Primary Creativity Jessica Steffel ~ CEP 818 ~ 12/18/2010
Primary school holds an important role in our community. Socialization, rules, and learning the values of our society are all important purposes for enrolling students in school. You hear a lot of people say “I remember taking naps in kindergarten” or “I never did that in first grade! How can you expect them to do that in first grade?” Well the reality is that school has changed since we adults participated as students. Kindergarteners don’t take naps and they do adjust to the schedule. Their sense of curiosity and exploration is unending. And while academic expectations are increasing for these young minds, it should also be considered that they are among the most eager pupils anyone could ask for. What typically happens after students are enrolled in school? They learn the rules of school and how to work within them. They learn that finding correct answers is the goal because that is what is valued. In fact, Sir Ken Robinson spoke about changing educational paradigms. In that discussion, he quoted a study noted in the book Breakpoint and Beyond, noting that in Kindergarten, 98% of students score at genius level in divergent thinking (the ability to see multiple answers to a problem), yet that skill deteriorated as they followed those students through school. As they were educated, they became LESS creative! My goal is to find ways to keep students thinking divergently, rather than squash that creativity. Reading Sparks of Creativity: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People has encouraged me to not only see more possibilities in my own life, but also to find ways to encourage those skills in my students.
The Four R’s: Everyone knows reading, writing, and arithmetic as the basics of education, but Sparks argues that we must give equal footing to another R: the arts. Integrating all curriculum areas with creative thinking and invention will foster more complete understanding in our students. Their innovative spirit, their sense of self, and their impact on the world they live in will all be better off if educators, from the primary level on up, all work to promote that sense in all students. The thinking tools students need to succeed are diverse yet connected. Each of them can be integrated into the learning for our youngest students, and here are some ideas:
Creativity tools: Observing and Imaging Observation is more than just seeing; it is actually directed perception. To perceive something, focus must be directed at it. We can foster student observation skills from a young age by allowing them to practice observing. In all subjects, we can ask “what do you notice?” and ask students to record their observations verbally, in written form or with drawings, and even in photos or videos. In the photo shown, a student can see the motion of something that is too quick for the naked eye to observe by stopping the motion of a video camera. These technology solutions can also be helpful in observing things that are slow, such as plants growing or chicks hatching. Observing should not be limited to science, though. “What do you notice?” can be asked about concepts in reading (all those words have –ed at the end!), math (all the 5s are in the same row!), and writing (that author used “once upon a time” just like the book we read yesterday). Bringing their observations to the forefront of their mind will encourage the explorative spirit. The primary school can also foster more imaging and visualizing. For one thing, in the art program, we teach the mixing of crayon colors but it is very structured to make certain colors for certain projects. By including a few minutes each time just to play with crayon mixing and free drawing, they are doing the thinking work. It can be a challenge to get these very concrete thinkers to image very much. In writing, primary teachers talk about playing “the movie in your mind” when recalling personal narrative stories or when reading a novel to students, encouraging them to image for themselves. Asking them “What else could this be good for?” also stimulates their divergent thinking.
Creativity tools: Patterns We recognize patterns when we realize a connection between things we didn't previously associate. And to recognize these patterns, we use multi-sensory observation and conceptual analysis. Understanding patterns goes beyond simple recognition, however. Forming patterns involves creatively constructing new patterns. In primary school, we introduce children to some of the most basic yet complex patterns, especially regarding letters, sounds, words, numbers, and pictures. In phonics I think the program is leading to better reading because the lessons ask students to find a pattern in words as they are revealed one by one. Once they find the pattern, the teacher names it and tells some of the rules related to it, so there is some teacher directed skill work, but we still are asking students to find them and apply them. Once they are free to do this, they make many associations in reading and in writing using these patterns. When the new Core Content Curriculum standards are given the go-ahead, primary schools will have more time to talk about the patterns in the world with students. They are great "noticers" so if we just give them time and support for their noticing, they will discover some pretty amazing things!
Creativity tools: Abstracting and Analogizing You’ll find abstract images in museums, in books, and online. Some of them are simply abstract, where the creator is attempting to grasp the essence of the object or concept he or she is representing. Others use analogies, highlighting the similarities between the object or concept with a seemingly unrelated object or concept. Being able to create these works shows a deep level of understanding that comes from reflecting upon the meanings and properties of the subject.
At a primary level, classes can use a twitter account to abstract their day as a class. Students also learn to retell stories with just enough detail and answer questions like “What do you think the author is telling you in this story?� There is also a lot of opportunity for analogizing in primary school as they make connections with their reading and themselves, other texts, and the world. Meaningful analogies are tough to come up with, but an inquiry-based curriculum includes asking students to help connect ideas through analogy. For example, students may study wind
as part of their weather exploration. Asking "what does the wind remind you of?" could lead to some great discussion of wind through analogy!
