In a study conducted by University of Texas, various adults (some from the United States and Vanuatu) were shown videos of children performing tasks. The children in these videos were shown how to complete a task then asked to complete the task they were just shown. One child …show more content…
Creativity to certain cultures can be seen as being disobedient and unruly, however being creative allows children to have fun and do things in a unique way. Although the United States is slowly transforming into a creative like setting, we are still experiencing a lot of academic and behavioral standards for our students. In 2008 a researcher from PBS looked at education in Finland, their dropout rates are extremely low compared to the United States. Finland is a country that promotes the creative side of children, sees them as individuals rather than a test score for funding. This kind of mentality is why Finland has such low dropout rates. Once teachers and schools start treating our children like individuals with hobbies, ideas, and feelings, the United States will see an extreme shift in how children view and process school. When looking at educational models, there is a model called Blooms Taxonomy. Blooms Taxonomy is a system that teachers use to develop the level that their lesson is on. The lower the idea on the pyramid means the less skill it takes to accomplish. On the very bottom of the pyramid is “Remember/Memorize,” which is what we want our students in the United States to primarily do. That shows that are standardized test and current assessments are not developed the way they need to be. At the very top of this pyramid we see the level “Create.” The most …show more content…
As he states, having a “whip” mindset of lecture, review, and test only stresses and bores a child, it doesn’t allow them to fully relate to the subject at hand and build a liking or connection with lessons. However, letting a child create during through a lesson and be more hands on and opinionated on what they are learning allows them to become more flexible thinkers, which is healthy. Starko goes on to say that creativity allows a deeper understanding of material because child want to learn and they are having fun while doing it. Children aren’t sitting there dozing off like in a typical classroom setting, they are hands on creating something based off what they are learning, and they are applying their knowledge. Creativity is also a good source of motivation, while conformity does not act as motivation rather than a threat. Think about this scenario, a teacher tells a student that they get to do a project on their favorite kind of vertebrae; they can make a diorama, poster, slide show, etc. This puts motivation into a child’s academics, because they will be excited to be able to pick an animal and pick a method, these harbor creativity and voice. The teacher takes that same project idea but instead of letting them choose, the students are assigned an animal (so no repeats happen)