Do schools kill creativity?

Really, do schools kill creativity?

What do you think about this?

Do you agree with Sir Ken Robinson?

Creativity has continued to have the strong aesthetic and spiritual connotations it has in artistic discussions but recent work extends this by also giving emphasis to practical and professional considerations.

According to the video, I believe that the culprit that human creativity is often cut from childhood is not the education system, It is our economic model, our ideals of success, is our way of measuring and valuing people, are the expectations imposed on us and that we ourselves impose on others, particularly children and young people.

The challenges of our time are great, and many of these problems have their origin in precisely the quest for productivity, efficiency and maximum profit. I think the challenge is not so much revolutionize the educational model, like say  Ken Robinson, but rather  change  what we consider valuable, changing the education system continue to this revolution.

The challenges of our time are great, and many of these problems have their origin in precisely the quest for productivity, efficiency and maximum profit. I think the challenge is not so much revolutionize the educational model, like says Ken Robinson, the challenge is to revolutionize our thinking with what we consider valuable: the education system will change after this.

Written by: Mayela

About how the discussion is use as learning aid

Dear partners, I share with you the 15 benefits of discussion that I think are summarized in the video.

1. Helps students to explore a variety of perspectives.
2. Increase the awareness of students and tolerance for ambiguity or complexity.
3. Helps students recognize and investigate their assumptions.
4. Encourages attentive and respectful listening.
5. Develop a new appreciation for continuing differences.
6. Increases intellectual agility.
7. Helps to students connect with a topic.
8. Demonstrates respect for the voices and experiences of students.
9. Helps students learn the processes and habits of democratic discourse.
10. Students declared co-creators of knowledge.
11. Develops the capacity for clear communication of ideas and meaning.
12. Develop habits of learning together.
13. Increase the breadth and makes students more emphatic.
14. Helps students develop skills of synthesis and integration.
15. Leads to transformation.

The debate is a prime tool for the development of critical thinking. The student must propose a position, must provide arguments and counterarguments. A good debate requires research, finding evidence and objective assessment. So the preparation for the debate impacts on the development of thinking skills: to assess the strengths and weaknesses of own argument, imagine possible objections and develop appropriate responses, developing a presentation strategy, selecting powerful examples. Even a major exercise of empathy: placed in the place of another, investigate or imagine the arguments of his position, think about public attitudes to both sides and more.

As we have seen, discussions in the group are important working tool for learning. Serve to promote group interaction as a tool to motivate and as a means to end an activity. The quality of the group discussion will be dependent on the people who are chosen to participate. If you choose the wrong people,  you will get the wrong results.

Written by: Mayela

References: ULACIT. (s.f.). Técnicas de discusión en el aula.

Video

Howard Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. From 1972-2000, he was Co-director of Project Zero. At present, he is chair of the Steering Committee of Project Zero. He also directs the Good Work Project and the Trust Project with Carrie James. For ten years he co-directed the Interdisciplinary Studies Project with Veronica Boix Mansilla.

Gross, M. (2009). Pensamiento Imaginactivo. Retrieved from:

http://manuelgross.bligoo.com/content/view/496576/Howard-Gardner-Las-cinco-habilidades-para-el-lider-del-siglo-21.html.

In this video titled Five Minds of the Future, Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities five years to come will be the most requested: disciplining the mind, the synthesizing mind, the creative mind, respectful mind and ethical mind.

I like this video because it states that educators must make the student understand what is being taught and practiced them. As the contents are inventions of man, the brain is not ready to learn intuitively.

Additionally, I think that the evaluations international are meaningless. Tests such as PISA, the more you focus on memorization of content and away from a disciplined way of thinking, it be more anachronistic. In this digital age where information is infinite, the formation of a disciplined mind becomes more important and necessary. This, because students with knowledge of a discipline will be able to find what is important and discard what does not is of importance in the large amount of information available online.

However, this is not just a job for educators; students should make an effort to focus on getting those skills in an assertive way.

Teaching for Understanding

The ability to solve problems, make decisions, think critically and creatively should be developed for all university students, regardless of grade level and discipline, so they can function successfully to the demands of a globalized world. To respond appropriately and flexibly to rapid changes, they should know formulate problems and questions with clarity, collect, synthesizes and evaluate relevant information, formulate well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, reflect openly on the assumptions, implications and applications of the responses, and communication effectively with others in solving complex problems. Also, they be involved in developing creative ideas and products, tasks essential to innovation and continuous improvement.

As a result, ULACIT has chosen an educational model for Understanding Teaching that responds to the question of how humans learn.

Students should understand that they alone can control their own learning process. No one can force others to learn, but the teacher can help promote deep learning by providing opportunities to experience, reflect, create and practice.

From the constructivist perspective, ULACIT recognizes" that students learn when actively involved in their learning within a zone of proximal development and maintains an interest in learning throughout the process"

Therefore, this blog tries to explain how the teaching strategies such as classroom discussion, collaborative learning or team-based approach, problem-based learning and projects, learning logs, graphic organizers, the electronic portfolio and peer review can help to foster critical and creative thinking in the approach to teaching for understanding.

According to Mrs. Silvia Castro (sf) "ULACIT work daily to prepare our students intellectually and emotionally for a life of rapid change and complex. To do this, we strive to provide rigorous curricula that meet high quality standards, and we care about internationalizing the curriculum and strengthen the bilingual education, service learning and research. In addition, we provide opportunities to develop their human potential in a more comprehensive: the creative life, spiritual and ethical"

Written by: Mayela

Project Zero and Teaching for Understanding

The Teaching for Understanding was a five-year research program designed to develop and test pedagogy of understanding. The project targeted the middle and high school years and focused on teaching and learning in four subjects (English, history, math, and science). Since the project's inception, researchers and practitioners have collaborated to develop, refine, and test the pedagogy.

During the first three years, the collaborators developed a framework that stresses in-depth learning.  If a student understands a topic, the students can not only reproduce knowledge, but also use it in unscripted ways. For example, a student in a history class might be able to describe the gist of the Declaration of Independence in her own words; role-play King George as he reacts to different parts of it; or write out parts of an imagined debate among the authors as they hammer out the statement. These are called performances of understanding because they give students the opportunity to demonstrate that they understand information and apply it in new ways.

In addition to performances of understanding, the framework highlights three other key concepts: generative topics, understanding goals, and ongoing assessment. For teachers, attention to each of these aspects of instruction helps ensure that they will be focusing their time and energy on helping students to learn about those concepts, ideas, and skills that are most important to understand. For the students, this approach to teaching and learning enables them to apply their knowledge and skills flexibly in a variety of situations.

References:
Project Zero. History. Retrieved from: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/ProdServ/Products.htm