Teaching From A Design Perspective
Developing a philosophy of education is more than asserting a love of wisdom in the theory and practice of teaching. It may be heartening to feel, but it lacks backbone. For a philosophy to have weight and merit, it needs truth, logical strength, and soundness. (Hughes 19) My philosophy of education asserts the following premises that if we teach: learning as relational; creativity as skill; and knowledge as design; then, we create an instructional approach that is cross curriculum. The logical strength of my argument is delivered after each premise has been explained, and the proof statements of each are proposed as truth claims. In doing so, my philosophy of education is a sound argument challenging the existing education paradigm that makes a distinction between required and elective courses. Currently, the Ministry of Education’s requirements for graduation weakens elective courses as having less academic credit, strengthens required courses as having more educational discipline, and subsequently, unequally distributes creativity into the curriculum. However, as Perkins points out in his article “Creativity by Design”:
If all knowledge were presented and discussed from the perspective of design, education would yield a much more creative view of knowledge. (23)
In my philosophy of education, I argue that teaching creativity is the most significant skill a student can learn, and is a cross curriculum attribute that has equal weight in every type of discipline. Thus, my philosophy of education supports an interdisciplinary curriculum where predominately elective subjects, such as technology education and fine arts, stand on equal footing with required subjects typically regarded as...
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...pose cross-curriculum equality begins by removing the academic and social prejudices that exist between required and elective courses.
Works Consulted
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Perkins, David. “Creativity by Design”. Educational Leadership. 14.1 (1984): 18-25.
Petrina, Stephen. Advanced Teaching Methods for the Technology Classroom. Hershey: Information Science Publishing, 2007.
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Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
“The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it's to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they're valued” (Ken Robinson). From the vast and varying array of “TED Talks,” situated on multiple topics, Kenneth Robinson’s speech explores and questions an argument understandable to students in an everyday educational environment. More in depth, English author, speaker, and advisor on education, Sir Kenneth Robinson confronts and challenges the modern day academic school system killing creativity. Robinson argues that; hence, “We are educating people out of their creativity” (Ken Robinson). Kenneth questions whether students, or in other words, future leaders and world changers are being subject to guidelines and rules put in
Teaching using creative methods can help develop the whole child. It can make learning experiences more exciting, more relevant, create different contexts for learning, al...
Creativity is something that isn’t taught but learned through self-reflection. Creativity requires one to be able to express their thoughts through words or other various forms of expression. Creativity allows students to come up with practical solutions to everyday problems when applying them to real life situations. This teaches students that there may be several ways to solve a problem, but no solution is better than the other. “People who are creatively successful go beyond merely performing a job, becoming sources of new ideas, discoveries, and inventions” (Zagursky). Students that are more creative thinkers; instead of, standardized test takers may find it difficult to advance in class. According to Kim Zagursky, the Torrance test is the most widely used creativity test in the world and is the best predictor of creative achievement. The Torrance test, named for creator E. Paul Torrance, was developed in the late 1950s as a potential tool to individualize student instruction (Zagursky). Unfortunately, as time past creativity is becoming less among our students. There is a growing concern for the ability to form their own opinions about ideas they have read. The questions in the Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy was designed to measure creativity, ana¬lytical, practical, and wisdom-based skills and attitudes (DiMaria 55). Sternberg’s policy is currently being used at Oklahoma State
The American system of education is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world. One of the surveys on attitudes toward teaching around the world found that the United States is unique in its strong emphasis on "good teaching." My experience at State College has helped me to understand better how this system works, and what methods and techniques American teachers use to motivate their students for creative and active learning. However, I can also see that this system doesn’t work perfectly in every classroom. Reading Ernest Boyer’s article “Creativity in the Classroom” helped me with my understanding of the main problem that nowadays exists with the American college education system. According to the author, the problem is that teachers and students don’t see each other as one team doing the same business; therefore, in most classrooms the process of learning becomes a boring procedure instead of being mind-blowing. Moreover, reading this article, I could analyze the reasons of this problem that the author identifies through my own experiences at State College.
