I have taken part in different tasks that have allowed me to experience using a variety of cognitive thinking tools in order to compose meaningful, creative activities for my students in Grade 9 Health within the topic Healthy Living. “We need not change what we teach” (Root-Berstein, 1999, p. 316) in order to create a synthetic education. Instead, this course has encouraged me to broaden my horizons regarding how I teach, considering the benefits of shifting away from a traditional approach within this subject.
In order to use my newly acquired knowledge and understanding of cognitive thinking tools and creativity, I plan to share with you a Block Plan for my classes that has been revised as a result of me taking part in this course. (See below for this document and as a Google Doc). I have reviewed how I approach teaching the topic of Healthy Living and this plan gives clear examples of how I have implemented new, thoughtful activities to encourage creative thinking.
“The point of education must be to create whole people who, through their wholeness, can focus the accumulated wisdom of human experience into illuminated patches of splendor”, (Root-Berstein, 1999, p. 326). In order to implement forward-thinking education, teachers must review and be open-minded to new methods and ideas. Root-Berstein’s (1999) work has highlighted the value of implementing a transdisciplinary, synthetic approach. Each thinking tool can work together to support one another. Within my Block Plan, I have highlighted a number of these cognitive tools in order to help students understand and learn the content in a more powerful way.
Firstly I have asked students to play. By creating their own character, they students taking part in an animated task that inspires, or creates a spark of interest. This task should be experimental, fun and open to individual interpretation. Their work can come in numerous forms and is a representative of their thoughts within a personal manner. It is important to consider that what Healthy Living means to one, is not the same to another. Using the thinking tool of playing, students experiment with their ideas as this task explores neoteny, investigating the childlike memories that make us happy. Placing value on this aspect hopes to encourage students to center themselves on the important things in life that ultimately help us define Healthy Living. This requires creativity and an imaginative approach to learning that the traditional approach lacks.
This task is followed by the use of the cognitive tool of modeling, where they will explore the history of fitness, one of the key (perceived, or assumed) areas that make us “healthy”. This looks back at how things have changed, along with our priorities and needs as humans. This infographic is a formulation of ideas that creates a representation for students to reference. The students are then asked to center in on an area within history that they are interested in, and represent their ideas, thoughts or feelings in a meaningful way. This task aims to make learning experiences relevant to the student’s interest and allow them to be independent and thoughtful. Following a discussion/brainstorming session, I would hope students could be inspired to learn more about an aspect that interested them.
The cognitive tool of abstraction requires students to draw upon previous lessons, and draw connections by being thoughtful and reflective. Abstracting is the skill of breaking down a well-known, existing topic into smaller parts. Potentially those parts may not be recognizable to others, but helps the individual understand the overall topic in greater detail because of the advanced manner the topic has been investigated. Students have already looked at a particular aspect of history and may develop their existing ideas or be creative in order to invent something new. Invention is an “active process of learning and creating rather than an acquisition of facts, (Root-Berstein, 1999, p. 316). I value the use of imagination within the learning process and hope to encourage students to be creative as they initiate discussion and break down less obvious characteristics within the topic that otherwise may have been unnoticed. In addition to the use of abstraction, the Block Plan highlights ways in which students may identify patterns within their work. The ability to identify patterns comes from discovery of connections by creating new observations and experiences. In addition, respecting these patterns help us to build pictures, gives us a greater understanding of situations and helps us to make informed decisions. Ultimately, students will produce a piece of artwork that represents their findings. In addition they are asked to write or record an explanation of their work, describing their journey of discovery/formation of ideas.
At this point, I think it is important to point out that this approach is open to interpretation, therefore the assessment must reflect that quality is more valued than quality. Within the academic world I work in, students are used to the “right or wrong answer” culture, based on the end goal; their grade. This synthetic approach to education aims to encourage imagination and creativity and at the same time promote learning. It does “not require major alterations in curricula” (Root-Berstein, 199, p.316) but alters the learning experience. As a result, it is important students know the expectations and goals of the lesson. Below is an example of the rubric for the Healthy Living unit of work. This aims to encourage students to be risk takers within this new and potentially uncertain process, by eliminating the pressure or focus on the summative assessment (that they are so dependent on!).
