Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa

The South African government struggles to remedy inequity and substandard education. Minimize ... DOCUMENTARY: Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa ... The South African government has been struggling to remedy years of inequity, particularly regarding substandard education. Testing Hope - Grade 12 in the New South Africa chronicles the lives of young people facing their future in the evolving democracy of South Africa. The film follows four students as they work towards their crucial Matric exams which one student calls the decider. [September 2010 - Colorado Public Television - Find out more about "Testing Hope"]

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Commentary: On Child-Driven Education

By Teley Quarshie
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED - July 2010: Sugata Mitra: The Child-Driven Education
Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Commentary:
I logged onto Ted.com and clicked inspiring and ingenious and on one of the pages, the title "The child-driven education" stuck out to me. Children are the most creative and alive. Full of thoughts, ideas, eagerness. Education is a huge issue in this world, yet such a tool to change one's social-economic status. He has found the “child-driven” solution to education though children, along with the help of technology that is everywhere. A little strange that there is high-speed Internet in these Indian and African villages walls. Yet we all walk around with mini-computers in our pocket or on our ear. Society is very technologically driven. The global world connects via the Web. Teaching is a profession respected by many but very underpaid. Leaving teachers to pick and choose and neglect where the money is close to nothing. Leaving the children to teach themselves.

He is using the creativity that the child has to figure out problems. He questions machines they’ve never used and in languages they are unfamiliar with. It's also a very creative way to educate. Yes, it would be best if these children where in the classroom learning with a teacher and a desk ... but in this case, this is all they have and they should be lucky to be apart of such a study.

By working together to figure out the answers, they are processing the information more to find a solution instead of on their own. Makes you wonder if people should be taught in groups, not one on one. You vs. the paper. Open education seems like a better way for people to learn. Yes, there may be that person who really doesn’t know the answer or how to solve it, but by being apart and paying attention they will figure out why whatever it is is such. (That was a side thought I just discovered thinking about the children working together.) I feel working together is a better guide for how to work in a professional social community. We spend our whole lives in school progressing on our own. Maybe we wouldn’t loose so many students if it was a group effort. If we all succeed, the better off we can make things on a larger, societal level. Thinking not for just the "Me" but the "We."

Children love to learn, but not all the same way. If they learn how to learn outside of the box, they will be able to think and know outside the box. Creativity and innovative ideas will follow. I consider open environments with some structure the best support for such learning styles. The idea of the "grandmother" is brilliant. All grandparents do is love and encourage. Having someone like that there, but actually not there, while still being surrounded by your peers seems to be a great idea to the world's grim education issue. A lot of money is needed, but not much help. People are needed to help. The outcome can only benefit us as a society. Sugata Mitra's creativity is creating tomorrow's creative minds.

Creativity in the Classroom Workshop at The Aldrich - Monday

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM
A creative education workshop for teachers, administrators, and parents ... with Facilitator Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
==========================
MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010, 4:00-6:30 P.M.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
$30 (members)/$35 (non-members)
.2 CEUs available
Register online:
http://www.aldrichart.org/events/?id=642
==========================

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM
Creativity includes -- and is more than -- the arts. Creative thinking is a twenty-first century skill that applies to all subjects, all grade levels, and all ages. It is a skill that prepares students and adults for a rapidly changing world, where complex problems do not have pre-defined, easy solutions.
Creativity involves creative and critical thinking skills that can be taught, practiced, and applied in all curriculums. In this workshop, you will:
* Explore what creativity is, who has it, and how to unleash more of it.
* Think about thinking ... and learn how to think in new ways.
* Learn and practice applied creative thinking skills.
* Discover styles and types of creative thinking within the creative process.
* Connect creativity to the classroom.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Steven Dahlberg is head of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He works with the Public and Community Engagement program at the University of Connecticut,
where he teaches the "Creativity + Social Change" course. More info at:
http://www.appliedimagination.org

REGISTER NOW
For registration and further information please contact:
Suzanne Ryan
Museum Educator
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
seryan @ aldrichart . org
203.438.4519

Commentary: On Ken Robinson's TED Talk ... Schools Kill Creativity

By Brooke Smith
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED Conference: February 2006
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. In this talk, he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Background:
I watched a video presentation from the TED Conference. The ultimate goal of TED is to highlight, study, and show how one can use the gift of human imagination. The man giving the speech was Sir Ken Robinson. He grew up in England and moved to California later in life. The speech was easy to listen to and humorous. Sir Ken Robinson used to be a university professor but now writes and speaks about creativity and education. The speech took place in Monterey, California, in February 2006 during a four-day TED Conference.

Commentary:
This video relates to our class in many ways. Sir Ken Robinson spoke about the main goal of changing our education system and how we use this system to teach our young children. He believes that creativity is the backbone to every individual and that traditional education teaches children how to conform to become studious while losing their creativity. According to him, the definition of creativity is, "the process of having original ideas that have value." In class, we spoke about this exact concern with the educational system. I believe that teachers should modify the way they attempt to conduct their classrooms. According to the video, education was created before the 1900s to meet the needs of industrialization. The most useful subjects back then were reading, writing and mathematics. This time period began steering children away from things they enjoyed because there was no future in being a musician or a dancer. Instead, the goal was to force everyone to become academic and find careers that they may not enjoy but will obtain financial success.

Sir Ken Robinson said: "We have a huge vested interest in [education], partly because it's education that's meant to take us into this future that we can't grasp." I agree with this statement. Traditional education and the subjects it deems important have become outdated. The times have changed and it is time we revamp the goal, focus and purpose of education. If we do this, we can better prepare our children for the uncertain future and the necessary skills needed to be successful today.

The speaker believed that children "all have tremendous talents, we [adults and education] squander them." How do we create schools and education to stop dismissing creativity and talent? This question was asked in class. I do not believe that there is just one change that would fix the educational system. Instead, it is many little changes such as teaching style, use of technology, etc., that would help begin a new style of learning. Children are full of imagination and talent. This is the main reason I love my job. I go to work every day and learn more from the children than they learn from me. They may not know that they do this, but I love their innocence, imaginations, ideas and passion. Children are very passionate about most of the things they do. "Kids will take a chance, even if they don't know how to do something or why they are, they still try," Robinson said. It is only through our educational eystem and adults telling children "No" that we hinder and/or stop children's creativity.

I took down many interesting things that Sir Ken Robinson said. These are just a few of the quotes that stuck with me.

• Creativity is as important now as literacy.
• If you not prepared to be wrong we will never be original.
• The challenge is how to remain an artist, because we were all born as one. (quoting Picasso)
• Highly brilliant people and brilliantly creative people no longer think this way because of being STIGMATIZED in school.

This video was easy to watch and full of valuable information on why the need to change the educational hierarchy is necessary to adequately prepare future generations. Instead, we are setting children up for failure. A degree no longer holds as much value as it once did. Everyone has them now. Instead, you have to continue your education and obtain higher degrees like a master's degree or law degree. It is time for a change to our system. How can we as individuals begin this change? Will it help future generations if we do?