Artists of Learning

ARTISTS OF LEARNING Headmaster John Austin presents a bold vision for the academic future of King’s

The last two decades of research in behavioral science have demonstrated that students are motivated, excited and driven to learn when they possess high degrees of autonomy and curricular choice.

Yet, as a rule, schools provide little curricular flexibility. As the author Daniel Pink notes, “The world is awash in customization — until we get to the school house door.” King’s is no exception. Curricular structure varies widely from school to school, but compared to global peer schools (G-20 and the Eight Schools of New England), King’s is among the most prescriptive.

To provide increased flexibility and choice we are rethinking — and streamlining — our graduation requirements, consolidating our departmental structure to encourage cross-disciplinary fertilization and hybridity, and expanding the number and variety of high level electives available to students.

R

ecently I came across a wonderful phrase by the 18th century German philosopher and educator J.G. Fichte, one of the early theorists of liberal education. Writing about his hopes for German youth, he spoke of schools and universities creating what he called “artists of learning.”

Fichte’s wonderful phrase reminds us of the profound connection between learning and human creativity. Yet all too often that connection is severed by schools. As Sir Ken Robinson, the author of the most watched Ted Talk of all time and a prominent critic of what he calls the “industrial model of education” has written, most schools emphasize “linearity, conformity and standardization.” He argues that we need “a new Renaissance that values different modes of intelligence and that cultivates a creative relationship between disciplines and between education, commerce and the wider community.”

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There are many reasons why schools neglect creativity: a narrow definition of intelligence that excludes imagination, inventiveness and creative thought; an excessive emphasis on test preparation and assessments that focus on reductive formats like multiple choice; inflexible curricular structures; skepticism about the economic utility and value of creativity; and — perhaps most importantly — a tendency to underestimate the creativity, capacity and potential of young people.

Things may be changing. Because we are living through an age of remarkable invention and innovation, the connection between human creativity and the fields of business and technology have become more and more clear, and there is a greater appreciation of the important role that ingenuity, resourcefulness and entrepreneurialism play in today’s economy. The author Richard Florida has argued that this new and more

dynamic economic order is driven by a cadre of designers, engineers, artists and technological innovators.

He calls this group the “creative class.”

A number of thinkers and educators, including Robinson, have sought to reconnect learning to the defining human impulse to create. Mitch Resnick, the longtime director of MIT’s Media Lab and the author of the new book, Lifelong Kindergarten, argues that schools need to nurture, encourage and support creativity. All children, he argues, are born with the “capacity to be creative.” The distinguished critic Will Gompertz has argued in his book, Think Like an Artist that all schools should become more like art schools.

What would this mean? It would mean rethinking the traditional model of schooling by providing students with the three things they need to be creative: opportunity, space and time.

variety, both across and within departments, so that our students can pursue their passions.

Not surprisingly, our Department of Fine and Performing Arts is leading the way by redefining its mission, expanding electives for incoming students, and forging powerful partnerships with other departments within the school and with artists, institutions and businesses beyond it. Next year, incoming students will have the option of selecting from almost a dozen courses, ranging from more traditional offerings in print-making, dance, theater and drawing to those in digital fabrication, app design, graphic design, digital filmmaking and video art, among others. Many of these will be interdisciplinary in nature. All will be united by a common focus on the studio process: critique and collaboration, and performance and exhibition.

We are also in the process of expanding our electives beyond our already robust menu of Advanced Placement courses in order to provide greater choice for students.

These new courses reflect a number of school-wide priorities: an emphasis on new and emerging fields (Narrative and Digital Journalism, Computational Thinking, Digital Fabrication, Robotics, Climate Science, Adolescent Psychology); areas of inquiry that reflect the culture and history of the region (Arabic Capstone, Islamic Civilization, Writing Jordanian History — an exciting collaboration between King’s and historians at the Royal Court; see more about this on page 72); courses that explicitly emphasize creativity and research-proven forms of assessment (Capstone Seminar and Research); and Advanced Studies (AS) courses that go beyond AP subject tests (Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus). In addition, students have

Providing more autonomy, flexibility and choice for students does not mean abandoning core academic requirements. Students will continue to explore the major fields of human inquiry, and they will be required to master core disciplinary competencies (one reason we have joined the Mastery Transcript Consortium). And students will continue to take courses that are distinctive to King’s (like our grade 10 course on The Middle East in a Global Context, our World Religions course and, of course, our Arabic courses, to which we give special emphasis). But once students have acquired what Howard Gardner calls the habits and skills of “disciplined thinking,” they will be given the opportunity to direct their own learning and exercise thoughtful choice.

This means conceiving of curriculum not as a straight line, but as a branched tree in which students move out from core requirements (the trunk) to a variety of curricular electives (the branches). And it means providing students with greater choice and SPRING 2018

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available to them over 50 elective courses offered through the Global Online Academy (GOA).

