Sir Ken Robinson is concerned that we’re killing creativity in our education systems.
If you watched the video I made from last week’s trip, I included a clip of a young boy who likes using Scratch in his school. The program acts as his virtual toolbox to create things, like his experiment with fractal music. It wasn’t beautiful art, per se, but it was what he set out to make: “music” based on the concepts of fractals. There’s no right or wrong answer here, unless you want to quibble over what formula he used. If you use the same tool to tell a story, or to create a game… there are good stories and bad ones, and certainly great games and lame games. No question. But how do we work towards discovering the great games within us if we aren’t exploring, creating, and failing every so often?
I think the bigger question for both parents and teachers is this: Why don’t more of you value creativity? I think schools would respond if society were asking (or demanding) creativity from our schools. Likely the biggest thrill I got out of visiting other Scratch enthusiasts last week was their own creativity (in expanding the platform) but also the celebration of what creativity is capable of. The trigger for me is an emotional response. When work students do causes that emotional response in me, I know it’s right, it’s good, and it’s very creative. As I move forward as an educator, I know my calling is to promote the powerful theme of creativity in learning.