Thing 16 Teach Digital

Of the three videos, I found that my thoughts and feelings resonated most with Sir Ken Robinson and the things that he said about education and creativity. Toward the end of his presentation (humorous lecture?) he states that "our only hope for the future is to adopt a new concept of human ecology; one in which we start to cultivate the richness of human capacity." In cultivating that richness, we will need to be open to exploring a variety of parallel and intersecting "avenues" resisting the temptation to adapt a "one size fits all" mentality - even if that avenue is digital.

I also agree that in our classrooms we often do not build on the natural abilities and creativity of the children that enter our education system. Mathematics is a good example. Studies have shown that young children have innate abilities in mathematics (number sense, algebraic reasoning, spatial reasoning, and more) that we quickly cut off in the early grades through skill sheets and mad minutes. The same is true in science. Young children are inquisitive by nature - yet many schools hold off on teaching science (because reading is more important?) until the upper elementary grades and then teach it from a textbook!

Fundamentally, though, what is needed is a pardigm shift (along with a deeper understanding) of the role of education (educators) in our society. In a recent phone conversation that I had with Dr. Sheila Tobias (http://www.sheilatobias.com/), she reflected "Creativity is fostered not taught." So, if creativity is as critical for developing the full potential of our students as are the skills and knowledge that provide the avenue for that creativity to be expressed and fulfilled, then our teachers must be equipped to both foster creativity and facilitate learning in the classrooms of today. This in itself will need to be a creative process embedded with the knowledge that we may not get it completely right the first time.