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
What they neglect to realize is that most problems are unpredictable. So when a student faces a challenge not taught in the classroom, they will be incapable of solving or getting out of the situation. Once the formula does not work, creativity becomes a necessity. Some even fear the mere thought of imagination, since new possibilities open up the risk of failure or not being accepted. Students hold back their curiosity once they realize that teachers are unwilling to answer their question if it differs even slightly from the curriculum. These are the exact reasons our youth’s power to create fades. The value of creativity is beyond words; our society thrives on innovation. Take the stereotypical example of Bill Gates—he became a billionaire with the help of his creative thinking. So why would creativity not be the heart of our education system? Simply because there is not enough time or enough people willing to put in the
To get better education, thinking and learning power comes from our hearts and minds. As Ho says in the article “We Should Cherish Our Children Freedom to Think,” American schools provide opportunities to students and a path to achieve their creativity, which “people tend to dismiss or take for granted” (2007, p.113). Moreover, he also raised a question if American education system is so wretchedly lower in merit, “why is it that this is still the country of innovation” (Ho, P.113)? Kie Ho believes that creativity and freedom to think is the essential part in American education system. If students use critical thinking skill to develop creativity, they can better understand the material and evaluate their own behavior and characteristics. In many other countries, education inhibited the children’s freedom to think and that repressed the development of students’ activities.
In Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk video, he had many major points that relate to the definition and importance of creativity. A major point how creativity is as important in education as literacy. According to Sir Ken Robinson, “we should treat it with the same status. He explains is that education is used to prepare use for the future, but the future is unpredictable.”.
In this notable Ted Talk video "Do schools kill creativity?", Sir Ken Robinson discusses how public education systems demolish creativity because they believe it is essential to the academic growth and success of students. Robinson created a broad arrange of arguments to persuade the viewers to take action on this highly ignored issue, and he primarily focuses on how important creativity is. There are classes within schools that help utilize creativity, but they are not taken seriously by adults in society. Therefore, the value of creative knowledge decreases. Robinson uses an unusual combination of pathos and ethos to make an enjoyable dispute for implementing an education system that nurtures rather than eats away at creativity.
Grey, Alex. "The Creative Process and Entheogens - Alex Grey." Alex Grey. N.p., 2000. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Using creativity in the classroom will create strong students and help better them for the future. Now, students are just being taught to what is on the test. They do not learn how to be leaders, how to work in groups, people skills, or how to use their mind that is not just for memorizing the information. “The challenge now is to transform education systems into something better suited to the real needs of the 21st century. At the heart of this transformation there has to be a radically different view of human intelligence and of creativity” (Robinson K., 2011, p. 14). Using creativity and technology will allow the students to enjoy learning more. I noticed in my final project, that other students who weren’t education majors, saw this problem too. Many of them did not see creativity in a classroom, they felt that the school system was creating them into robots that taught them all how to think a certain way. Ken Robinson feels that, “we don’t grow into creativity; we grow out of it. Often we are educated out of it.” (2011, p. 49). Teachers should be teaching students how to be creative, and how to think on their own, so students will be able to go far in the future and succeed in any job they
Lowenfeld, V. and Brittain, W. L. (1987). Creative and Mental Growth. (eighth edition). New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Hegeman, J. (2008). The Thinking Behind Design. Master Thesis submitted to the school of design, Carngie Mellon University. Retrieved from: http://jamin.org/portfolio/thesis-paper/thinking-behind-design.pdf.
For an effective education creativity needs to be present within all aspects of a primary classroom. So what does it mean to be ‘creative’? According to Sir Ken Robinson “creativity is the process of having original ideas which have value”. Creativity can be demonstrated through the use of technology, problem solving experiments and allowing children the freedom to explore and express new ideas. It is very important to ensure a child can get the best creative education; this is because creativity will give the necessary skills needed for our future. Children must become creative problem solvers if they are in leadership positions as this will help them within society, even though all children may not be in a leadership position it is beneficial for them to have a creative mind-set. Because the world we live in is constantly developing new ideas, concepts and technology, creativity is definitely the most important quality a child can have. Sir Ken Robinson’s, (an international advisor on education) views on creativity in education will be discussed along with New Labour views which includes the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE). The 1977 white paper, the open plan for schools, and the 2003 excellence and enjoyment strategy concepts will also be drawn on.