Post by jordynperry on Aug 5, 2011 12:45:57 GMT -5
"Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts." says the author of "The Creativity Crisis", and I agree with it almost completely. I understand what the author is saying in terms of needing to increase the creativity in the school, but I also know for a fact that I don't learn certain things well under the influence of 'creative teachings' such as project based learning. I can do everything needed for the project, work hard on my project, look up tons of information for my project, get an A on my project, get to present to the board my project, but if you asked me the next week what was in my project? I would have no idea. Give me a test on the material in my project? It would be some straight up guessing (hopefully multiple choice), and when I passed (because of it being multiple choice) it would be seen as the untrue idea that project-based learning had worked, and another project would ensue.
For whatever reason, social studies teachers seem to love project-based learning. I don't understand why, but I do understand that social studies is one of my worst subjects to begin with - and those 'projects' aren't helping me one bit. If they want to adapt project-based learning, I think it would be better if they did so into a specific class that everyone is required to take each year. A class that is based, like that in the National Inventors Hall of Fame School (though not necessarily science related), around a real problem which will end with a real solution. Something to work students' ingenuity while also involving information that may be actually applicable later on in their lives. That is by far the biggest issue I think I have with social studies projects, and just social studies in general. Because seriously, when am I ever going to need to know who the 21st president was or what types of crops they grew back in 1924? It's filled with unuseful information that only stays in my brain long enough for the project to finish, and then slips out again. A class focusing on real, plausible issues may very well work wonders for someone such as myself in getting the needed creativity ingrained in my brain.
I do agree that creativity is necessary - that it is more than likely declining in America, that kids are being nurtured less and less in terms of creativity by being sat in front of the TV set for hours at a time, and that it is an issue that needs to be faced very soon. I just don't agree that projects/project-based-learning should be implemented in all classrooms. It's as much a waste of time in most social studies classes (apart from ones actually focused on the present) as it is in math classes. And unless the classes have an actual fix on the present real world and can be implemented in one way or another, I see no reason to force projects into existence. It's annoying, time-consuming, and I don't learn a thing when compared with notes/lectures.
For whatever reason, social studies teachers seem to love project-based learning. I don't understand why, but I do understand that social studies is one of my worst subjects to begin with - and those 'projects' aren't helping me one bit. If they want to adapt project-based learning, I think it would be better if they did so into a specific class that everyone is required to take each year. A class that is based, like that in the National Inventors Hall of Fame School (though not necessarily science related), around a real problem which will end with a real solution. Something to work students' ingenuity while also involving information that may be actually applicable later on in their lives. That is by far the biggest issue I think I have with social studies projects, and just social studies in general. Because seriously, when am I ever going to need to know who the 21st president was or what types of crops they grew back in 1924? It's filled with unuseful information that only stays in my brain long enough for the project to finish, and then slips out again. A class focusing on real, plausible issues may very well work wonders for someone such as myself in getting the needed creativity ingrained in my brain.
I do agree that creativity is necessary - that it is more than likely declining in America, that kids are being nurtured less and less in terms of creativity by being sat in front of the TV set for hours at a time, and that it is an issue that needs to be faced very soon. I just don't agree that projects/project-based-learning should be implemented in all classrooms. It's as much a waste of time in most social studies classes (apart from ones actually focused on the present) as it is in math classes. And unless the classes have an actual fix on the present real world and can be implemented in one way or another, I see no reason to force projects into existence. It's annoying, time-consuming, and I don't learn a thing when compared with notes/lectures.