What's the Connection?

“Over the last few decades, as technology has become more prevalent in our everyday lives, both educators and business and industry leaders have increasingly stressed the importance of developing students’ creative and critical thinking skills” (Cennamo et al, 2009, p.23).  As we prepare our students to go out into the world after graduation, it is not the same skills and learning they need that we grew up with.  Technology is creating an environment where everything is always changing and growing.  Information can be found at the snap of a finger.  It is imperative that students learn how to function in this new learning environment, while understanding that they will need to be life long learners to keep up.

One of my favorite quotes was said by Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Jaris Askins  is on education.  She said, “"It's not about thinking outside of the box. It's about realizing there is no box."  We often define creative and critical thinking as ‘thinking outside the box’ or original ideas, but this is not often the case anymore.  We want all of students to have original ideas, but what makes them creative thinkers is that they are also “able to determine which of those ideas are the best ones to use” (Cennamo et all, 2009, p.25).  In order to teach our students how to be creative thinkers, we must give them opportunities in the classroom where they can do critical thinking.  We also need to do this in environment that engages the students, as well as makes it prevalent to their real world.  The use of self-directed learning allows students to go in depth into a topic they are interested in helping them to feel more at ease when they step out of the comfort zone.  The integration of technology is important because these are the tools they use everyday and will continue to use when in the workforce.  Creative thinking allows them to present ideas in a new and interesting way that conveys their personality and interests.  All this can be tied into the regular curriculum that we are required to teach just by looking at these components in a new light.  We don’t teach or offer these opportunities in isolation, they must be embedded into our lessons, units, and projects.

In the video “Promoting Creative Thinking with Technology”, we heard a lot of students share that they were excited when they were able to be creative.  This is completely accurate in my experience.  Students like to direct their learning and be creative in regards to it.  I worked with a group of students towards the end of the school year on independent research projects.  The students were able to choose what they wanted to learn more about, as well as choosing whatever creative way they wanted to share this knowledge with others.  Throughout the activity, I promoted critical thinking skills and information literacy lessons.  The result was a fantastic array of information and an eagerness to continue on to a new learning adventure.  Dr. Katherine Cennamo tells us that confidence, motivation, persistence, open-mindedness, and flexibility are all critical components to creative thinking and innovation (2009).   It is through the inclusion of self-directed learning, creativity, technology integration, and content learning that these components can be brought out in our students.  I have witnessed it with many projects but most predominantly with the one I described above.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Promoting creative thinking with technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.