Archive for February 23rd, 2011

I am presently reading “the Homework Myth” by A. Kohn, and came across (page 111) how “terrific teachers” encourage students to create their own problem solving techniques (without prior demonstration of a specific solution) and have them discuss each others solution. This positions math (or any subject for that matter) as a “creative enterprise” and creates understanding of the problem-solution as opposed to black-box programming. This is probably a good example to mention in the discussion about creativity and how it leads to innovation and possibly leadership. For youth, this is a good situation to explain because there are many possible solutions – and the advantages may only manifest themselves best in particular situations.

In the video at http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html (titled Tim Brown on creativity and play) the audience had to sketch their neighbor within 30 seconds. Then they showed their sketch to the person who they sketched. It is interesting to see what the reaction is, and connect such reactions to the level of maturity/expectations.

One of the best ways to captivate an audience is to “tell a story” – of course, the story has to be in vivid detail and push one’s buttons. The stories that would be most readily accessible to students are about their lives. We could develop an exercise to sketch one’s life in say 15 minutes (it could be one’s own or that of a partner), and spend 5 minutes having someone review it for depth and interest. This may be a great way to identify key points to make in a personal statement – for a college application or a job interview.