October, 2006 Vol.55 No.8
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are the “Four Skills”. It is generally accepted that these skills can be overtly imparted by teachers to their students. So, what is the “+ (Plus) One” in the title? (What is your guess?) Ok, let’s check and see if you guessed it! Read on!!
Singapore has government backed research and hiring of consultants and agencies all with one focus: “How can we educate our children to use their natural inborn creativity and overtly expand that creativity and learn creative thinking?” One of the hot education topics in Asia is creativity and creative thinking. (Did you guess that?)
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology has also begun to focus on this topic. Both countries have the same hurdle; “How can teachers who have been trained in a behaviorist teaching style teach their students to think creatively and encourage it?” There is also a question being raised by the teachers themselves who have not been given enough guidance and instruction. “Can creativity and creative thinking actually be taught?”
R: Mayuka, you have been using the student-centered approach of teaching these past 20 years. Do you believe that creativity and creative thinking can be taught?
M: Well, I think that creative thinking can be taught as a set of skills. For example, we can lead students to think about how to take different perspectives on the same object whether it is a thing, a topic, or a concept. We can lead them into the analysis phase. We can also help them try to verbalize their thoughts.
R: Yes, if students have tons of ideas in their heads, but they can’t verbalize them it is almost the same as if the ideas did not exist in the first place. What other thinking skills do you see as necessary for students?
M: When I talk about thinking skills, it is not just thinking. Students need to find relationships between thoughts. It helps to look at similarities and differences.
R: Yeah, when people think about things they need to summarize their thoughts including finding the relationship between things and to categorize their thoughts for clarity.
M: You have to have your own thought. First, you have to find out what is similar and what is different about what you are considering. Things like what comes before what and the relationship between the thoughts you are having on the subject. Then you categorize your thoughts. Next you need to verbalize what you are thinking. It is a three step skill: Think about something, categorize it, and then verbalize it. You become a creative thinker by creatively thinking about your own thoughts, creatively categorizing them, and creatively verbalizing them. Creativity itself is something that humans already have.
R: I agree with you when you say that humans have creativity, but can the schools build it up?
M: On the whole, I believe that it is difficult with the number of students per class for students’ creativity to be taken care of and nurtured in the public school classroom. When teachers say repeat after me, what is creative about that? If the students have creativity and say, “Wait a minute teacher. I want to say this ….” It won’t necessarily help the class. Remember (our daughter)Yukiko’s first classroom observation day when she was in the first grade of elementary school?
R: Yup, that was a Japanese class and the teacher was teaching the hiragana letter “ri”. M: Right, and the teacher asked the students, “Does anyone know a word that contains ‘ri’?” The first child to answer said “risu”. The second said, “igirisu”. The third said, “amerika.” That was very interesting wasn’t it?
R: Yeah, we were waiting and wondering what the next child might say, remember? Then the teacher said, “risu, igirisu, amerika” ok that’s enough. Let’s move on.” The teacher didn’t seem to notice the creativity there.
M: Once a child gets into that creative thinking process, let them keep it and point that creativity out so that the other children can notice and start thinking about it.
If the teacher had said to the class, “risu” and “igirisu” that is interesting. Those two sounds are the same. And “igirisu” is the name of a country, so is “amerika”. Well, what’s next!? That is one of the ways to help students get creative thinking skills.
R: Also teachers should have the attitude of learning creative thinking skills with their students. Teachers need to continue to learn and help students learn with different tools.
M: Yes, language is a tool to communicate, and language is also a tool to get those creative thinking skills. The process of learning language can be the process of learning creative thinking skills, just like the process of learning math can also be the process of learning creative thinking skills. Independent learners need to have problem solving skills and other thinking skills in order to be independent. Without being made to think and without developing thinking skills students become dependent learners. As you know, from when our children were young and asking me questions, I did not give them the answers but instead asked them what they thought, or where they might find the answer. We then looked for the answer together.
R: Yeah, for our own kids I sometimes think, “Why can’t they just listen to me and do what I tell them?” I know it is because you have been training them to think, ask questions, and be independent. Dad has to give careful consideration as to how to deal with our independent thinkers so that I don’t kill their independence but get them to see what they should do without forcing them to do it. In short, I have to think. What ever happened to the “easy, good old days” when kids and students just did what you told them!!”
解説
＊behaviorist
行動主義とは、人間の内面で起きている客観的には確認ができない事柄ではなく、行動として目に見える結果の観察を研究方法とする心理学です。教育の視点からは、教師が「教える」から生徒が「学ぶ」という捉え方につながり、生徒の側からの積極的な「学び」へのかかわりや、「学び」の過程で生徒の内面に起きる独創的な発想などは、あまり重要視しない考え方です。
＊creativity とcreative thinking skills
creativityというのは、人が生まれながらに持っている能力です。でも、それを場面に応じて使わなければどんどん弱くなっていきます。３つのステップにおいて物事を考えるときに、そのcreativityを発揮するように促すことが、creative thinking skillsを育てることにつながります。
＊easy, good old days
確かに、生徒の中にcreative thinking skillsを育てるためには、教師自身がよく考えなくてはなりません。behavioristicに教えてきたRobertが思わずこんな表現をしてしまったように、教師もしくは親という上からの立場から、生徒や子どもたちに「学ぶべきこと」を教え込むほうが、往々にして楽な場合が多いかもしれません。でも、教育の主体は、あくまでも生徒の側にあるのですから、指導者側はそこのところをよく考えなくてはいけませんね。
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