So, You Think Homework is a Sign of a Rigorous Program? Think Again.

I just had to share this recent post from Edutopia:

Myth #2: Homework Boosts Achievement

There is no evidence that this is true. In Finland, students have higher achievement with little or no homework and shorter school hours. The more important factor is what students experience during the school day. Project-based learning, as one example, places the emphasis on what is done during the day. If students choose to do more after hours, that's their choice. There also may sometimes be other good reasons to assign homework, but there should be no illusion that homework will help increase student achievement.

Want to read more? Click here.

Can We Teach Creativity?

“Creativity is as important now

in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.”

― Ken Robinson

If creativity is a new generation skill, how can we teach it? Quite simply, I don’t think we can. I do believe; however, it can be trained. Creativity is like a muscle. It must be exercised in order to grow. Studies show that our potential for creativity is minimally dependent on genetics. Environment is a much greater determiner of our creative potential. As educators, we must create a space for creativity training. I believe, this training can be done in isolated blocks of time that have little to nothing to do with the curriculum mandated content. Instead, we exercise our creative muscle regularly and with intention, thus creating a solid foundation that allows our students to then, build content on top.  

So let’s get practical. I’m all about the practical application of this sort of thing. Here are just a few exercises I have done with students to get their creative juices flowing:

1. Write the following on the board then challenge students to turn it into 950 by adding only one straight line (*see bottom for solution):      I 0 I 0 I 0

2. I often take my students through “guided writing activities”. I provide my students with large sketch pads and have them close their eyes. I then begin telling them an imaginative story and pause from time to time to have my students fill in the blanks, either through written word or through simple sketches. For example, I may begin the story of a hot air balloon ride but ask students to sketch the view. Then I pick up the story after a few moments and pause again to have students write for a few moments about their fears of flying over the large expanse of ocean.

3. I have students bring 12 tiny objects to school that can all fit in the palm of a hand. I then ask students to write a short script for a play and use the objects as the actors/props. Students are then able to perform their plays for peers (they love this one!).

Here is a link to one of my favourite websites on creative thinking. It has a bunch of exercises and thought experiments that get your mind thinking in new and extraordinary ways. Below is an example:

The Matchstick Problem

When we approach a problem we create a kind of mental model that is based on how we were taught to solve such problems. Below is an arithmetic problem using matchsticks to form Roman numerals and operators (+, -, and =). The equation is incorrect.

Incorrect Equation

PROBLEM

See if you can solve it by envisioning a solution in which only one matchstick is moved to create a correct equation. You can only move one matchstick once (but not remove it).

Many people have trouble with this problem because they learned in school that solving arithmetic problems is a matter of manipulating quantities. For example, many people play around with this problem by moving the matchsticks that change the numbers, for example by taking away the first matchstick forming the “one” in the Roman numeral IV, changing it to a V.

This “learned” perspective of what an arithmetic equation is brings many people to a complete standstill and they declare the problem impossible. The very knowledge of arithmetic prevents us from approaching the problem on its own terms. Consequently, our thoughts go around in circles. We waste time reapplying methods we’ve learned in the past we already know to be futile.

Creative thinking is knowing how to look at problems in many different ways. Instead of looking to exclude possibilities, look for ways to include them. Creative thinking involves changing the way you’ve been taught to look at things. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

The solution to the creativity challenge #1 is  I 0 T 0 I 0, as in the time, 9:50 ;). Here is a link  to a few more creativity exercises I have done with my students. I’d love to hear from you about the ways you are using creativity training with your students.

This is the Face of the 21st Century Learner

Ann Makosinski

This is Ann. She is the face of the 21st Century Learner. Ann currently attends St. Michaels University School as a grade 12 student. When she was 15, she invented a human-powered flashlight. As a result, she made Time Magazine's 30 Under 30 list, was Google's Science Fair winner, has delivered four TED Talks (click here to watch), and was featured on the Tonight Show. A. Ma. Zing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel that all students need to attain celebrity status in order to be successful in today's world. It isn't Ann's success that makes her the poster child for 21st Century Learning. It is her curiosity, her desire to innovate, her strong communication skills, and her global perspective. Ann is the whole package. Not to mention, she's dead cool.

If we, as educators, are trying to figure out how to teach the 21st Century Learner with intention, we need to know what the end product looks like. I recently sat down with Ann to pick her brain as to what she feels has contributed to her success. She spoke of growing up in an environment where she wasn't given everything she wanted and that she had very few toys. She was encouraged to "make" from a very young age. She told me about how she and her father would stop by the University of Victoria's junk pile of scrap electronics, and would pick through bits that she would take home and later take apart.  

Ann's parents both work at UVic and have done so for all of Ann's life. As a young child, because her family never bothered with a babysitter, Ann spent hours inside her parent's offices. They didn't arm her with toys from a store to keep her occupied. Instead, she was left to her own imagination and learned to entertain herself through creative play. 

 As a teenager, Ann continued to join her father at the university and was given access to lab space where she would eventually build her flashlight prototype. She also had a lab space at home, equipped with a microscope her father picked up at a garage sale, some basic electronic tools and large surfaces. This space allowed her to play, experiment, build, innovate. 

Essentially, from a young age, Ann had access to, what would now be considered, a MakerSpace. She had a place to go that allowed her the space and tools necessary for her to be innovative without instruction. 

Remember the film, Field of Dreams? Remember that line, "If you build it, [they] will come"?  Well, I believe, if you create the space that fosters innovation and creativity, they will come. Students will come to that space, they will create and make and collaborate and all those other deliciously raw and natural things we want our kids to do. They'll put down their phones, pick up a drill, and make. 

Making is creativity. Making develops all of the 21st century skills we are working so hard to teach. Perhaps as teachers, we need to give as much thought and emphasis in answering the question where will we teach them as we do to the question, how will we teach them?