Week+1+-+Creativity

**//Lecture Review by Alison Harvey //** The focus on the lecture this week was creativity showcasing Sir Ken Robinson and his powerful talk entitled “Do schools kill creativity?” Sir Ken Robinson is an international leader in creativity, innovation, and educational reform and believes that creativity is as important as literacy in educating children. We are all born creative, when we are children we are more likely to express our creativity and take risks, we lose this as adults as we are frightened of being ‘wrong’. Our education system is based upon academic ability which has defined our view of intelligence and the consequence of this is that many highly talented, creative people think they're not intelligent, because the thing they were good at was not valued in school. John Cleese said of him: ‘Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored in Western culture and especially in our educational systems.’

[|Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?]  The main point I took away from the lecture was the education system needs to change, one of the articles I read: From an old world-view to a new (Beare, 2001) also had this as a central theme. Below is what I thought where the main points from the reading. “Schooling, then, deals with personal formation, belief construction, developing a world-view, and with cultural transmission, over and above the acquiring of useful knowledge and enabling skills” (Beare, 2001, pg 21).  //**Arias of learning: creativity and performativity in Australian teacher education, Julie White (2006)**.Reviewed by Alison Harvey // This was an incredible article presenting the findings of a five year study, where students were encouraged to enhance their creativity through ‘ethnographic’ operatic performances. In these so-called ‘Arias of learning’ the narratives explored the personal experiences of the students in their learning of teaching. We all need to feel free to express our creativity and that of our students if we are to be inspiring teachers.
 * //From an old old world-view to a new, Beare (2001).//** //Reviewed by Michelle Lotriet//
 * That the education system needs to incorporate and teach about cultural diversity.
 * The environment and how to combat changes in it should be a focus in education, so that future generations do not have to worry about climate change so much.
 * Schools will be looked at to help form morals and value systems.
 * Rather that learn ‘about’ curriculum and pedagogy the students were encouraged to learn by ‘doing’. They were being encouraged to foster two aspects of creativity: risk taking and daring, as well as collaboration. It was also designed to encourage and support the students when working in unfamiliar and possibly personally challenging ways.
 * The article is interspersed with students’ reflections on the project and the majority although challenged found it to be a rewarding and worthwhile exercise: “My participation in the opera was an amazing experience … what started off as a daunting trip into the unknown, turned out to be an extremely educational and rewarding journey …”
 * Another student comments that it wasn’t the end product of the opera that was important, it was the journey that was more meaningful, and there was also acknowledgment of the importance in working in teams when undertaking a new challenge.

I have included a link to a cartoon from The Age last year, which summed up (for me) why we lack creativity today: [|Leunig_cartoon.jpg]  **//Changing Minds: A glimpse at the experience of transformative//** //**learning, Peta Heywood** **(2005)**. Reviewed by Svetlana Spaseska// The key point of Sir Ken Robinson was that we are all born creative  and as children we are more likely to express it. Peta Heywood's article suggests a number of ways that this creativity in children can be encouraged at school. Children should be given the opportunity to express their creativity in a number of ways during their schooling.   //**Timeless Learning: Definitions and Fundamentals**, **Miller (2006)**. Reviewed by Richard Gay// This is the introductory chapter to what would appear to be a very interesting book. It suggests that the traditional transmission model of learning needs to be complemented by ‘timeless learning’. This requires people to be completely in the moment such as when skiing down a slope or on a long meditative walk. Children probably start this way, but get distracted by the past or future over time. To teach and learn this way requires a connection by the person between body and mind, to others, the community and the environment. As such it would engender empathy, respect and compassion, which is refreshing in a society where competition is often encouraged over a co-operative approach based on an understanding of the deep interconnectedness of all things. The challenge would be to engage students in this way, so I’m going to buy a copy of the book! Personally I enjoyed the lecture, readings and video and found the material refreshing and a good way to start the Semester. With the world changing so rapidly we need to be creative people who are loosened sufficiently to frequently transform our thinking and actions. And in doing so this year we can assist students do likewise in future.
 * Creativity can be encouraged by deliberately exposing the child to disturbing fluctuations; this can be done in a well structured <span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:creative.jpg width="198" height="156" align="right"]] educational environment where it will allow the child to have transformative leaps of consciousness.<span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * Education is in demand of a different approach to learning and knowledge, an approach that is different to the common concept.<span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * Knowledge seen as matter, that can accumulate over time, stored and retrieved is supported by a substance <span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> universe.
 * The universe as a process creates a view that education is a creative process that will transform the child.<span style="font-size: 90%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * Education works on developing high levels of consciousness, with experience and reflecting on the experience, also by using the imagination of how things might be.