I’ve been thinking so long to demonstrate how creative learning can help anyone to think different, and discover their potential. Almost for 2 years, I’ve been postponing to write about it because the idea depends on practice rather than being merely theoretical. I must say, I don’t feel comfortable to write about this personally chosen topic simply because I still haven’t cultivated enough background knowledge about this. However, here I will try to draw a general picture of creative learning as clearly as possible and add some personal opinions.
Educational framework at a glance
The most accepted educational framework, up until now, tends mostly to be grade-based. It barely allows students (from high school student to college graduates) to explore their possible range of learning.For students who get higher grades, school becomes a place at which they can compete for the next academic phase.
Throughout this competitive academic journey, students are consuming information by short term memorization rather than making use of it. Students memorize textbooks just before the exam and forget them afterwards. They focus on getting good grades rather than getting the essence of the subject matter.
In an educational framework where short term memorization and the continuous transfer of information are widely accepted, it’s not surprising that our generation and the next are hampered by the autonomy of copy-paste, making it impossible to foster innovative individuals. This way, students become blinded by scores and grades and can’t keep up with today’s ever-changing society as they don’t hone aptitudes that allow them to think differently and act accordingly when the circumstances push them.
And so far, an education system which shows the flaws of a dependence on grades, also raises the question of the purpose of grades — “Grades function as a simple and immediate feedback mechanism.”. With this in mind, I think, grades should be used to analyze one’s self-progress and should not function as a comparative structure that defines one’s educational merit.
What is creative learning?
Although there isn’t a precise definition of creative learning, one can simply put it this way: Creative Learning is a process of obtaining information and abilities through a creative process. This means discovering information that is acquired by stories, theories, solutions, designs as opposed to simply copying it. The scope of creative learning extends in accordance with creative process and different types of application.
Kindergarten Approach:
You may have heard kindergarten appr. if you have ever look for learning centers for children, talking with a teacher or even looking for some learning center, or a course for yourself.
Kindergarten approach is methods of teaching that encourages children to learn at their own pace in a social and collaborative environment. As is evident from its name, kindergarten enables young people to interact with others and the environment while promoting learning. Kindergarten is an open space for creative activities.
As seen in the arts, I think, creative process of learning is related to oneself and everything else. For that I think that learning should have its own (socially individualized not standardized) time and space. Children are an innate doers, and they need to be encouraged to discover and grow in their uniqueness rather having them tested out or sieved like processed materials. By the same token, I think interactive learning with a focus on individual learning within small groups helps to strengthen the learning process while letting them get engaged in daily social activities.
Psychological facts about children learning?
Last year, I read a book about art therapy, Creative arts and play therapy for attachment problems. In this book I learnt about the Circle of Security — a model for expressing therapeutic stages of attachment theory. The COS model illustrates how to secure strong relationships between children and caregivers (i.e., parents, relatives, teachers.).
Just as seen in the COS model, children should be supported through the creative process of learning as they indulge in an activity. By the same token, caregivers can prolong focus and heighten attraction to subject matter through short-term feedback loops. Thus, the learning process is supported by intermittent feedback loops and more information has securely pertained.
Caregivers should draw a look that is wiser, kind, careful and benevolent to remarkably intensify learning process in these feedback loops.
As seen in the above diagram, the learning process involves a process like the one seen in the same child development.
In short, learning starts with the discovery and security provided by an assisting persona.
The importance of interactive learning:
Teaching is one of the most intimate relationships outside spousal and familial ones. And the benefit of human interaction in learning may be more than that of the student engagement seen in the classroom lectures.
Children repeat what they have learnt. Therefore, repetition, which is in the scope of the definition of learning, becomes very important, by application, during the discovery of the subject.
What is important in these repetitions is to check the accuracy of what has been taught/learned at the right place and time with feedback loops.The best and the oldest example for this is topic discussions coming after subject matter. The feedbacks that are placed at the beginning of the section or in middle and at the end of the section can help to increase focus and attention.
In addition to this, what we define as learning is actually a kind of social act.It is an active process; we get to know things and solve problems by communicating with others. The learners start to create their genuine conceptual frameworks rather than depending on instructor’s or a text’s framework.
Instead of trying to memorize bulk data, learners should be encouraged ask for feedback, take initiative and collaborate while learning. Interactive learning helps peers to process information as they practically engage with rather than memorizing it.
Child-like play:
Working is in our nature and in every possible way, we perform work in our daily life. For children, working sometimes comes as a play. Children learn through play. As they play, they also learn how to solve problems and develop motor skills. For example, when you observe a child playing, you see that she/he takes on all sorts of roles. A child can be a doctor or a hairdressers depending on the script they solely make up spontaneously. They create fiction and play. Children learn by copying. They can copy things and paste entirely a new thing from the original pattern. By doing so, they can innovate and continue to discover new things. I think this is one of the most impressive aspects of child-like play, discovery of an entirely new thing.
Check out for kindergarten approach: https://www.alpinemontessori.com/what-are-kindergarten-methods-of-teaching/
