Creativity Endangered?

02/17/2020

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand, stimulating progress.
Albert Einstein

Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" was presented in 2006, but has stood the test of time and still remains very popular. Check it out here: View Do Schools Kill Creativity?

And in the Exchange Essentials article collection, “Promoting Creativity in Children,” Remy Agee and Marlene Welch write this about early education’s role in keeping children’s creativity alive:

“Imagination is the engine of ideas. And yet, imagination deficit is rampant. Imagination deficit thrives on battery-operated toys; clever marketing of coloring and other activity books and the like as necessary learning tools; toys marketed as 'educational'; too much time spent in adult-directed activities; and too many passive children's activities such as movies, television shows, and video games: the core of many children's daily lives.

Imagination is one component of creativity; self-expression is another. The early childhood classroom should be full of creative possibilities that allow children to use their imaginations. For creativity to flourish, staff must provide an environment that fosters creative expression through:

facilitation (more than teaching) designed to help children to develop their creativity;
unhurried time and provocative questions that spark curiosity and encourage discussion;
a focus on the process — rather than the product;
spontaneity and a willingness to veer from planned curriculum;
a variety and lots of materials and resources.”

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