Physical space continues to surface in my thoughts about teaching creativity. Schools need to think about how space can both stimulate and enable creative thinking by:
- Creating different types of work areas that are designed to fit their functions. Those functions should include cross-pollination of knowledge and ideas, collaborative problem solving, and quiet reflection.
- Enabling students to personalize their classrooms and creating bridges to students' homes and cultures.
- Providing spots where teachers can collaborate and experiment.
- Creating spots with rich sensory content, as well as more neutral, stimulus-free spots.
- Building flexibility into the physical design so that the space can be reconfigured easily
- Incorporating the outdoors into learning processes
The visual arts should be a central part of this process. School staff members could examine installation and environmental art to get ideas and also engage students in art projects that make use of the school environment. The school community should regularly choose works of visual art and music to incorporate into the environment and should weave those works into the curriculum. Schools should create areas where ideas and concepts can be exhibited in interesting and creative ways and visual and audio documentation of the journey of learning and creating can be viewed and discussed.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment