To my horror after watching
this Sir Robinson's TED presentation I realised that I have never consciously
associated schools with creativity. Which is shocking as I have always
considered the point of education to be to broaden and open the mind, of which
creativity, asking questions and doing things differently are all an essential
part.
The main points I took away
from his presentation were:
Currently we educate the
creativity out of children.
Now one of the things I love
about Maths is that I am either right or wrong, I like the peace of mind this
gives me and sense of security, however how do I include creativity into Maths?
My solution to this would be not to tell students they are wrong but instead
ask them to explain how they came to their solution. Who knows they just may
have invented a whole new type of maths!!!!
Creativity, the process
of having original ideas that have value, often the result of interdisciplinary
thinking.
Having just recently read
"The fabric of the Cosmos" and "Short History of Nearly
Everything", I can't agree enough with the idea of encouraging
non-standard solutions and interdisciplinary thinking, simply because
nearly every single scientific breakthrough has been a result of creative,
critical thinking.
Intelligence is dynamic
and interactive and distinct and should be celebrated as it is the way of the
future. The current form of education is not preparing students to face and
shape the world of the future.
I am surrounded by adults at
work that tell me they are dumb or stupid because they either didn't do well at
school or teacher had told them they were dumb. Now personally I loved school
and I was very successful academically, but do you think I can reverse a
trailer? Nooooooooooooooooooooo and I stand by and watch while a
"dumb" colleague either effortlessly does it or directs me to do it
and explains exactly why it will work. My point is that while I might be able
to do calculus I am pretty helpless when it comes to many life skills. So as a
maths teacher I will not be telling students that they are dumb or that Maths
is more important than dance, instead I will be watchful for all types of
intelligence and talents and attempt to channel these skills, using Maths and
Science to teach lateral thinking, problem solving and conceptual
application.
These ideas are so important for schools and teachers to adopt! I find it sad that especially now, creativity is being sidelined in favour of conventional solutions, when our world is being shaped by creativity in all forms. Youtube, Facebook, even the idea of cars were all ideas that went against what was previously known and taught. How can we invent something new without new ideas? I love your idea to ask how students came to a solution instead of saying they are right or wrong, even this can help with problem solving in Math! It only takes a little lenience to do a lot of good :)
ReplyDeleteHooray! A creative maths teacher!
ReplyDeleteAs a creative who didn't do well in the maths/science field, it's nice to see that there will be somebody out there encouraging creativity in all of its forms. Because as you say, many scientific (and otherwise) solutions have come out of a "what happens if I just put that in there" type approach that stems from creative inspiration. If students aren't encouraged to take risks, approach a problem from many angles (and this works in reverse for creative students who may not think to approach problems in a more logical, scientific way), then what kind of humans are we creating? As we have seen in the course materials, the 21st century is not a world for the faint-hearted, the timid, the boring. It is a place that favours the bold, the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the resilient. And as teachers and facilitators, we have to model these behaviours so our students can learn from the best.