In today's society, we are constantly improving the way we do things. The continual need to be creative and improve everyday processes is becoming a necessity. Companies are becoming more innovative, and the advancements in technology continue to go beyond our imagination. Because of the shift in thinking, it is more important than ever to teach our children to become innovators. Tony Wagner in his book “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World” seeks to identify the key components in fostering innovation and molding young minds.
Throughout the book, Tony Wagner interviews various young innovators along with, their parents, teachers, and mentors to identify key aspects in their life that contributed to their creative thinking. The main questions that Wagner seeks to answer are “…how you educate young people to become innovators. What are the capacities that matter most for the innovation, and how are they best taught?” Through these interviews he finds similarities amongst the innovators, that bring him closer to answering his questions.
So what is innovation? Wagner narrows down the definition of innovation into two meanings “the process of having original ideas and insights that have value, and then implementing them so that they are accepted and used by significant numbers of people” and “creative problem solving” (Wagner, 2012, p.7-8). Innovation is not solely creating new devices or technology, but can also be the way a process is handled. As Wagner continues to dissect the meaning of innovation, he separates innovation into incremental innovation and disruptive innovation. Incremental innovation is when existing products, processes or services are improved; while, disruptive ...
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...ok to graduate students who are interested in the topic of innovation, and teachers who are interested in different types of ways to promote innovation amongst students. Other individuals that I would recommend this book to are new parents who might be interested in techniques to raise their children to become creative thinkers. Ultimately, growing innovators is a topic that needs to be addressed and further pursued.
Works Cited
Duffy, T. M., & Jonassen, D. H. (Eds.). (1992). Constructivism and the technology of instruction: A conversation. Psychology Press.
Hein, G. (1991, October). Constructivist learning theory. In The Museum and the Needs of People. CECA (International Committee of Museum Educators) Conference Jerusalem Israel (pp. 15-22).
Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. SimonandSchuster. com.
“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
Late Childhood (Ages 9-11), Ingenuity: Older children have acquired a wide range of social and technical skills which enable them to come up with excellent strategies and inventive solutions to deal with the increasing pressures which society leaves on them. This principle of inventiveness lives on in that part of us that ever seeks new ways to solve practical problems and cope with everyday
If you are a parent or plan to be a parent, Do you want your child to sit in a desk all day while the teacher lectures them on information that they need to know for life or would you rather have your child learn constructively? Constructivism has been labeled as the philosophy of learning that proposes learners need to build their own understanding of new ideas (Constructivism and the Five E?s,2001). Learning something new, or attempting to understand something familiar in greater depth, is not a linear process. The purpose of this research paper is to explain the theoretical foundations of the constructivist approach to teaching and learning, and to provide concrete examples to show the effectiveness of the constructivist approach with respect to student learning.
Von Glaserfield (1990) acknowledged that constructivism means “knowledge is not passively received.” Piaget (1973) stated that students are not just “empty heads” that can be filled with facts from packaged curriculum that is given out my teachers. Constructivism does not depend on a standardized curriculum. Instead, it promotes using curriculum customized to the students’ prior knowledge. Also, it emphasizes real world problem solving, experiments, reasoning and communication (Au & Carrol , 1997). Constructivism gives students the power to make connections, reformulate ideas, and reach conclusions (Brewer & Daane, 2002). After school programs often focus on teac...
Powell, K. Kalina, C. (2009). Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing Tools for an Effective Classroom. Education, 130(2), 241-250. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb?did=1937522441&Fmt=7&clientId=22212&RQT=309&VName=PQD. (Document ID: 1937522441).
John Dewey once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” You may ask why John Dewey should be given merit for anything he says. In truth, John Dewey was one of the biggest supporters of constructivism in classroom. On a basic level, constructivism is described as learning by doing. This concept, while not necessarily new, is considered progressive. Today, we will explore the history and details of this concept, analyze how constructivism effects the modern classroom, and wrap it up with some concluding remarks.
The need for college graduates with creativity skills is “changing how the workplace” is structured or managed and “what people do.” These “changes” are the “center” of interpreting the basis for ideas. The future of the company depends on “how well it acquires, interprets, and acts” on the given “information.” “Today the spread of information technologies is bringing about a sea of change in the business” environment (Goleman and Kaufman par 43). “Since creative problem-solving requires the psychological commitment of the whole person, the modern workplace must undergo vital changes” (Goleman and Kaufman 46). Creativity has been a major influence when dealing with these changes brought on by the innovative technologies and that is why we should have creativity studies to guide the transition. Also, for students to have these skills before they enter the workforce will benefit them on so many levels. They won’t have to spend more time learning these skills because they already have what the job
Innovators can use this advice on a daily basis. For a few moments every day spend some time in a quiet room. This room should be free from distractions where a person has the ability to focus on their thoughts. Some of the best ideas come from these times and it will be exciting to discover what the thoughts will develop into.
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
Constructivism theorists believe that learning is an ongoing collective application of knowledge where past knowledge and hands on experience meet. This theory also believes that students are naturally curious. If students are naturally curious, their curio...
Kelley,T. (2005, Oct.). The 10 faces of innovation. Fast Company, 74-77. Retrieved 6th March’ 2014 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=9&sid=1d6a17b7-c5f7-4f00-bea4 db1d84cbef55%40sessionmgr10&hid=28&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=18386009
The term constructivism has been used to explain everything from school reform to teaching styles, and most importantly related to a learning theory. As you can imagine the term Constructivism has the potential to develop many misconceptions since it lacks a universal definition. “Constructivism is an important theory of learning that is used to guide the development of new teaching methods”(Baviskar, Hartle & Whitney, 2009, p.541). The framework of constructivism is built upon the understanding that “learning is an active process that is student centered in the sense that, with the teachers help, learners select and transform information, construct hypothesis’, and make decisions”(Chrenka, 2001, p.694). It is important to understand that when speaking about constructivism we are referring to a learning theory not teach...
There are methods that are considered very different than constructivism that are used in the classroom. One of the approaches is the traditional approach where the teacher teaches the information to the student, and the student does not contribute as much or convey the prior knowledge of the material during instruction (Airasian & Walsh, 1997). It has been said that traditional teaching can segregate students, especially ones with special needs, in the classroom (Bloom; Perlmutter& Burrell, 1999). In other words, traditional instruction is a more teacher-centered approach that uses rote, fact based learning. The teachers create the values, behaviors, and beliefs for the students. The teacher is in charge of the classroom, where they have rewards and consequences, and the students work mostly by themselves (this is very different that the constructivist classroom, which will be explained) (Windschitl, 1999).
1997). By reviewing the literature on learning and innovation, we try to answer the following
Constructivist learning theory is creating meaning from experience. Learning is an active process within a context. Knowledge is constructed as opposed to being acquired. Our personal experiences subjectively shape our knowledge with each learning experience from the time we are born until we die. Constructivism is organic in nature because our learning is developed from prior knowledge within our mind while also constantly broadening with each new life experience. Learning is an autonomously controlled cognitive system, which interacts with its own conditions; this differentiates and modifies the independence of its own structure (Juvova et al., 2015). We as educators must turn away from the mindset that we are simply pouring knowledge