Anyone Can Be Creative

The fact that creativity can be learned is an important concept for many people. Well, at least I had never thought of it this way! Somewhere along the way, maybe from hearing the phrase “They are so creative!”, I perceived it was something that people were or were not.

 

It is reassuring to read Nussbaum’s book on creative intelligence and comprehend that a person can accumulate the tools needed to think creatively and that creativity comes in many forms. I think that the concepts that make up the creative intelligence that Nussbaum writes about are worthy of being incorporated into student learning and can have an impact on creating lessons for students as designers of their own learning.

 

Research supports the idea that students learn best when they are interested and engaged in their learning. The American Psychological Association website hosts a terrific page with information and resources that support this:

“Developing Responsible and Autonomous Learners: A Key to Motivating Students.”

Students who are taught to act with agency and design their learning by finding ways to get the information they need and apply it, are students who are excited about learning and will retain and apply knowledge.

 

Including Nussbaum’s concepts of knowledge mining, framing, playing, making, and pivoting, teachers can create lessons based on authentic problems. To encourage students to design their own learning, teachers can provide pathways for students to search, sort, create, communicate and synthesize their learning in a way that gives it meaning - enables them to frame it in a context that they understand.

 

I think the current trends in students as designers can be seen in the renewal of interest in Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL  is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. With the right set of supports students can be successful designers of their own learning –  powerful.