Co.Exist | ideas + impact: If successful companies and societies of this next century are defined by their ability to innovate--a trope repeated constantly in business seminars, surveys, and speeches--then the U.S. may be headed for a rough time: On average, Americans’ ability to think creatively has declined.
18 comments:
It's been known for a while that playing instills creativity. That's kind of the reason, at a very basic level, that although China's and India's schools are technically "better", our economy is still stronger. We foster people that create, whereas their populations only can technically build, and not design or invent like the US can. It's why we are so much more service driven. But we've always known that play increases creativity, and I think we lose so much of that when all school kids do all day is work. I think it's very important to continue "teaching" creativity, because the only way we as a country and as a world population will survive is by continuing to create and invent.
I agree completely with this article that education has as of lately been more focused more so on having one specific answer and having students find the answer. We need creativity in order to survive and adapt and grow. Without it, we would have no where else to go. No one would be able to think of a new way to try and cure some ailment, or we wouldn't be able to find a new method of making healthier ways of growing plants, and so on. This creativity needs to be instilled into our education system more so than ever and will need to be a continuing factor of education for generations. I feel that my view on creativity may be a bit skewed since I am surrounded by it all day, but nonetheless, creativity is in fact a declining thing within our society and it can not only be associated with those in the arts. I really hope that the LEGO group finds something useful with their research and finds a way to move forward with what they have learned and gathered so that we as humans can continue to grow and develop in this world.
I think its great that the lego foundation is investing so many resources into trying to make people more creative. I agree that this is one of the biggest problems with americans today. Americans arent as creative as they used to be and as an extension of that, they are not as good at problem solving. I think this article helps to demonstrate why cmu drama alumni are so prepared for any field they go into drama or otherwise due to the type of education that we get. The curriculum encourages high levels of creativity and puts us in scenarios where speedy problem solving is necessary allowing us to practice and hone those skills and thus better preparing us for future jobs.
Play is so important! It's crazy that we have/are forgetting that and I'm glad a large company like Lego is taking action. There are schools around that do focus on play -- using art and song to learn along with having fun -- and you can see how much the kids benefit from it. I think the core of the problem of course always goes back to money. If public schools get funding from doing well on tests then of course they are going to focus on tests -- learning the tests, practicing the answers, etc. I've always hated standardized testing. I see it's necessity to a point, but not to the extreme it's come to. Some kids aren't good at tests and some are. Maybe we need to re-think testing and include play and creativity in them. Then teaching to the test will broaden and include much more…maybe…I remember taking some experimental test in elementary school where we had to do a science experiment. It was completely open to interpretation and we just had an hour to sort of play with what they gave us. They wanted to see what we would do and we had fun playing around with what they gave us. In the end I'm not sure what it was for or what came of it, but it was at least something different and I hope that we can keep trying to change the system and create a learning environment that inspires rather than hinders.
This article was so much cooler then I thought it was going to be. I thought it was just going to be an ad for LEGO but opening a school? That is pretty cool. I wish the article focused more on that I wanted to know more. The link they have doesn't really provide that much more information. The website for the school, which is clearly very new, provides a lot more. It is an international school for people from all over the world and they supposedly will cater to the needs of each individual child. Its quite a claim and they do not expand on it, but LEGO certainly has the power to make it happen. The curriculum is heavy in philosophy and their mission is to integrate physical activity into the learning. It makes a lot of sense to me that creativity would stem from such activities as a child, and there have been many articles in the last few year about how bad the institutionalized education is getting.
So what do we do? It seems that we are constantly presented with information that says we need to build in play and creativity into out early childhood education but I never hear about it. Many people I know are fighting for it around this country and fight for it each and every day in their own personal classrooms. It does make the fight harder when at the end of the day you are pressed up against a wall judging you by a standardized test score. I wish the best of luck to LEGO and the ability that they have. I do hope that something positive comes out of the LEGO school that could effect the national education institution.
The 'No Child Left Behind Act' was one of the warning signs for the downfall of the education system...
At that time I was leaving the public school system and heading off to college, but watching my younger go thru school behind me I've been able to see a steady decline in the education he's received. I mean standardized testing has been a thing for awhile, but it's almost double in the last ten years, and it's almost more challenging for kids to thrive in that environment. I myself am, and always have been a terrible test taker, but thrived in project based classes. And if I was still a kid in school I'd love to be able to use legos in class, in fact I currently have two lego sets in my desk drawer and lego pictionary on the shelf at home. So I fully support this idea.
The first sentence of this article struck in my mind because I totally agree on how there is a constant declination of creativity. One might say how there are still creative, innovative products such as iPhone, but I do not think that way. I think this issue is also overwhelming concern in Asian countries like Korea because Asian parents tend to force their children to find one right answer and not to allow them to take other path that seems abnormal and unique. I also had this thought when I was taking SAT lesson because the teachers were trying to explain a way of finding a right answer by process of elimination. I think the way people educate their children or students should be changed first to encourage their creativity. As a first step, I think "hands-on play" is a good concept. Rather than making children to solve hundreds math problems at young ages, I think it is good to strengthen their critical thinking with plays. By doing this, I hope that our future generation becomes more creative in mind.
Thus far this year I've been doing a ton of group projects. This has given me the opportunity to see how other people work though problems and find creative solutions. I don't want to be to harsh on my class mates (who I love deeply), but they tend to be very single minded when in comes to group projects for school. "How can I get an A?". Once or twice we have even started meetings asking that question. When ever I hear that sort of talk I ask people why it is that they are thinking about the project in that way. I never get very clear answers. It's almost as though people know that they think in a way that they disprove of, yet they can't escape it, and because they can't escape they are ashamed.
