Investigating the role of education in creativity
Ninety per cent of a child’s brain will be developed by age five, according to brain studies.
Holistic learning that addresses the five selves of a child is crucial to foster development and allow creativity to flourish. These five selves are as follows: social, the way a child interacts with others; emotional, how easily they react to something; Physical, a child’s use of their body; and creative, using a new way to do something.
There are a variety of issues stemming from the inability of a curriculum to nurture a child’s creativity in the classroom.
These selves are not all set in stone, but can be interlinked using Howard Gartner’s theory of multiple intelligences. A child can have several different intelligences such as language, music, and math. Furthermore, bodily-kinetic – the way children move their body and use it – interpersonal, the ability to understand other people, and intrapersonal –the way they understand themselves in relation to everyone else, are all different components of a child’s intelligence.
The role of the teacher is very important in the development of children. Rules that are valuable in the classroom, however, can pose a problem with children’s learning. In some cases, too many unnecessary rules, such as not allowing the children to problem-solve a solution to a scenario, may limit their knowledge. The toys used in the classroom should be multi-purpose and should be able to be used for many different types of play. Having a classroom filled with several different materials will help children explore different textures, colours, and patterns that span the multiple intelligences. Play-Doh has been a classroom favourite, as it can be made into different objects and used for different types of play.
The topic of gunplay amongst children has been taboo for a long time. Children observed in imaginative play using guns have been asked to stop and do something else on several occasions. Children have been seen using other objects like guns. Is it the teacher’s role to educate them or allow them to tell alternative stories?
In several classrooms, a theme-based model still applies to a certain extent. This means that each child is given the same thing to do based on a theme. The theme may be butterflies and they all may get a piece of paper and have them colour it. It would be creative to bring in models of the stages of a lifecycle of a caterpillar from the journey from the cocoon to a butterfly. Another thing that could be helpful is to read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and even create a dance for the children to span more developmental domains.
Classrooms should always be equipped with a dress-up centre. Children would be able to dress up regardless of the gender in an inclusive manner. They can play independently or with other children to increase language, counting, and possibly even writing skills. Even if the child is not able to write, they can still take a piece of paper and start using their preliminary writing skills. The key to fostering humanity is in the hands of those who nurture, play, build, educate and creatively influence our children.