Creativity tools: Embodied Thinking This skill includes body thinking and empathizing. Both are important. Body thinking seems more natural to young students. For them, empathizing is more difficult and requires more experience and practice to “tune into.� Body thinking requires students to be aware of their proprioceptive senses as they are learning. There is a lot of opportunity to train "muscle memory" in primary schools. They are learning sounds, letters, numbers, sight words, patterns, and more. From the recognition of letters to the physical act of writing letters and numbers, they learn that the more they practice correctly, the better their "muscles" will remember how to perform the function. Brain Gym is another idea for body thinking as they move in certain ways to stimulate brain function, especially ones such as cross-crawls, which stimulate the cerebral spinal fluid through the body while working both sides of the brain. Primary students learn to empathize at a simple level: noticing how someone else feels based on their facial expressions is part of our social skills curriculum. They learn things that you could say if you notice someone who looks unhappy or angry, or even excited by thinking about how they feel. They also consider thoughts and feelings of characters in books they are reading, with questions like "what is that character thinking?" With practice, primary students can learn to do this very well.
Creativity tools: Modeling Modeling includes two tools: dimensional thinking and models. Dimensional thinking consists of moving from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional thinking, or the reverse. The ability to take information and transfer it between dimensions is important but takes practice to develop. Dimensional thinking also includes the ability to scale by proportions. In primary classrooms, there are many opportunities to build 3-dimensional thinking. Building shapes from objects, observing and replicating objects, using pattern blocks, and even building with dough and other forms of tactile objects can be used throughout the content areas. Assignments such as building pyramids from marshmallows and toothpicks give students the change to explore 3-dimensions in a fun and motivating way.
Models can be very useful in learning. There are several types of models, such as: 1. representational: show physical characteristics of a real object 2. functional: capturing how something operates 3. theoretical: showing the basic concepts of a process 4. imaginary: shows something we cannot observe Any model might actually be more than one of these types. In primary school, using models to teach and allowing students to create models can build their understanding. And they great thing about models is that they don’t have to be a physical model – as long as it represents what you are discussing. Primary classrooms use models to teach content in all subjects. In writing, students examine the craft of others and attempt to do similar things in their own writing. In math, they use base 10 blocks, pattern blocks, dice, and all manner of objects to practice and show their thinking. In science, they model behaviors of scientists when inquiring about topics. Connecting the model to their work has great impact on learning.
Creativity tools: Playing Play is a key to discovery. When we "fiddle" with things, we find out properties and capabilities of them that we didn't know before. Sparks of Genius lists three types of play, which all have their own purpose: practice play, symbolic play, and game play. Play reaches out over the other thinking tools and allows us to improve those skills as well. The intention of play is to have fun, to make and do without worrying about rules or responsibilities. Students learn through play. It might not all be exactly related to a content standard, but it IS important. When students play with physical materials, they might just discover something they didn’t know before, and they definitely collaborate and work together. While it isn’t easy in all primary grades to include time for play in the classroom, the primary school should never relinquish recess as a primary part of the day. Play allows for invention.
Creativity tools: Transforming Transforming is a creative thinking skill that builds on imagining. When imagining leads to new thinking, we call it transformational. Transformational thinking also often occurs by groups working together on the same problem. It goes hand in hand with play because the person or group often tried several imaginative ways of approaching the problem. Transformational thinking comes from the curiosity and play with content and lends itself to cross-disciplinary thinking as well. Mnemonic devices can help make abstract ideas concrete "by superimposing them on the body." Many primary schools use Tucker Signs during daily practice of letters and sounds. Motions are made with their hands and the children learn to
associate the sign with the sound and therefore the sound with the letter. Then, when they are reading or writing, teachers can use the signs to help students remember the concepts. Other forms of transformational thinking that could be used in a primary school are Mathematical poetry, science fiction, and the relation of music to chemistry is all examples. Students in all classrooms learn. As test scores (in most schools) rise, we are proving that we do a great job of teaching to the test and improving a certain skill-set. However, the fact that so many of our jobs once students are out of school will note require skills from that set should send us looking for innovative ways to set up our classrooms to inspire learning. We don’t want our 7 year olds to have already tuned out from school, and we don’t want our schools to be known for killing creativity any longer. If teachers are aware of the creative thinking tools and do two things (recognize where they are already fostering creativity and adding more opportunities to do so) they will have students who perform well because they are well-rounded, creative, problemsolving individuals that will survive and even thrive in our ever-changing economy.