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The inquiry teaching approach
Creativity in the education system
Short essay about inquiry-based learning
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In the beginning I had such a hard time trying to find a topic to write about. I walked around outside, and observed everything yet I couldn’t find anything that sparked my interest at the moment. My mom always told me that when I was younger I constantly asked questions so I wondered why I was having difficulty finding a question to ask now. Later on that day two of my cousins came to my house one is five years old and the other is eight years old. My five year old cousin continually asked questions and I could see his older sister was really getting annoyed by it, yet I remembered a time when she was in his shoes and I wondered why that changed. Then my five year old cousin told me about how much he loved school and my older cousin told me she hated school now. These observations have brought me to the conclusion that as children move up to higher levels of education their curiosity and creativity starts to diminish. This is because schools don’t do enough to cultivate curiosity and creativity.
When a child first enters kindergarten, after they get over they get over being shy and nervous everything is dandy. They might say the ABC’s and count a couple times a day but mostly it’s all about having fun and expressing yourself. I have never heard a five year old tell me they don’t like going to school. Yet as children grow older and move into higher grades the idea of “having fun” and “expressing yourself” become a distant memory. Teachers start to look for specific answers and give you specific ways to find your answers. The child who tries to find a different approach to questions is soon labeled as a “trouble-maker”
I think that is because creativity and curiosity is seen as something that is “cute” and acceptable in younger c...
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...many others decided that formal education wasn’t for them. It’s sad that this led to them dropping out because I feel like school has something for everyone if it is implemented properly. Yet the point I’m trying to make here is that they still became successful. They relied on their creativity and curiosity to lead them in whatever career they wanted to pursue and things worked out great for them. I strongly believe that we would have a lot more success stories like these if creativity and curiosity were cultivated in schools.
Works Cited
“The creativity crisis”, Newsweek, October 12th 2013
Tegagno, Deborah, Moran, James, and Sawyers, Janet Creativity in Early Childhood Classrooms United States, 1991, print
Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D , “3 ideas to prevent schools from killing creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking” Psychology today October 13th, 2013
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press. Van Hoose, W.H. (1980).
Amongst the many arguments that Gatto makes in his article, one of the ones that stands out the most is the one that schooling is created to deteriorate any type of originality in an individual. Gatto argues that not only does school train kids to think they should “consume nonstop” but “even better” it “encouraged them not to think at all” (Gatto154). Gatto believes that schools are creating absent minded individuals that can only think about consuming so that the businesses are the only one benefitting. Critical thinking once again gives the solution to such accusation. Critical thinking can create more open minded individual or students rather than absent minded ones .When students truly reflect and analyze information they are doing more than memorizing it, they are understanding it and finding where they can apply it in their everyday lives. The students are expanding their horizons and developing various ways of thinking and seeing situation rather than just the same fixed positions all the time. A school with open minded individuals can create a better atmosphere too because the students will feel more comfortable expressing original new ideas without the fear of being mocked or ridiculed. Open minded individuals can propose new ideas that can benefit the class as a whole such as a new insightful way of seeing a poem or an idea for a
Robinson, Ken. “How Schools Kill Creativity.” Online video clip. TED. Ted, Feb 2006. Web. 26 March 2014.
In their article, “The Creativity Crisis”, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explore the urgency of the downfall in the public’s “creativity quotient.” Bronson and Merryman emphasize the necessity for young children to be imaginative. Through an IBM poll, they verify that with the decrease of creativity in our society comes an array of consequences seen in the work field. The authors remind readers of another reason for the importance of creativity; they argue that creative ideas can solve national matters. Hence, Branson and Merryman believe that original ideas are key for a better world. Though I concede that creativity is a vital key to the solution of many national problems, I still insist that teaching creativity,
Initially, I define the two concepts of mistaken behavior and misbehavior, the first as an error in judgment and action made in the process of learning life skills. Mistaken behaviors occur at three levels which are: experimentation, socially influenced, and strong unmet needs. Teachers who use guidance see self-ruled life skills as difficult to learn, and they recognize that children are just at the beginning stages of a lifelong process of learning these skills. In the process of learning any difficult skill, children, like all of us, make mistakes. These teachers recognize that when children experiences conflicts it is because they have not yet developed the cognitive and emotional resources for more mature responses. The second concept being misbehavior is the conventional term applied to conflicts that the child is involved in, resulting in consequences that often include punishment and the internalization of a negative label such a “naughty”. The complexity of teaching self-ruled life skills leads some adults to the misconception that young children know how to behave, they just choose to misbehave. When conflicts occur, teacher who focus on misbehavior tend to label the child’s character and attempt to shame the child into better behavior.
