Soar to new heights
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.(Leo Burnett)
It is claimed that everyone is born creative – and curious as well. Being curious is a trait that is looked well upon - in kindergarten! Later on, however, as children grow up their curiosity is stifled, there are more „serious“ concepts they need to master and there's simply no time for being curious and creative any more. As a consequence, they become less motivated, less original, less imaginative.
It doesn't neccessarily have to be so. In fact, we, primary and secondary school teachers, shouldn't allow it to happen. Especially not in the 21st century when creativity and creative thinking are among the basic skills that every student should have.
Creative thinking is the process of generating ideas. It can refer either to the discovery of new concepts and ideas or to new applications of familiar concepts and ideas. According to North Carolina State University, creative thinking deliberately and actively engages students in:
Bringing together existing ideas into new configurations;
Developing new properties or possibilities for something that already exists;
Discovering or imagining something entirely new.
21st century teachers' goal should be to awaken creativity in their students, enhance innovation and develop their sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. There are various ways to foster creativity. Educators should encourage their students to:
Connect and collaborate with others
Actively participate in the learning process
Design their own activities and learning content
Make, construct new knowledge
Use their imagination
Accept multiple correct answers
Share their products and their knowledge with peers
Have an authentic audience
Apply what they learned, made or constructed in real life, in situations that matter to them
Give constructive feedback to their peers' products
Self-reflect during the whole activity design process.
In this way teachers can motivate their students to become the creators of knowledge who turn ideas into action and contribute to their real and virtual communities. Students become motivated to actively participate in the process of learning. They are no longer consumers but producers of new, creative content.
In-flight entertainment
ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES
Here's your agenda for the second stopover. Begin with the article entitled Food for thought as an introduction to this part of the learning event about creativity and creative thinking.
In Miles and More Resources there are lots of resources about the ways to enhance students creativity and develop their creative thinking skills. Go through them at your own pace and join the discussion in the Pedagogics Category of the CREATE Forum.
On the left-hand side of the Activity Design Terminal you will find several lists of web 2.0 tools that you can use to encourage your students to become creators of knolwedge and producers of rich learning content. On the right-hand side there is a list of short and sweet tasks that we've created for you to try out. Choose one or more that you like and do it in the way we suggest or add your touch to it and adjust it so that it fits best your teaching context.
Finally, design your own learning activity from scratch. Use our Activity Design Template as a guide through the design process. Once done, click the submit button and your activity will appear shortly on our website eTwinning Learning Event Outcomes. Tell us more about your activity in the Learning Design Category of the CREATE Forum. Respond to other posts about learning activity design.
On the left-hand side of the Activity Design Terminal you will find several lists of web 2.0 tools that you can use to encourage your students to become creators of knolwedge and producers of rich learning content. On the right-hand side there is a list of short and sweet tasks that we've created for you to try out. Choose one or more that you like and do it in the way we suggest or add your touch to it and adjust it so that it fits best your teaching context.
Finally, design your own learning activity from scratch. Use our Activity Design Template as a guide through the design process. Once done, click the submit button and your activity will appear shortly on our website eTwinning Learning Event Outcomes. Tell us more about your activity in the Learning Design Category of the CREATE Forum. Respond to other posts about learning activity design.
Please be active in the CREATE Forum above. Add one or more posts in the threads and react to the posts of other participants. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.
There are two categories in the CREATE Forum:
Pedagogics: give your view on one of the resources on teaching creative thinking and creativity.
Learning Design: familiarize yourself with one or more of the given tools in the Terminal. Explore the ways how these tools can be used to engage students in generating new ideas and constructing new content. Share your activities, as well as your thoughts, ideas and experiences with other participants.
...and keep on tweeting! #etwinLE #etwinning
Create more
CREATE
Activity Design Terminal
Miles and More Resources
Soar to new heights
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
With such an abundance of learning resources and technology tools at our fingertips, there's definitely no need to teach and learn in the old, traditional way. Especially not when new tools are used in order to teach in the same old way. What worked ten years ago doesn't necessarily work in today's classrooms. Change is much needed in today's educational world. Change, however, doesn't simply mean „rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic“, but going much further, much deeper than that.
Teachers as lifelong learners have the opportunity as well as the capability to create new learning environments and to invent new learning opportunities that are more suitable to 21st century students. At the core of a new 21st century learning environment is not state-of-the art technology, but new learning activities that are designed by both teachers and students and that help teachers and students use technology in a motivating and inspiring way.
Teachers and students alike have the ability, knowledge and willingness to rethink and to reimagine school - to create and recreate new learning content that is easily shared and reused by others in order to create new rich educational content.
Many educators have been experimenting with a pedagogical model called Flipped Classroom. Basically, to flip the classroom means to reverse the usual "order" in which knowledge is gained. Instead of learning new content in the classroom, students learn at home by watching the videos, previoulsy made by their (and other) teachers. The classroom time is devoted to discussions, hands-on activities and projects. Students have more time for inquiry, for applying their knowledge and for interaction with other students as well as with the teacher.
Today's students have access to all kinds of resources, previously constructed by members of different cultures and generations in various learning environments. In such a learning context, students take ownership of their learning. They are enocuraged to build capacity and committment to learn, to develop their metacognitive skills and to become self-driven learners. If they become aware and take control of the process of learning as well as of the ways to tackle problems that arise along the way and make adjustments as necessary, their learning will significantly improve.
