It was awesome, watching the creativity of the students was magic! The students were amazing and engaged. Dr.Sanabria's team was so helpful. Teaching together with so many experienced teachers who encourage building creativity and confidence, the room was electric with ideas.
"Rather than pushing children to think like adults, we might do better to remember that they are great learners and to try harder to be more like them." - Seymour Papert
It's not just a cute saying... there is a lot to learn about learning from kids. Children are creative geniuses... Genius; the root of the word really means “to be zestful or joyous” but children are not only joyful but creative geniuses as well.
According to a study conducted by NASA, they found that the majority of children score in the genius range on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The research study tested the creativity of 1,600 children ranging in ages from three-to-five years old. Then later re-tested the same children at 10 years, and again at 15 years of age. The test results:
- 98% (5 years old)
- 30% (10 years old)
- 12% (15 years old)
- 2% (280,000 adults)
Adults are losing creativity, possibly even losing the zestful joyousness of genius. Is that natural progression? Is it the way our society teaches? The answer is perhaps still uncertain. It is clear to me however that encouraging creative ideas is powerful stuff, and does not happen often enough. Nothing makes me happier than seeing creativity bubbling in the classroom! I feel that the impact of these experiences are deeper than we can see on the surface.
The class went so well, I was beaming, and the feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive. Some students even wanted to take selfies with us and the robots afterward! The principal of the school came to see as the students presented the functional prototypes they built. All during their only session with the kit.
I was stunned at how well the kits worked. This experience felt like what I had intended when I designed them. It felt like the whole 4 years of research and development had led me to this moment. I was moved. A very deep experience.
The whole rest of the week was filled with meetings, demonstrating the curriculum to university professors, getting feedback, visiting local Makerspaces, visiting with the government center for innovation, teaching at local public high schools, and of course, seeing beautiful Guadalajara.
Check out the article: https://www.udgvirtual.udg.mx/noticia/programa-innovacion-udgvirtual-establece-colaboracion-con-emprendedores-canadienses
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