...ation for the career of their choice. As Gatto so eloquently points out in his article, “We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent on ‘schooling’…” (Gatto 150). If he is correct, and success is reliant on our schooling, only the few elite students even have a chance at becoming successful. And that is truly unfair because every student in our country’s education system deserves the chance to be able to become something great.
Going back to our text, it is mentioned that in 1920s, the emphasis was on physical and intellectual development, and the early education programs were based on the works and studies of Froebel, Montessori, and McMillan. But as education improved in late 1940s, the attention was to focus on physical, social, and emotional growth (Eliason, et al., 2008 p.5). So the creative curriculum has been based on the theories and researches that inform decision making in the early childhood field. We can find these theories in the works of Piaget, Maslow, Erikson, Vygotsky, Smilansky, and Gardner. (Colker)
In the school setting, many people that enjoy specific activities like reading books, building model airplanes, playing music, and enjoying learning are being ostracized. As Fridman states, children are “Ostracized for their intelligence and refusal to conform to society’s anti-intellectual values, many are deprived of a chance to learn adequate social skills and acquire good
This shows how much society has changed since the 1900’s. Modern-day children are worse in almost every aspect of creative thinking when compared to previous generations. Society is hurting children’s imagination by not being supportive of outside time and social connections. With modern electronic devices, kids seldomly need to leave the house in order to be entertained. The lack of play time and social interactions severely hamper the development of children’s creativity. In summary, society is developing into something that lacks encouragement of creativity, and that is a major
The American system of education is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world. One of the surveys on attitudes toward teaching around the world found that the United States is unique in its strong emphasis on "good teaching." My experience at State College has helped me to understand better how this system works, and what methods and techniques American teachers use to motivate their students for creative and active learning. However, I can also see that this system doesn’t work perfectly in every classroom. Reading Ernest Boyer’s article “Creativity in the Classroom” helped me with my understanding of the main problem that nowadays exists with the American college education system. According to the author, the problem is that teachers and students don’t see each other as one team doing the same business; therefore, in most classrooms the process of learning becomes a boring procedure instead of being mind-blowing. Moreover, reading this article, I could analyze the reasons of this problem that the author identifies through my own experiences at State College.
People are often impressed by the creativity and innovation that sprouts from the minds of children. Children often think of solutions to every day problems using a uniquely creative approach. They are able to look beyond what is thought to be impossible. They are constantly trying to make sense of the world around them and ask many questions. They extend their thought processes to allow them to "think outside the box". Do we lose our creativity as we grow older? Are children more creative than adults?
I knew very early in life that I enjoyed working with children; I am drawn to their eagerness to learn, their trusting nature, and their inquisitive minds. It has always been a joy for me to be around children, who are eager to learn. Children are thrilled when an adult takes time to read to them. After hearing a story only a couple of times, they are like a tape recorder set on replay. Their thirst for knowledge is overwhelming. At the elementary level, children also tend to have a very trusting nature. They rely heavily on their elders for guidance. Most children are very honest with their feelings and don't try to hide them. This is a crucial time in a child's life; it is a time when teachers and parents should be molding them for the future. It seems their minds are always working on something which makes them extremely inquisitive. Their curiosities seem never to be satisfied. Children are always asking "why?" even when they know the answer. The inquisitive child wants to know the how's, when's, and where's of everything.
To get better education, thinking and learning power comes from our hearts and minds. As Ho says in the article “We Should Cherish Our Children Freedom to Think,” American schools provide opportunities to students and a path to achieve their creativity, which “people tend to dismiss or take for granted” (2007, p.113). Moreover, he also raised a question if American education system is so wretchedly lower in merit, “why is it that this is still the country of innovation” (Ho, P.113)? Kie Ho believes that creativity and freedom to think is the essential part in American education system. If students use critical thinking skill to develop creativity, they can better understand the material and evaluate their own behavior and characteristics. In many other countries, education inhibited the children’s freedom to think and that repressed the development of students’ activities.
Creative Arts in early childhood education refers to children’s participation in a variety of activities that engage their minds, bodies and senses (Sinclair, Jeanneret & O’Toole, 2012; Kearns, 2017); to inspire all children with the opportunity for creative and imaginative expression. Duffy (2006) and Sinclair et al. (2012) state that creativity is the process where children use their imagination to problem solve, develop new ideas, independence and flexibility to accomplish tasks. Furthermore, when educators foster creativity, they are assisting children in making meaning through play and developing their growing capacity to communicate, collaborate and think critically to meet the demands of life in the 21st century (Duffy, 2006; Korn-Bursztyn, 2012; Sinclair et al., 2012).