How lessons from Kindergarten can help everyone develop the creative thinking skills needed to thrive in today's society

"What’s so special about the kindergarten approach to learning? Why do I think it’s a good model for learners of all ages? To get a better understanding of the kindergarten approach to learning, it’s useful to think about a typical kindergarten activity. Imagine a group of kindergarten children, playing on the floor with a collection of wooden blocks. Two of the children begin building a castle, inspired by a fairy tale their teacher read to them. They build the base of the castle and then start building a lookout tower on top. They keep adding more blocks, and the tower gets taller and taller. Eventually, the tower tips over and falls to the ground. The children start building again, trying to make the tower more stable. Meanwhile, another child starts telling a story about the family living inside the castle. Her friend extends the story, adding a new character. The two children go back and forth, continually adding to the story. As the castle grows, so does the story. As the kindergarten children play, they learn many things. As they build towers, they develop a better understanding of structures and stability. As they create stories, they develop a better understanding of plots and characters. Most important, they learn about the creative process, and they begin to develop as creative thinkers... Imagine: In our example, the children start by imagining a fantasy castle—and the family that lives inside. Create: It’s not enough to imagine. The children turn their ideas into action, creating a castle, a tower, a story. Play: The children are constantly tinkering and experimenting with their creations, trying to build a taller tower or adding new twists and turns to the story. Share: One group of children collaborates on building the castle, another group collaborates on creating the story, and the two groups share ideas with one another. Each new addition to the castle suggests a new story and vice versa. Reflect: When the tower collapses, the teacher comes over and encourages the children to reflect on why it fell. How could they make a more stable tower? The teacher shows them pictures of skyscrapers, and the children notice that the bottoms of the buildings are wider than the tops. They decide to rebuild their tower with a wider base than before. Imagine: Based on their experiences going through the spiral, the children imagine new ideas and new directions. How about creating a village around the castle? How about creating a puppet show about life in the village? This Creative Learning Spiral is repeated over and over in kindergarten. The materials vary (wooden blocks, crayons, glitter, construction paper) and the creations vary (castles, stories, pictures, songs), but the core process is the same. The Creative Learning Spiral is the engine of creative thinking. As kindergarten children go through the spiral, they develop and refine their abilities as creative thinkers. They learn to develop their own ideas, try them out, experiment with alternatives, get input from others, and generate new ideas based on their experiences. Unfortunately, after kindergarten, most schools shift away from the Creative Learning Spiral. Students spend much of their time sitting at desks, filling out worksheets, and listening to lectures— whether from a teacher in the classroom or a video on the computer. Too often, schools focus on delivering instruction and information rather than supporting students in the creative learning process." -An excerpt from Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnick

Submitted November 06, 2017 at 09:33AM by MIT_Press http://ift.tt/2lYcw7y