The last task within this topic of Healthy Living relates to the thinking tool of perceiving, and encourages students to reflect on the range of ideas they have explored. Perceiving is taking time out of a busy day to experience a conscious process that involves using multiple senses to actively think, consider and observe rather than simply look. This series of lessons encourages my students to perceive, analyze and dive under the surface to understand this topic from a physical and mental perspective. This task hopes to encourage students to think past their stereotypical thoughts, in the same way my poem within the “Perceiving” unit did. I believe it is vital for students to understand that it is sometimes ok to break the mold and to examine what healthy living really means. I worry that in todays society, we are consumed with the picture perfect image of what healthy looks like. “To think is to feel and to feel is to think”, (Root-Berstein, p.317). I have tried to be creative to think about ways to question these stereotypes to encourage my students to reflect, and gain a deeper understanding of who they, and to be positively critical of their outlook within the topic of nutrition, physical activity and sleep.
Within this subject, the cognitive tool of embodied thinking is a running theme throughout. In each task, students are developing their ability to consider the emotional and physiological experience of a person. This includes different senses, and often requires empathy in order to imagine, perceive, and possible understand bodily feelings in a way we have not considered before.
I believe I have been open-minded with CEP 818 in order to consider ways to teach this topic within my classroom. This module has given me the opportunity to pull the content together and has supported the planning for this course. By using the thinking tools explored in this course, I can utilize the ability to observe, imagine, empathize, think dimensionally, model and think with the body. I hope to foster the same conceptual change in my students as they experience the benefits of this style of education. This requires a level of creativity, which I hope to develop throughout the 5 weeks. This requires me to plan thoughtful lessons that consider the topic, together with the thinking tools that encourage creative though. It is vital to gauge understanding by experiencing the creative process with the students. This will allow me to measure the success of the course based on the quality of work and level of enjoyment.
At various points throughout the lessons, there are cross-curricular links with English, Photography, Science and Art to name a few. I feel it is vital to share this concept of a transdisciplinary, synthetic education in order to work together and support one another within the High School. I believe this approach has numerous benefits that others may take advantage of.
In order to use my newly acquired knowledge and understanding of cognitive thinking tools and creativity, I plan to share with you a Block Plan for my classes that has been revised as a result of me taking part in this course. (See below for this document and as a Google Doc). I have reviewed how I approach teaching the topic of Healthy Living and this plan gives clear examples of how I have implemented new, thoughtful activities to encourage creative thinking.
“The point of education must be to create whole people who, through their wholeness, can focus the accumulated wisdom of human experience into illuminated patches of splendor”, (Root-Berstein, 1999, p. 326). In order to implement forward-thinking education, teachers must review and be open-minded to new methods and ideas. Root-Berstein’s (1999) work has highlighted the value of implementing a transdisciplinary, synthetic approach. Each thinking tool can work together to support one another. Within my Block Plan, I have highlighted a number of these cognitive tools in order to help students understand and learn the content in a more powerful way.
Firstly I have asked students to play. By creating their own character, they students taking part in an animated task that inspires, or creates a spark of interest. This task should be experimental, fun and open to individual interpretation. Their work can come in numerous forms and is a representative of their thoughts within a personal manner. It is important to consider that what Healthy Living means to one, is not the same to another. Using the thinking tool of playing, students experiment with their ideas as this task explores neoteny, investigating the childlike memories that make us happy. Placing value on this aspect hopes to encourage students to center themselves on the important things in life that ultimately help us define Healthy Living. This requires creativity and an imaginative approach to learning that the traditional approach lacks.
This task is followed by the use of the cognitive tool of modeling, where they will explore the history of fitness, one of the key (perceived, or assumed) areas that make us “healthy”. This looks back at how things have changed, along with our priorities and needs as humans. This infographic is a formulation of ideas that creates a representation for students to reference. The students are then asked to center in on an area within history that they are interested in, and represent their ideas, thoughts or feelings in a meaningful way. This task aims to make learning experiences relevant to the student’s interest and allow them to be independent and thoughtful. Following a discussion/brainstorming session, I would hope students could be inspired to learn more about an aspect that interested them.
