How do we maintain creativity?

This article was actually very interesting to me. I never thought of the concept of "teaching to imitate." I found that statement to be very correct though after reading about the research presented. For example, one experiment used a toy that played music and a set of kids were told how to work the toy. This showed that kids will only imitate what their teacher tells them to do, but they really aren't learning how to solve the problem. I also agree that this method of teaching refrains from creative thinking because we all are trained to do things the way society and school administration wants us to, like the blog was saying, they give us rules to follow and if we don't follow them we are disobedient and obnoxious. In order to get kids to truly learn, teachers have to open their views up and let the students explore and ask questions, and actually get things wrong. This way, students can learn from their errors and come up with better, and quicker solutions. Like in the same experiment mentioned earlier, another group that had the toy were not told how to make it play music, but they found a quicker solution than the ones who were told how to make it sound. Not only proving that kids can discover quicker methods to things, but also that once kids know the answer they won't attempt more options. This article made some very strong and good points.

As a learner, I can completely relate to what this blog talks about. I'm so used to being told what to do and how to do problems that if I am put in a position where I have to figure everything out myself it is extremely challenging. However, when I actually discover something out for myself, I feel much more accomplished and I learn. I remember the concepts of the problem or lesson because I had to really think and explore, rather than just listen and copy. I would have liked to gain better critical thinking and creativity skills as a child, but I grew out of that, and those skills are extremely difficult to just get back.

This impacts me as a teacher because I am now inspired to help my future students become creative and have a strong skill of problem solving without having to lean on adults. I think that, like the blog suggested, all teachers should allow these methods of questioning and exploration in their classroom with their students at a younger age. This way, when kids still have their grand imagination, they don't lose that creativity and yearning for more discovery. It's very important for kids to want to explore and find answers for themselves, and being a college student that got sucked out of that and now regrets it, I want the best for generations to come. So, when I get into teaching, I will take those tips from the blog, such as asking kids what they think the answer is and engaging with a kid on their level, and use them to expand the brains and creativity in my students.