First piece of Literature - Sir Ken Robinson
I started looking at Sir Ken Robinson work after randomly
searching links to the word ‘creativity’ using Google. I came across an article
‘Creativity in Education: Are We Doing Enough to Support Young People? By Mark
A’Bear on the Hufftington Post website, who briefly reviewed his book ‘The
Missing Element?’ Quoting how Sir Ken Robisnson had said ‘creativity to be 'the crucial 21st century skill
we'll need to solve today's pressing problems’ and how much he agreed with it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mark-aabear/creativity-in-education-a_b_4156960.html
posted on the 25/10/2013 last viewed 07/12/2013
This made me think about the book Alan had recommended ‘All
Our Futures (Robinson 2009)’, remembering the name Robinson briefly,
wondering if they were the same person, so I clicked on the link within the
article which linked to Sir Ken Robinson Website, this in return linked to other articles, audios
and books by Ken Robinson. In fact the more I researched the more I found on
him including the book Alan had recommended. I started to question myself, why
haven’t I heard of him before? Because he is very popular and inspiring, in
relation to creativity and education, because of this I decided to briefly review
Sir Ken Robinson to give foundation to his audios and books, before looking at
some of his audios and books in more detail; all of which support my topic.
Sir Ken Robinson was born in Liverpool; in March 1950 he is
an Author, Speaker, and Advisor on Education, Creativity and Innovation. He
went to a grammar school in Cheshire (1963 -1968), before he studied English and
Drama (B.ED) at Bretton Hall
College of Education, University of Leeds. He completed a PhD in 1981 at the University of London, researching drama and
theatre in education.
I found the
article on the Wiki website, gives a good guide to a timeline of his works and
awards, as well as other elements in relation to him; it gives some foundation
to his audios and books.
Works – As
written on Wiki Website
- 1977 Learning Through Drama:
Report of The Schools Council Drama Teaching Project with Lynn
McGregor and Maggie Tate. UCL. Heinemann. ISBN
0435185659
- 1980 Exploring Theatre and
Education Heinmann ISBN
0435187813
- 1982 The Arts in Schools:
Principles, Practice, and Provision,. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
ISBN
0903319233
- 1984 The Arts and Higher
Education. (editor with Christopher Ball). Gulbenkian and the
Leverhulme Trust ISBN
0900868899
- 1986 The Arts in Further Education.
Department of Education
and Science.
- 1998 Facing the Future: The Arts
and Education in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Arts Development Council ASIN
B002MXG93U
- 1998 All Our Futures: Creativity,
Culture, and Education (The Robinson Report)[9]
- 2001 Out of Our Minds: Learning to
Be Creative. Capstone. ISBN
1907312471
- 2009 The Element: How Finding Your
Passion Changes Everything (with Lou Aronica). Viking.
ISBN
978-0670020478
- 2013 Finding Your Element: How To
Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life (with Lou
Aronica). Viking. ISBN
9780670022380
Awards - As
written on Wiki Website
- 2004 Companionship of Liverpool Institute for
Performing Arts
- 2008 Governor's Award for the Arts in
Pennsylvania
- 2008 Gheens Foundation Creativity and
Entrepreneurship Award
- 2008 George Peabody Medal[10]
- 2008 Benjamin Franklin
Medal from the Royal Society of Arts[10]
- 2008 Honorary Degree of Doctor from the
University of Central England
- 2009 Honorary Degree of Doctor from
the Rhode Island School of Design
(RISD
What really draws me to him is his ‘underpinning of nature
of creativity and innovation’ also
how this has been extended to divergent thinking.
I very much come from a different background
to Ken Robinson; I didn’t go to a grammar school and going to University was a
distant place, getting a job was more important. I had weak literacy skills (although
this has developed over time). I enjoyed
Maths, but like my son I lost interest during secondary school and couldn’t see
the purpose in the Maths I was being taught, this did impact on my education
like my brothers, which reflects elements of what Ken Says in the ‘Changing Education
Paradigms’, in regards to having a sense of purpose. I believe many children
need that sense of purpose and this can be provided through creativity.
Additionally
through my young years I did have access to variety of maths, through taking
scores while my parents played darts, working out a betting slip, doubles,
trebles, four-folds, odds and fractions etc… doing the shopping, playing poker and
playing chess; so my maths skills continued to develop, although my interest at
school was limited. I also flourished at drawing from a young age. Furthermore
because we didn’t have much money, we made things and to fixed things that were
broken.
