Tinkering with Creativity A quick review of experiences at
Journeys School in the last few weeks includes the following:
winning the state championship for high school robotics,
designing sculpture in the pre-kindergarten with scrap metal,
creating short films for a national chemistry competition,
relating musical chords to trigonometric functions, explorations
of time in the elementary school, and building with Legos.
Orbiting outside and integrated with the important sequences of
the core classes such as math and literacy, these learning
opportunities made me reflect on the importance of the
development of creativity – in and out of school. Too often, the
narrowing of curriculum in American schools has reduced the
opportunities for students to come up with their own creative
solutions to problems. In response, there is much discussion in
the educational world about 21st century skills. Journeys School
has embraced this with a set of competency outcomes, including
creativity and problem solving defined as “a