In a 3.0 classroom both the teachers and students are learners. They work together, they help each other to discover new information and create new materials for learning that are shared with peers and adults alike. The new classroom is a place where existing, well-known ideas are transformed into a new knowledge. Students are challenged to perform new tasks, to think creatively and encouraged to let their imagination run wild. The best learning occurs when students care about the learning content and are actively engaged in the making of it.
In the 21st classroom, „learning is natural, a love of learning is normal and real learning is passionate learning“ says Tom Peters in his book Re-Imagine. He points out that we should create a school curriculum that values questions above answers…creativity above fact regurgitation…individuality above conformity.. and excellence above standardized performance. We would also add that it's not about what students know but what they can do with what they know.
With such an abundance of learning resources and technology tools at our fingertips, there's definitely no need to teach and learn in the old, traditional way. Especially not when new tools are used in order to teach in the same old way. What worked ten years ago doesn't necessarily work in today's classrooms. Change is much needed in today's educational world. Change, however, doesn't simply mean „rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic“, but going much further, much deeper than that.
Teachers as lifelong learners have the opportunity as well as the capability to create new learning environments and to invent new learning opportunities that are more suitable to 21st century students. At the core of a new 21st century learning environment is not state-of-the art technology, but new learning activities that are designed by both teachers and students and that help teachers and students use technology in a motivating and inspiring way.
Teachers and students alike have the ability, knowledge and willingness to rethink and to reimagine school - to create and recreate new learning content that is easily shared and reused by others in order to create new rich educational content.
Many educators have been experimenting with a pedagogical model called Flipped Classroom. Basically, to flip the classroom means to reverse the usual "order" in which knowledge is gained. Instead of learning new content in the classroom, students learn at home by watching the videos, previoulsy made by their (and other) teachers. The classroom time is devoted to discussions, hands-on activities and projects. Students have more time for inquiry, for applying their knowledge and for interaction with other students as well as with the teacher.
Today's students have access to all kinds of resources, previously constructed by members of different cultures and generations in various learning environments. In such a learning context, students take ownership of their learning. They are enocuraged to build capacity and committment to learn, to develop their metacognitive skills and to become self-driven learners. If they become aware and take control of the process of learning as well as of the ways to tackle problems that arise along the way and make adjustments as necessary, their learning will significantly improve.
In a 3.0 classroom both the teachers and students are learners. They work together, they help each other to discover new information and create new materials for learning that are shared with peers and adults alike. The new classroom is a place where existing, well-known ideas are transformed into a new knowledge. Students are challenged to perform new tasks, to think creatively and encouraged to let their imagination run wild. The best learning occurs when students care about the learning content and are actively engaged in the making of it.
In the 21st classroom, „learning is natural, a love of learning is normal and real learning is passionate learning“ says Tom Peters in his book Re-Imagine. He points out that we should create a school curriculum that values questions above answers…creativity above fact regurgitation…individuality above conformity.. and excellence above standardized performance. We would also add that it's not about what students know but what they can do with what they know.
In-flight entertainment
ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES
We've reached our third stop-over. As always, please read the article entitled Food for thought as an introduction to rethinking and reinventing school.
In Miles and More Resources there are lots of resources about lifelong learning, reshaping school, new pedagogies and the future of learning for you to read and discuss in the Pedagogics Category of the COMBINE Forum.
In the Activity Design Terminal you will find a list of web 2.0 tools that you can use to enhance your students' metacognitive skills and to combine multiple approaches to foster rich learning opportunities. There is also a list of short and sweet tasks that we have created for you. Choose one or more that you like and do it in the way we suggest or add your touch to it and adjust it so that it fits best your teaching context.
Finally, design your own activity from scratch. Use our Activity Design Template as a guide through the design process. Once done, click the submit button and your activity will appear shortly on our website eTwinning Learning Event Outcomes. Tell us more about your activity in the Learning Design Category of the COMBINE Forum. Respond to other posts about learning activity design. Share the links to your activities in the Learning Design Category of the COMBINE Forum.
In the Activity Design Terminal you will find a list of web 2.0 tools that you can use to enhance your students' metacognitive skills and to combine multiple approaches to foster rich learning opportunities. There is also a list of short and sweet tasks that we have created for you. Choose one or more that you like and do it in the way we suggest or add your touch to it and adjust it so that it fits best your teaching context.
Finally, design your own activity from scratch. Use our Activity Design Template as a guide through the design process. Once done, click the submit button and your activity will appear shortly on our website eTwinning Learning Event Outcomes. Tell us more about your activity in the Learning Design Category of the COMBINE Forum. Respond to other posts about learning activity design. Share the links to your activities in the Learning Design Category of the COMBINE Forum.
Please be active in the COMBINE Forum above. Add one or more posts in the 2 categories and reply to the posts of other participants. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.
There are two categories in the COMBINE Forum:
Pedagogics: give your view on one of the resources on teaching self-regulation, developing metacognition, new approaches to learning and the future of education.
Learning Design: familiarize yourself with one or more of the given tools in the Terminal. Explore the ways how these tools can be used to engage students in meaningful and authentic tasks. Share your activities, as well as thoughts, ideas or experiences with other participants.
...and keep on tweeting! #etwinLE #etwinning
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