun or Xacto knife in his hand. Finally I decided to ask the real experts, my children. I asked the children I gave birth to and the children I have the privilege to spend my school days with this important question, “Can creativity be taught?” Their answers with excellent evidence to support their claims was nearly 100% yes. My favorite response came from a very wise seventh grade boy, “I think you can teach a person to be more creative but some people might need a little spark to become creative.” And then another great response that was a bit convicting as a teacher came from one of my top seventh grade girls. She said, “Yes, I think they just need to see more creative content.” Ouch! The wordle up top is a collection of their responses. Enjoy!
2 Comments
Kimberlee Nelson
3/23/2021 05:32:07 pm
"In order to create the connections the creator has to have a different perspective in order to see a pattern between things or ideas and make the connections". I agree with you 100%. It is an out of the box thinker. I love the idea of your ecosystem unit. A bit of controlled chaos is creative and rewarding. I would have loved to see their finished projects and your room transformed into an art studio. How cool! Your students are so lucky to have you as their Science teacher, Betsy!.
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Kelly W.
3/23/2021 09:01:52 pm
Hello, Betsy!
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AuthorHello! Welcome to my blog! This will be a fun place to share thoughts about teaching and learning. I am a middle school science teacher at Redwood. When I'm not teaching, I'm hanging out at home with my family or enjoying nature somewhere in the valley. Archives
March 2021
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