CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 1 Activities

WEEK 1: ACTIVITIES

PART 1. First look at Ken Robinson's TedTalk: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html. Then select one from the following Creative Spark playlist to discuss in class:http://www.ted.com/playlists/11/the_creative_spark.html

In our groups we discussed the videos we had reviewed as pre-module activity.

[My Summary]

My views on Ken Robinson's talk are that he is a wonderful polemicist, and a fantastic speaker, but his points on creativity are highly debatable; if schools were killing creativity why is the so much creativity being generated by people who have gone through the school system? both artistic and problem-solving creativity.

He says we don't know what kinds of jobs there will be in 50 years time, we may not but chances are there still will be doctors, lawyers, accountants and street sweepers.

I disagree with his notion that creativity is as important as literacy, it really isn't.

Also I believe his view that we are educating to produce University Professors isn't true, it fails to recognize the wonderful work that so many highly creative teachers do, and it fails to understand that school is more than the classroom, there are sporting activities, and school plays, and all kinds of other non-classroom activities that help educate children (co-curricular activities), and in the case of third-level students, they are often learning to cook, clean and live by themselves.

In terms of the hierarchy in education, if we are ever going to find a cure for serious medical conditions, it's likely going to be achieved by people who studied a science, so there is a reason for this kind of hierarchy.

Finally my own reflection is that if there is anything that is killing creativity, it is rampant consumerism.

[My Summary]

I also shared my views on Amy Tan's excellent talk on her creative process. Which I think is a wonderful, personal, and deeply interesting talk about connecting with people to encourage creativity (like Richard Drew of 3M).

PART 2. Look at Pinterest and identify an inage from "Critical Thinking" or "Creative Thinking" that you like.

We were also asked to find an image from Pinterest, on the topic of either creative or critical thinking. I selected critical thinking and choose an image based on Lorin Anderson's 1990s revising of Bloom's Taxonomy:

[My Reflections on "Why Your Brain Craves Infographics"]

References

• Anderson, L., 2001, "A Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives", Pearson.