My interest in
maths and learning returned, whiles doing the Art & Design/Graphic Design
courses, through my son’s learning and working in a school. My son became more interested in Maths and
used his Physic skills when he did an Art & Design Diploma, and during his Photography
degree. Both our aptitude to learning had increased when we had a sense of
purpose. This again reflects variety of school
children, who also need a sense of purpose.
Ken Robinson: Changing education
paradigms
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html
The Arts are victims of an educational production line and that senses are not necessary recorded or seen as a form of learning. Yet the Aesthetic Experience is when you learn about your senses, these senses can often be a form of survival too. It is also when your senses are at their peak you feel alive. The Arts develops your senses, and the development of your senses is important. You also need to learn how to manage over-senses, this could also apply to autistic children and can add value to their learning..
Out of 10, what mark would you give yourself for 'creativity' and what mark would give yourself for being 'Intelligent'?
The above image is taken from Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms , at this moment he talking about divergent thinking, which I do agree at a kinder-garden stage, the divergent thinking is higher and over a longitudinal period of time it would drop. Education that is too structured/ruled could increase the drop but I think culture also plays a part and lifestyles. Furthermore I would like to know how short-term and long memory impact on this? Because children often have a better short term memory, like a new computer. An older person, has more memory stored, that could cause different types of fatigue, like an over used computer that suddenly freezes. Creativity thinking or even people with limited funds could find many ways for a paperclip. It would be interesting to see if playing chess could increase divergent thinking as well as other creativity.
On reflection this I may add Soda skill activity in relation to divergent thinking at beginning of a project and then perhaps a slightly different Soda activity at the end. Or even add a divergent thinking question to my questionnaire, that I plan to send out. This could also bring engagement into my questionnaire.
He is talks about divergent thinking as an essential capacity for creativity; that creativity is not the same as divergent thinking, because creativity as he sees it is the process of having new ideas for value.The question would then be, 'what is the value? Can the value be seen? How do you demonstrate the value of an idea that has not been discovered or the idea that is somewhat blinded by educational/rules of obscured vision?
He also says that Divergent Thinking is thinking in different ways. I would say I am creative person and that I think in different ways for ideas and solutions to problems, I also use my intuition and this can be without thinking. So where does intuition lay? In divergent thinking of capacity for creative thinking that cannot be seen until the creativity has taken place and the idea has value.
The Arts are victims of an educational production line and that senses are not necessary recorded or seen as a form of learning. Yet the Aesthetic Experience is when you learn about your senses, these senses can often be a form of survival too. It is also when your senses are at their peak you feel alive. The Arts develops your senses, and the development of your senses is important. You also need to learn how to manage over-senses, this could also apply to autistic children and can add value to their learning..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oS9h3S3VK0&feature=player_embedded
Out of 10, what mark would you give yourself for 'creativity' and what mark would give yourself for being 'Intelligent'?
What is back to basics?
(note to me - briefly reflect on)
Quotes by Ken Robinson
“If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”
“The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.”
“Creativity is as important as literacy”
“Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it's the one thing that I believe we are systematically jeopardizing in the way we educate our children and ourselves.”
“Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.”
“For most of us the problem isn’t that we aim too high and fail - it’s just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed.”
“I believe our only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology, one in which we start to reconstitute our concept of the richness in human capacity.”
“young children are wonderfully confident in their own imaginations ... Most of us lose this confidence as we grow up"
(note to me - briefly reflect on)
All Our Futures had a lot of input from arrange of people 'scientist, business, head teachers etc... Many people including Ken Robinson. All Our Futures Report was created in 1998/9 Many elements of the report gives creativity in the education system a lot of foundation, although there are parts or organisations that it refers too no longer exist. Below are some extracts that relate more to my topic and inquiry.
I will reflect more on the report and come back to it.
(note to me - briefly reflect on)
Quotes by Ken Robinson
“If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”
“The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.”
“Creativity is as important as literacy”
“Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it's the one thing that I believe we are systematically jeopardizing in the way we educate our children and ourselves.”
“Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.”
“For most of us the problem isn’t that we aim too high and fail - it’s just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed.”
“I believe our only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology, one in which we start to reconstitute our concept of the richness in human capacity.”
“Curiosity is the engine of achievement.”
“young children are wonderfully confident in their own imaginations ... Most of us lose this confidence as we grow up"
(note to me - briefly reflect on)
All Our Futures
Below are some extracts from All Our FuturesAll Our Futures had a lot of input from arrange of people 'scientist, business, head teachers etc... Many people including Ken Robinson. All Our Futures Report was created in 1998/9 Many elements of the report gives creativity in the education system a lot of foundation, although there are parts or organisations that it refers too no longer exist. Below are some extracts that relate more to my topic and inquiry.
I will reflect more on the report and come back to it.
