WHY THINK ABOUT CREATIVE THINKING?
I teach 2nd and 3rd grades in an elementary school that strives to prepare its students for fulfilled and productive lives. As such, we spend a great deal of time examining, reexamining, and even grappling with how to best prepare them to be and successful citizens of the 21st century. We know that proficiency in the “basics” of language arts and math skills will always be the bedrock upon which we build our educational programs. That is here to stay. However, if we really want our students to be ready for productive lives in the 21st century, there are additional areas that need to be addressed.
In his book The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—And What We Can Do About It, Tony Wagner delineates seven core “survival skills” for the 21st century worker, lifelong learner, and citizen. These are:
· Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
· Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
· Agility and Adaptability
· Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
· Effective and Oral Written Communication
· Accessing and Analyzing Information
· Curiosity and Imagination
While all seven of the core survival skills are interrelated of great importance, I decided to focus on creative thinking skills. In a nutshell, here are the reasons:
· A recent analysis of almost 300,000 childrens' creativity scores conducted by Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William & Mary revealed that creativity scores in America’s children have been steadily falling since 1990. Furthermore, the decrease is most significant in children from kindergarten through 6th grade. (www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html)
· A Newsweek article (July 10, 2010) cited a recent IBM poll of 1,500 company CEO’s who identified creativity as the most important “leadership competency”. Employers are seeking employees who are able to analyze and creatively solve problems, find innovative solutions, and develop new products and services.
· Newsweek also stated that in many other countries, the nurturing of creative thinking skills is now of national importance. For example, the European Union designated 2009 as the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. In many countries around the world, problem-based learning programs are being instituted in schools. (www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html)
· Daniel Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (2005), notes that our students will need to develop abilities to be imaginative, creative, and empathetic so that they may compete in the workplace.
I am starting this blog because I see the need for our students to be creative and innovative if they are to be successful leaders in the 21st century. We, as teachers, can do a lot to foster and develop these critical and creative thinking skills in our classrooms. I’m interested in sharing information I have found and I would also like to know about the ideas and practices of others. Hopefully, those of us who intentionally encourage creative thinking in our classrooms can begin to share ideas and offer each other encouragement. I welcome your comments and/or suggestions!