Combined with increased curricular flexibility, these new options will serve students as they move into the final two years of their careers and better prepare them for university.

Students will be able to define their own strengths and direct their course

“It would mean rethinking the traditional model of schooling by providing students with the three things they need to be creative: opportunity, space and time.”

of study towards those strengths.

The scientifically inclined can move beyond subject tests in those disciplines and begin to do the exciting work of scientists. Those tending in other directions can begin to do the work of scholars, artists and entrepreneurs.

We also hope to expand — if not fully institutionalize as a requirement for graduation — our Capstone program in such a way so that every student at the school is empowered to pursue, complete and exhibit a culminating, creative project, one that fully expresses and honors their intellectual strengths, creative energies and future aspirations. Our existing Capstone sequence has grown from two to eight sections in the few years since we piloted it — a testament to student interest and excitement. Students in Capstone Seminar and Capstone Research have conducted original research on some of the most pressing issues facing Jordan. In order to capture the diverse interests of students, we are 50

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actively planning to provide additional pathways for them to pursue creative Capstones, and we will continue to expand opportunities in the STEAM fields. A new Department of Interdisciplinary Studies will be created to house and institutionalize these efforts.

To support this work, will need new kinds of spaces. Classrooms are rarely designed to promote playfulness, creativity and production. Most, instead, are designed for the passive consumption of information with neatly arranged rows and seats, a configuration that defines the relationship between teachers and students and constrains the kind of learning that is possible. We have pushed back against this, by replacing traditional classroom architecture in the humanities wing with Harkness tables — the Harkness approach is a unique pedagogy that creates curious, inquiry-based and independent life learners — and in the science wing with flexible, modular seating that allows for more creative and collaborative work in math and science. We are looking to expand our laboratory spaces, so that they can accommodate a range of approaches: discussion, lecture, collaborative problemsolving, scientific research and experimentation.

We also plan to create a “future lab,” strategically located in the courtyard between the Isam and Rajai Salfiti Fine and Performing Arts Wing and the Michael Dagher Science Wing.

“Being creative,” Resnick writes, “always involves doing something” — making, fabricating, building, constructing, inventing. This new space will be an open, flexible and transparent space equipped with the most recent technology, materials, equipment and tools, along with a supporting program in fabrication, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, digital design and engineering. It will be a space signaling King’s commitment to creativity as one of the defining goals of education, and

it will be a space where science, the arts and technology meet and support one another. It will also be a place where King’s students can collaborate with practicing artists, engineers and business leaders.

None of this can be accomplished within the traditional 45-minute period. To explore ideas in depth and allow the time for students to be creative, schools need to rethink how they use time. To that end, we will embark on a study of our daily and weekly schedule next fall. At present in the Upper School, we chunk the day into nine 45-minute periods — which means students have as many as 10 transitions a day. The goal of the schedule redesign (which will be led by a consultant from Independent School Management and include comprehensive input from staff, faculty, students and parents) is to improve the sometimes frenetic pace of the day by reducing the number of transitions, to lengthen class time to allow for deep and creative learning, and to support student health and wellness by limiting the number of transitions and nightly homework assignments. As we develop this new schedule, we will also be preparing the faculty to teach effectively in longer periods and to use this time well. Changes in how we use space and time will require faculty to teach differently, more intentionally and with greater creativity.

All of this means changing how we think about student work and focusing on forms of assessment that require not simply the passive absorption and regurgitation of information on tests, but the creative application of knowledge — what educational researchers call “transference.” Thinking itself is a profoundly creative undertaking, but very few school tests require creativity or emphasize the creative application of knowledge and skills to new problems and situations. We will seek out alternatives to more traditional assessments. Next year in the Middle School, we will pilot

the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA). CWRA directly measures student performance on critical-thinking and writtencommunication skills, such as analysis and problem solving, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical reading and evaluation, and critiquing an argument, in addition to writing mechanics and effectiveness.

What is at stake here is not simply the shape and scope of the academic program, but the very well-being of our students. Too many students experience school as a source of stress; they are over-tired, worndown, and lacking in sleep. We should not fault school for all of these outcomes. Growing up is sometimes hard work. Yet there is an important and powerful relationship between a young person’s health and happiness, their academic work and their experience at school.

The happiest learners are inevitably also the most engaged, adventurous and creative learners, and these learners tend to be self-directed and independent, driven by curiosity and wonder. If we can move in the direction I have tried to sketch by providing a greater sense of autonomy, more opportunities for students to be creative and a different approach to time and space, I am confident that we can not only improve the academic experience of each student at King’s but provide an education that introduces students to the joy, excitement and sense of purpose that have always defined learning at its best.

“Providing more autonomy, flexibility and choice for students does not mean abandoning core academic requirements.”

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