continued on

Creativity, continued from page 1

design. “I’ ve been inventing since I was born,” a boy states. “Do you want to make something?” He hands me the folded cardboard and moves to peer thoughtfully at his device from another angle.

Young children are natural explorers and experimenters, and the Park curriculum is designed to nurture and expand upon these skills of the imagination at all grade levels. Conventional pedagogical structures are in full play to serve the process of cognitive development.

Charged with illuminating the creative spirit at Park, I recently spent several hours in classrooms and hallways observing kids and teachers demonstrating – and pondering – their creativity in everything from painting to geometry to basketball.

A Grade I class explains to me, “We do things with our hands all day.” As they point out the bounty of work, I know that their teacher has their minds hard at work as well. “Mr. Segar is a very tall tree!” one child declares, describing an activity that weds science, social studies, art, innovative teaching, and an encouraging teacher and administrator. In this exercise, paper rainforest trees drawn to the scale of their designers integrate traditionally separate domains of learning. That is, the science project is also a lesson about dimensions, self-reflection, art, and community.

Original Thinking

Applying art to math, science to writing, drama to reading, music to sports is not an exercise in adding “color” to fundamental skills, nor is it a way to meet diverse learning styles. This education is about creative, multidimensional thinking. It nurtures possibilities in a generation whose lives will be shaped by change and adaptation, rather than a static base of knowledge. “I use art in every class. It is a way of being me,” remarks a fourth-grader. “Learning to do things well means trying different things. We are praised for original thinking,” a sixth-grader adds.

The energy of innovation brings the School’s walls to life. In English, books are recommended by costumed student characters, poetry is abundant, and creative writing is a considered an important proficiency. Social studies are enacted through living biographies, scripted plays, and reproductions of historic art. Science concepts are modeled in novel experiments, data mapping, imaginary adaptations, and sludge. Math is taught by counting pockets and pennies in the lower grades, and later using architecture, baseball statistics, bungee-jumping Barbie dolls, and blogs. Language is explored with personalized aliens and travel guides. Sports instruction pays attention to both creative strategy and physical development.

Art, music, and drama are usually considered the creative core of a school’ s curriculum, but at Park they are skills used to develop a new angle or solution in academic courses as well. Creative thinking is nurtured by a cross-fertilization that encourages open mental opportunities.

A fifth-grader wonders, “Maybe there are a hundred paths to create perspective in art.” “I look in the library door to get ideas,” her friend offers. “Every class is like a lab,” an eighth-grade student explains. “No class is paint-by-numbers.” A ninth-grader describes her experience, “Every time I play jazz, I come out of the room a different person.” Another says, “The theater is the living room of the school, but in every class we are expected to think outside the box.”

Risk Taking and Teamwork

Creative thinking is about process, not product, as I discover during my own explorations at Park. “The teachers encourage us to take risks.” “They bring new experiences to school.” “They are not afraid to do things differently.” Students recall a teacher climbing a tree to show a butterfly chrysalis, and another channeling Macbeth from the tabletop. “We are challenged to have opinions and develop new ideas,” a ninth-grader explains. “We are given independence, but we are pushed academically to use new opportunities.”

The risk taking and teamwork central to developing creative thinking are critical skills for our children ’s future, and the Park administration works hard to balance analytical and creative thinking in the curriculum.

I return home thinking of the possibilities, inspired by the articulate voices of Park students. And there, pulled from my pocket, is a folded piece of cardboard waiting for an invention.

“Creative thinking is in the walls of Park School.“ – Grade IX student

ABOVE: an eighth-grader prepares a doll for a bungee jump in math.

BELOW: A few of the bungee-jumping Barbie dolls.