Reading though these comments I've seen a lot of people saying that creativity is important because it helps the world (or country) economy in some way (directly or indirectly). I've also seen a lot of people who comment on the fact that the article was basically written by a giant company. It's almost as though we can't have creativity for it's own skate. It's only ok if it's helping make money.
I'm not sure how all of this makes me feel. I really like when I get to be creative and I try to find ways to be creative in my life when most might think it is not possible. But maybe my first impressions on this are wrong and the majority of people who I work with and do not seem to value creativity in the same way are right. I can't be sure, but I'm open to new ways of looking at this.
SIDE NOTE:
I really love Lego and am a big fan. I grew up with basic bricks. I think they are much more "creative" as a toy then the kits that have instruction.
Education has gotten to the point that everything is taught in its simplest form so that it has one right answer and that is what children have to learn. Learning should not be the right way or the wrong way, there needs to be creativity and some individually for each student. I love the concept of having simple things like playing with legos to help with creativity. Having his as an active part of schooling starting at a young age is a really great concept. In order to keep up with the world you need to be an individual and have your own thoughts, you cannot get to the point where you can have your own thoughts if you are taught there is only one right answer to every question. I am happy to say that I was an active Lego player and hope that helped with me growing up to be a unique and creative individual.
It's a shame that creativity is on the decrease as schools shove more and more standardized testing down student's(and the teachers who dislike it just as much) throats. When I was in kindergarten I remember that for a large portion of each day we would have free reign to do anything that we wanted to with all of the different activities stations set up all around the room. This whole concept of kindergarten was based on the work of Erikson, a psychologist who's theory on development involves 8 stages, each stage being a an issue that has to be overcome. Not to get to psychological, but the issue that come into play here is Initiative vs. Guilt, which happens ages 3-6. At this point, children are given more freedom. They get to choose what they want to do, plan activities, and explore different things. When kids have this opportunity, it teaches them initiative and makes them feel secure in their decisions and in leading others. If this sort of activity isn't nurtured and is squelched by things like standardized testing, they'll feel like a nuisance to others and doubt their creative abilities. Schools need to keep this in mind and realize that they're standardized testing may be crushing creativity in young children. Yes, it's easier to quantify the progress of a student using examinations (and the education system sure does love it's statistics), but doesn't it mean anything that when we measure they're progress we're hurting it at the same time.
I think this a good initiative to take when children are young. Especially seeing how creativity has taken such a decline over the past few years, it is extremely important to develop those skills at a young age. The American school system has taken such a turn towards mathematical and linear thinking, only providing their students with the ability to come up with one solution. Many people have begun to believe that creativity is innate and unable to be taught, but based on this article, I would say the opposite is true.
I am a huge supporter of this. Being that my mother has been a public school teacher for around 30 years now and she has told me about the changes in the school systems. I am really against all of these standardized tests because children are no longer learning about subjects, they are learning about how to take tests. I don't know about now, but my generation grew up playing with legos and they were always a great way to let our imagination run wild. We forget that we are teaching people. People have emotions imaginations, we are not computers. You can't just plug information into us and expect us to be smarter. Everyone is different and they learn in different ways. I was always extremely visual and needed colors to understand things. I also needed hands-on experience to know how to do anything. I'm also a nut case so being able to express myself has always really helped me get my thoughts out. I was never good at the whole "here are some facts, memorize them!"
Lego is great for trying this. I'm actually really happy to hear about this!
I whole heartedly believe in the idea of play and creativity being an important part of development and life. Without the ability to imagine one lacks the ability to innovate, which slows societal progress and makes a person far less competitive in the job market. More and more companies are looking for employees who not only churn out a product, but make it better in the process. And innovation, imagination, creativity, and ultimately play are extremely important to performing this task.
As a person who still loves to play with legos it is cool to see that they are so devoted to putting money into the education of innovation. In reality you can't be taught to "innovate" the idea of playing and allowing ones imagination to explore is the only true way to bring out innovation. The fact that in todays age the people are taught everything they know about innovation in a classroom. This being said i hope that LEGO accomplishes what they have planned and amazes the educational community.
I think that all children are born with an inert sense of curiosity and creativity that eventually is overtaken by modern society. America is so focused on making everyone equals, that they are loosing individuality. The fact that everyone in the school of drama attends art school makes the curve a little skewed here, but so many people just don't know how to tap into their creativity. Growing up, my parents made sure that I was always active and using my mind. My sister and I had allotted TV times that were reserved for the weekends, so in response we made our own fun. Reading, drawing, music, athletics, and building were how we liked to spend our time...(I was the one that would build things). I used to take out my box of thousands of legos and go to town, building cities, castles, imaginary lands that were full of magic and wonder. I definitely think that being a big lego buff when I was younger helped shape the artist and designer that I am today. It seems silly to think that playing with plastic blocks turned me into an artist, but it allowed me to be creative and provided for an artistic outlet that really molded who I would become. Im excited that studies are actually showing that the hours I spent building lego models were actually worth something.
I am in full support of this article and what it supports. Creativity is a fundamental part of our human lives and completely necessary. I am a strong advocate of legos, having grown up with them and building things I didn't think were even possible. Legos are a way to unlock your creativity and allow it to grow and develop, and I think that is important especially since creativity in children is beginning to decline at an alarming rate. What schools are teaching now is about how to master letters and numbers efficiently while not focusing enough on the things that also matter such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. It is a shame that our education system is going this way and hopefully projects like this can start to turn things around.
I've never heard of the "creative crisis". I'd really like to know how can you measure creativity in a psychological research?
Lately there is a lot of criticism
on the education system and how it is not teaching important skills such as creativity but just making "robot" students.
in my opinion, creativity is probably one of the most important skills you can teach kids.
I'm very happy that Lego is initiating a new school that values creative skills.
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