What is this Report About?
iii.
Our report develops five main themes:
The Challenge for Education
Education
faces challenges that are without precedent.
Meeting
these challenges calls for new priorities in education,
Introduction
and Summary NACCCE report 6
including
a much stronger emphasis on creative and cultural
education
and a new balance in teaching and in the curriculum.
Creative Potential
Creativity
is possible in all areas of human activity, including
the
arts, sciences, at work at play and in all other areas of
daily
life. All people have creative abilities and we all have
them
differently. When individuals find their creative
strengths,
it can have an enormous impact on self-esteem and
on
overall achievement.
Freedom and Control
Creativity
is not simply a matter of letting go. Serious
creative
achievement relies on knowledge, control of materials
and
command of ideas. Creative education involves a balance
between
teaching knowledge and skills, and encouraging
innovation.
In these ways, creative development is directly
related
to cultural education.
Cultural Understanding
Young
people are living in times of rapid cultural change and
of
increasing cultural diversity. Education must enable them
to
understand and respect different cultural values and
traditions
and the processes of cultural change and
development.
The engine of cultural change is the human
capacity
for creative thought and action.
A Systemic Approach
Creative
and cultural education are not subjects in the
curriculum,
they are general functions of education.
Promoting
them effectively calls for a systemic strategy: one
that
addresses the balance of the school curriculum, teaching
methods
and assessment, how schools connect with other
people
and resources and the training and development of
teachers
and others.
2. Creative Development
There
are many misconceptions about creativity. Some
people
associate creative teaching with a lack of discipline in
education.
Others see creative ability as the preserve of a
gifted
few, rather than of the many; others associate it only
with
the arts. In our view, creativity is possible in all areas of
human
activity and all young people and adults have creative
capacities.
Developing these capacities involves a balance
between
teaching skills and understanding, and promoting the
freedom
to innovate, and take risks.
6. Teaching and Learning
Creativity
can be taught. Teachers can be creative in their
own
teaching; they can also promote the creative abilities of
their
pupils. The roles of teachers are to recognise young
peoples
creative capacities; and to provide the particular
conditions
in which they can be realised. Developing
creativity
involves, amongst other things, deepening young
peoples
cultural knowledge and understanding. This is
essential
both in itself and to promote forms of education
which
are inclusive and sensitive to cultural diversity and
change.
3. What has this got to do with helping young
people get jobs?
We
live in a fast moving world. While employers continue to
demand
high academic standards, they also now want more.
They
want people who can adapt, see connections, innovate,
communicate
and work with others. This is true in many
areas
of work. The new knowledge-based economies in
particular
will increasingly depend on these abilities. Many
businesses
are paying for courses to promote creative
abilities,
to teach the skills and attitudes that are now
essential
for economic success but which our education
system
is not designed to promote.
Creative
Education
Creative
Education NACCCE report 28
Introduction
23.
The word ÔcreativityÕ is used in different ways, in different
contexts.
It has an Ôelusive definitionÕ1. The problems of
definition
lie in its particular associations with the arts, in the
complex
nature of creative activity itself, and in the variety of
theories
that have been developed to explain it. Some people
doubt
that creativity can be taught at all. They see creativity
as
a natural capacity with limited room for improvement
through
education. Our proposals are intended to show that
creativity
can be developed and how this might be done. In
this
section we offer our definition of creativity and the
implications
we see for promoting the creative development
of
young people.
Defining
Creativity
Defining
a process that covers such a wide range of activities
and
personal styles is inherently difficult. Ours is a
stipulative
definition, but it takes account of what we
understand
about the nature of creative processes and of the
ways
in which key words are used in different contexts. It is
also
in a sense an indicative definition in that it points
to
features of creative processes that we want to encourage
for
educational purposes. Our starting point is to
recognise
four characteristics of creative processes. First,
they
always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively.
Second,
overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is,
it
is directed to achieving an objective. Third, these processes
must
generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must
be of value in relation to the objective.
Creativity and Culture
52.
There is a further point which has important implications for
teaching
methods, and for the curriculum. Creativity is
sometimes
seen as an entirely individual process. The
popular
image of creative genius is of the lone individual
producing
unique insights out of the air. Some individuals do
work
alone, and the course of history has been changed by
the
extraordinary creative insights of particularly gifted
people.
But for everyone, creative achievement always draws
from
the ideas and achievements of other people: from the
books,
theories, poems, music, architecture, design and the
rest
that mark the trails of other peopleÕs creative journeys.
Just
as different modes of thinking interact in a single mind,
individual
creativity is affected by dialogue with others. In
these
ways, creative development is intimately related to
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