Sharing Good Practice
Spark creative thinking
in your classroom
By Lubna Sarwar
I
n a country where innovation is
now a high frequency word, you
know that creative ability must be
valued. Teachers, of course, have
always been ‘creative coordinators’
and know all about this. In planning
our lessons and preparing our
classrooms, we are constantly thinking
about exciting and different ways in
which children can be engaged. This
creativity quotient is priceless. Our
students joyfully embrace it and, let
us not forget, that it is through their
own cycle of creative thinking that they
begin to grow as effective thinkers and
managers of their own learning. Young
children possess an innate capacity to
be curious; to wonder, muse, question
and reflect.
Which activities in the classroom
actually trigger creative thinking? What
can you do in your classroom to show
that you respect and value children
as creative thinkers? Below are a few
suggestions that I hope will help.
Project based learning
Students love to do things that have
meaning and make a difference.
Encourage them to work on longterm projects that will help them to
contribute meaningfully to the world
around them. Look no further than
Abu Dhabi’s zero carbon Masdar
City where the renewable energy
programme has attracted worldwide
attention. Once you have made that all
important field trip, you can transform
your classroom into #MasdarCity. In
material and metaphorical terms this is
an amazing project, big enough to fill
a few classes!
An entire cross curricular theme could
be built around this with the children
using a ‘See- Wonder-Think’ approach
which helps stimulate curiosity and
sets the stage for enquiry:
Step 1: Have the children look at
something - the driverless car, the
award winning wind tunnel - Siemens
building, and ask them if they can
identify small or big details. Guide
them in looking at examples such
as cultural influence, height of the
building above sea level or the striking
aluminum panels.
Step 2: Now is the time to think out
loud and to reflect on the more specific
features: ‘what tools or techniques
have been used?’ ‘How do they
calculate energy savings?’ ‘Why does
something look the way it does?’ ‘What
would another Middle Eastern styled
eco city look like?’ Encourage ‘out of
the bubble thinking’ as your students
formulate their own questions.
Step 3: This is the exciting part, as
students will now be searching for
answers and explanations. They will be
looking for further visual evidence or
information to help them answer their
own questions and create thoughtful
interpretations.
The ‘See-Wonder-Think’ routine works
well in a group discussion but in some
cases you may want to ask students to
use a graphic organizer to record their
responses individually: https://www.
edutopia.org/pdf s/s t w/edutopiastw-bates-artsintegration-templateorganizers.pdf
These
observations
and
can be woven into the grand central
display.
Snowballing - artful thinking
routine
It’s very important to remind children
that a single topic can be viewed from
many different angles. When it comes
to a complex, creative hub like Masdar,
the environmentalist, the city planner
and the tourist will each have their own
perspective.
A snowballing activity, rather like a
think-pair-share approach, is about
adding depth to ideas, stimulating
debate and collaborative thinking.
Start with paired students role-playing
the perspective of say a tourist and
then pair students up so that a group of
4 is created. Encourage your students
to generate relevant questions about
accessibility, convenience, recycling
and energy conservation. Follow up
with a quick snowballing session from
the viewpoint of the environmentalist.
Wrap up the session asking them what
new ideas they have about the topic
that they didn’t have before. You will be
impressed with the rigour of their work
and the super levels of engagement.
findings
Class Time
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Sep - Oct 2015
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