"THE PRINCIPAL GOAL OF EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS SHOULD BE CREATING MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE CAPABLE OF DOING NEW THINGS, NOT SIMPLY REPEATING WHAT OTHER GENERATIONS HAVE DONE; MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE CREATIVE, INVENTIVE AND DISCOVERERS..." ~Jean Piaget
As an art educator, I believe that creativity is naturally within every individual. And I do believe that creativity can be taught! Creativity is not something that some people are born with and others are not. However, learning to create and make does require hard work, time, patience. Curiosity and play are also highly encouraged. Creativity is a personal journey of experimentation, questioning, and remixing. My primary goal, as an art educator, is to facilitate the process of learning self-expression, exploring materials, and putting one's imagination to good work! Look at the videos I created on this page to get an even deeper understanding about what I believe as an educator. You can also find an in-depth explanation of my teaching and learning theory below.
There are many different learning theories and I believe, as an educator, it is important to know and consider all of them. Learning can happen directly, such as through classical conditioning, as Pavlov discovered, or operant conditioning as proven by Skinner. Learning can also happen indirectly through observation as studied through the social learning theory by Bandura. In the 20th century, when the analysis of the learning process turned from the study of outer stimuli to inner, cognitive development, Piaget claimed that our schema “is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information” (Cherry, 2019). Throughout their entire life, people are continuously adjusting and modifying their schemas based on their environment and as they learn new things which, in turn, shapes our understanding of the world around us. Other theorists like Vygotsky and Bandura highlighted the significance of social and observational learning which, combined with other past theories, has helped form an understanding that one’s culture and environment also serve important roles in one’s cognitive framework and that “learning and cognition... are fundamentally situated” (Brown, 1989, pg. 32). Learning is connected to an individual’s culture, environment, and social and physical context. Although some of these theories are over a hundred years old, I believe parts (or whole) of each that I mentioned are still relevant today and have an important role in shaping how we understand learning. Educators can fuse aspects from different theories together in a manner that benefits our learners of the 21st century. I believe that there are many different kinds of learning styles and intelligences. Learning looks different for everyone. In this respect, as an educator, I have always found Howard Gardener’s theory of Multiple Intelligences to be valuable. Gardener suggests that educators “teach important materials in several ways, not just one (e.g. through stories, works of art, diagrams, role play). In this way you can reach students who learn in different ways.” (Strauss 2013). I am not arguing that the theory of multiple intelligences is the same thing as learning styles. Cognitive psychologist Daniel T. Willingham supports this same thought in his book Why Don’t Students Like School? (2009). However, I do think Gardener’s concept serves as a great reminder that every learner is different. Every student has a different set of abilities, talents, and strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, I believe it is essential that new knowledge is presented or taught in a wide variety of manners (kinesthetically, audibly, visibly, etc.) so as to respect these learning differences and provide a learning environment where all students can flourish and be challenged in different ways. In addition to the importance of these different learning styles, I believe that learning happens best when things are being taught with a variety of tools. Learners will benefit from lecture-based, skills-based, technology-based, inquiry-based, and individual or group work. As the National research council suggests in their book How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition, “Asking which teaching technique is best is analogous to asking which tool is best—a hammer, a screwdriver, a knife, or pliers. In teaching as in carpentry, the selection of tools depends on the task at hand and the materials one is working with” (2000, Pg. 22). I couldn’t agree more. There is no one right method or tool in teaching; it definitely depends on the situation at hand and the educator’s professional opinion on the best way to go about teaching it.
National Research Council 2000. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9853.