Milton Chen - The Creativity Edge in Education

The Creativity Edge in Education: Arts, Technology & Passion Learning & the Brain Conference February 2013 Milton Chen, Ph.D., Senior Fellow George Lucas Educational Foundation (Edutopia) Neuroscience Supports Creative, Collaborative, Passionate Learning! Hands-on, Project-based, in nature, the arts Creative Learning = Authentic Learning School Life = Real Life "The great waste comes from [the child]s inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school...within the school...on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school." (Dewey) On edutopia: Multiple Intelligences Leave No Child Behind Great books: Dewey's lectures to parents George Leonard Education and Ecstasy Sir Ken Robinson: "We are born creative. The problem is that we are educated out of our creativity." "We have taken to educating kids from the neck up." "Average students learn subject matter in a third or less of present time, pleasurably rather than painfully." George Leonard Don't forget social and emotional learning CASEL.org This is the platform on which we must build academic learning 14 points on test scores on average on edutopia: The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning. Dr. Richard Davidson. (book) "The Emotional Life of the Brain" Entire presentation on slideshare.net Lecture: a method for getting information from a professor's notes to a student's notes without it passing through either of their brains. Clay Shirky TED talk: How social media can make history - we are living in an age of extraordinary potential We can liberate students. We have liberated content - it's available 24/7/365. Learning any time, any place, any path, any pace. Start from a student's passion. Let them progress at their own pace. On edutopia: Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement edutopia is using Google Translator to subtitle all of their movies Chen's book: "Education Nation" A nation is only as good as its educational system Creativity & Innovation: Key to an education nation. This is a must do, not a nice to do Every 30 seconds, 24 Hours of New YouTube Video K-1 Attack hybrid vehicle designed by inner-city Philly kids Why don't we have more curriculum about their own bodies? They're so curious about their bodies and how they work, as well as things in their everyday lives. Why isn't this the focus of education? "Objects of curiosity, of learning, are hidden in plain sight." Carol Dweck's Mindset "Kids are carrying this change in their pockets." Every medium we've ever created to express creativity is right next to every other medium on our smart phones storyofmovies.org curriculum http://www.googleartproject.com the elements by theodore gray http://www.periodictable.com/index.html gooru - educational search engine (http://www.goorulearning.org/gooru/index.g#!/home) WolframAlpha http://novemberlearning.com/ http://www.achievement.org/ - people telling their own stories about how they have learned and achieved, directed toward kids What's your definition of a great school? Make this definition short and measurable Einstein: "Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted counts." Do the students run in at the same rate they run out? Assess passion for learning!