Out of Our Minds - Sir Ken Robinson
Sir Ken Robinson Speaks Up For Creativity.
Today I had the good fortune of seeing the British educator, Sir Ken Robinson speak at an event titled "Creativity in Learning" hosted by the Bay Area Discovery Museum at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. To be honest, good fortune is somewhat of an understatement. This was one of those life-changing events that gets to the very core of our existence:
What are we here for? How do we want humanity to evolve? What are the tools we need to get us there?
Here was this genius educator reminding us of our very raison d'etre, and inspiring hundreds of people (the crowd was at least 95% women!) to think divergently, creatively, and effectively, about our future, and the role of education in that future. Sir Ken was not only brilliant in his analysis of current human evolution, but hugely entertaining. Shamelessly name-dropping collaborations with the likes of John Cleese and Sir Paul McCartney, you could see that this man was truly deserving of the knighthood Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon him.
"We have dislocated the concept of creativity from intelligence," says Sir Ken, "... Yet creativity is the portal to our true abilities."
"You can be creative with anything that involves your intelligence." He describes the style of our current educational system as "industrial" and relevant for an industrial era, not a highly technological era like the one we're in. "Our current system confuses education with industrial manufacturing," he says. He made poignant references to the prevalence of prescription drugs for the treatment of the "disease" of ADHD, and the disconnect between the volumes of information children receive in this era and the archaic educational system we use to deal with it.
Divergent thinking (the capacity to see multiple possibilities and answers) is a crucial skill required in solving problems that don't have easy answers. Sir Ken described a study of genius levels in divergent thinking with a group of children over a period of 10 years. At 5 years old 98% of these children scored genius level. By the time they were 10 years old, 32% scored genius level, and by the time they were 15 years old only 10% were ranked as geniuses in the process of divergent thinking.
"The major reason for this decline is the process of becoming educated," says Sir Ken, "... of being told there is only one answer, and it's at the back of the book."
Yet we're all born with a tremendous capacity to think divergently, and our ability to do so enables tremendous things to happen. "We need to look systematically at how to grow creativity," says Sir Ken. Our capacity as human beings to think imaginatively and symbolically is uniquely human. We need to harness the power of our imagination to deal with the environmental problems we currently face, and to develop the quality of our human resources.
Sir Ken received a standing ovation. I was able to exchange a few brief words with him at the book signing and can confirm he was just as remarkably personable up close. We couldn't wish for a better endorsement, and hope he'll take a look at Poloppo.
If you're new to Poloppo, we hope you'll appreciate what we're up to here. We're only six months old, and have a long way to go to fulfil our dream of becoming a truly creative outlet for kids worldwide. Nevertheless we have oodles of drive, talent and enthusiasm. We're currently researchng and exploring the numerous possibilities for creative expression of kids online. One of the avenues we're looking at developing on the Poloppo website is the ability for kids to work on creative projects from different locations at the same time. Very soon we'll be introducing our unique range of interactive "printables" (watch this space!), and we're also working on animation collaborations between our Poloppo child artists and grown-up designers.
Our mission is to encourage creativity in children, and our hope is to establish a highly creative space for the bountiful flow of ideas between young creative geniuses throughout the world.
We thank you for your support!
Today I had the good fortune of seeing the British educator, Sir Ken Robinson speak at an event titled "Creativity in Learning" hosted by the Bay Area Discovery Museum at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. To be honest, good fortune is somewhat of an understatement. This was one of those life-changing events that gets to the very core of our existence:
What are we here for? How do we want humanity to evolve? What are the tools we need to get us there?
Here was this genius educator reminding us of our very raison d'etre, and inspiring hundreds of people (the crowd was at least 95% women!) to think divergently, creatively, and effectively, about our future, and the role of education in that future. Sir Ken was not only brilliant in his analysis of current human evolution, but hugely entertaining. Shamelessly name-dropping collaborations with the likes of John Cleese and Sir Paul McCartney, you could see that this man was truly deserving of the knighthood Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon him.
"We have dislocated the concept of creativity from intelligence," says Sir Ken, "... Yet creativity is the portal to our true abilities."
"You can be creative with anything that involves your intelligence." He describes the style of our current educational system as "industrial" and relevant for an industrial era, not a highly technological era like the one we're in. "Our current system confuses education with industrial manufacturing," he says. He made poignant references to the prevalence of prescription drugs for the treatment of the "disease" of ADHD, and the disconnect between the volumes of information children receive in this era and the archaic educational system we use to deal with it.
Divergent thinking (the capacity to see multiple possibilities and answers) is a crucial skill required in solving problems that don't have easy answers. Sir Ken described a study of genius levels in divergent thinking with a group of children over a period of 10 years. At 5 years old 98% of these children scored genius level. By the time they were 10 years old, 32% scored genius level, and by the time they were 15 years old only 10% were ranked as geniuses in the process of divergent thinking.
"The major reason for this decline is the process of becoming educated," says Sir Ken, "... of being told there is only one answer, and it's at the back of the book."
Yet we're all born with a tremendous capacity to think divergently, and our ability to do so enables tremendous things to happen. "We need to look systematically at how to grow creativity," says Sir Ken. Our capacity as human beings to think imaginatively and symbolically is uniquely human. We need to harness the power of our imagination to deal with the environmental problems we currently face, and to develop the quality of our human resources.
Sir Ken received a standing ovation. I was able to exchange a few brief words with him at the book signing and can confirm he was just as remarkably personable up close. We couldn't wish for a better endorsement, and hope he'll take a look at Poloppo.
If you're new to Poloppo, we hope you'll appreciate what we're up to here. We're only six months old, and have a long way to go to fulfil our dream of becoming a truly creative outlet for kids worldwide. Nevertheless we have oodles of drive, talent and enthusiasm. We're currently researchng and exploring the numerous possibilities for creative expression of kids online. One of the avenues we're looking at developing on the Poloppo website is the ability for kids to work on creative projects from different locations at the same time. Very soon we'll be introducing our unique range of interactive "printables" (watch this space!), and we're also working on animation collaborations between our Poloppo child artists and grown-up designers.
Our mission is to encourage creativity in children, and our hope is to establish a highly creative space for the bountiful flow of ideas between young creative geniuses throughout the world.
We thank you for your support!
posted by Poloppo at
6:10 PM
0 Comments