The cognitive tool of abstraction requires students to draw upon previous lessons, and draw connections by being thoughtful and reflective. Abstracting is the skill of breaking down a well-known, existing topic into smaller parts. Potentially those parts may not be recognizable to others, but helps the individual understand the overall topic in greater detail because of the advanced manner the topic has been investigated. Students have already looked at a particular aspect of history and may develop their existing ideas or be creative in order to invent something new. Invention is an “active process of learning and creating rather than an acquisition of facts, (Root-Berstein, 1999, p. 316). I value the use of imagination within the learning process and hope to encourage students to be creative as they initiate discussion and break down less obvious characteristics within the topic that otherwise may have been unnoticed. In addition to the use of abstraction, the Block Plan highlights ways in which students may identify patterns within their work. The ability to identify patterns comes from discovery of connections by creating new observations and experiences. In addition, respecting these patterns help us to build pictures, gives us a greater understanding of situations and helps us to make informed decisions. Ultimately, students will produce a piece of artwork that represents their findings. In addition they are asked to write or record an explanation of their work, describing their journey of discovery/formation of ideas.
At this point, I think it is important to point out that this approach is open to interpretation, therefore the assessment must reflect that quality is more valued than quality. Within the academic world I work in, students are used to the “right or wrong answer” culture, based on the end goal; their grade. This synthetic approach to education aims to encourage imagination and creativity and at the same time promote learning. It does “not require major alterations in curricula” (Root-Berstein, 199, p.316) but alters the learning experience. As a result, it is important students know the expectations and goals of the lesson. Below is an example of the rubric for the Healthy Living unit of work. This aims to encourage students to be risk takers within this new and potentially uncertain process, by eliminating the pressure or focus on the summative assessment (that they are so dependent on!).
The last task within this topic of Healthy Living relates to the thinking tool of perceiving, and encourages students to reflect on the range of ideas they have explored. Perceiving is taking time out of a busy day to experience a conscious process that involves using multiple senses to actively think, consider and observe rather than simply look. This series of lessons encourages my students to perceive, analyze and dive under the surface to understand this topic from a physical and mental perspective. This task hopes to encourage students to think past their stereotypical thoughts, in the same way my poem within the “Perceiving” unit did. I believe it is vital for students to understand that it is sometimes ok to break the mold and to examine what healthy living really means. I worry that in todays society, we are consumed with the picture perfect image of what healthy looks like. “To think is to feel and to feel is to think”, (Root-Berstein, p.317). I have tried to be creative to think about ways to question these stereotypes to encourage my students to reflect, and gain a deeper understanding of who they, and to be positively critical of their outlook within the topic of nutrition, physical activity and sleep.
Within this subject, the cognitive tool of embodied thinking is a running theme throughout. In each task, students are developing their ability to consider the emotional and physiological experience of a person. This includes different senses, and often requires empathy in order to imagine, perceive, and possible understand bodily feelings in a way we have not considered before.
I believe I have been open-minded with CEP 818 in order to consider ways to teach this topic within my classroom. This module has given me the opportunity to pull the content together and has supported the planning for this course. By using the thinking tools explored in this course, I can utilize the ability to observe, imagine, empathize, think dimensionally, model and think with the body. I hope to foster the same conceptual change in my students as they experience the benefits of this style of education. This requires a level of creativity, which I hope to develop throughout the 5 weeks. This requires me to plan thoughtful lessons that consider the topic, together with the thinking tools that encourage creative though. It is vital to gauge understanding by experiencing the creative process with the students. This will allow me to measure the success of the course based on the quality of work and level of enjoyment.
At various points throughout the lessons, there are cross-curricular links with English, Photography, Science and Art to name a few. I feel it is vital to share this concept of a transdisciplinary, synthetic education in order to work together and support one another within the High School. I believe this approach has numerous benefits that others may take advantage of.
I believe there are numerous benefits of implementing a transdisciplinary, synthetic approach to education. Utilizing cognitive thinking tools changes the way teachers can implement learning experiences that highlight the importance of being creative. I have started along a path of creative development where I can use my knowledge in a meaningful way, and look towards a promising future within my teaching where I continue to utilize these creative tools.
References
Root-Berstein, R. S., and Root-Berstein, M. M., (1999) Sparks of Genius, New York.
References
Root-Berstein, R. S., and Root-Berstein, M. M., (1999) Sparks of Genius, New York.
Here is my elevator pitch with my ideas that I would plan to show members of my department and division principles as an introduction to the idea. Below is an example Tweet spreading the word!
| healthy_living_block_plan.docx |
| healthy_living_rubric.docx |