The Future of Education

Creative and critical thinking stimulate problem-solving abilities, all necessary for our fast-paced future. Over my fifteen years of teaching art at the university level, I have observed a slow erosion of imagination and innovation exhibited by my students. When asked where the best ideas come from, students too often reply, “The Web.” Is this low-level of students’ curiosity and innovation a possible result of high-stakes testing and one-size-fits-all curriculum? Or is it due to the daily bombardment of mind-numbing social media? Students demonstrate a reluctance toward projects that require original thinking, even when the topic focuses on themselves. Since the finished products cannot be found on the Internet, students seem unsure as to how to rely on their own imaginations to even get started. To combat such apprehension, I have designed projects of increasing difficulty and unfamiliarity for non-art majors to utilize internal reliance and self-analyses to enhance visual problem-solving. Through samples of student projects, I will share how a combination of instructor and peer feedback, both during studio worktime and individual presentations, provides the supportive environment in which originality and creativity potential begin to emerge.

Keywords: Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, imagination;

References: 
[1] Baer, J. & Garrett, T. (2010) Teaching for creativity in an era of content standards and accountability. In Beghetto, R. A. & Kaufman, J. C. (Eds.). (2010). Nurturing creativity in the classroom. (pp. 6-23). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] Beghetto, R. A. (2013). Killing ideas softly? The promise and perils of creativity in the classroom. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
[3] Beghetto, R. A.  & Kaufman, J. C. (2014). Classroom contexts for creativity High Ability Studies 25(1), 53-69.
[4] Burnett, C. & Figliotti, J. (2015). Weaving creativity into every strand of your curriculum. Buffalo, New York: Knowinnovation.com.
[5] Feicht, J. (2018). Fostering student creativity in a world of high-stakes education. 13427919 Proquest Dissertations Publishing.
[6] Goldberg, M. (2017). Arts integration. New York: Routledge.
[7] Hewitt, K. K. (2015). Educator evaluation policy that incorporates EVAAS value-added measures: Undermined intentions and exacerbated inequities. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23(76), 1-46- doi: dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.1968
[8] Kim, K. H. (2016). The creativity challenge: How we can recapture American innovation. New York: Prometheus Books.
[9] Kim, K. H. (2019). Ch 12: Recapturing American innovation through education: The creativity challenge for schools. (p. 215-234). In Mullen, C. A. (Ed.). (2019). Creativity under duress in education? Resistive theories, practices, and actions. Switzerland: Springer.
[10] Milner, H. R. (2013). Scripted and narrowed curriculum reform in urban schools. Urban Education, 48(2), 163-170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085913478022.
[11] Starko, A. J. (2018). Creativity in the classroom: Schools of curious delight. New York: Routledge.