Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12A

1. Do schools in the United States systematically destroy (or inhibit) the development of curiosity and/or creativity in students? If yes, why does that happen? If no, how do you counter the argument of Sir Ken Robinson that schools do undermine the development of creativity in students?
No they don't. Many schools don't encourage creativity, but they don't stop curiosity. He argues that school prevents curiosity, but I've had several teachers that were able to bring out my, nearly nonexistent, creativity. It isn't the school system. Its each individual teacher.

2. Can a curriculum be developed that increases the curiosity of students? If so, what would be the key components of such a curriculum?
The easiest way to find a way to increase how much a student enjoys a class and wants to participate is to simply ask them what they find interesting and see if you can incorporate that into the lessons. Its sad how little most of the teachers I've had cared about trying to make a subject interesting. It would be so much easier to teach a student if you just try to capture his students attention.

3. Can a curriculum be developed that increases the creativity of students? If so, what would be the key components of such a curriculum?
Yes it could all a teacher would have to do was not let a class fall into a rut. That is one of the worst things about public schools, they do the same thing day in and day out. The monotony that this causes saps all the creativity in most students.

4. Can a teacher's actions increase the curiosity of students? If so, what would be those actions?
If a teacher assigns interesting work, or gives creative lectures it would be very easy to make a student curious about most any subject. The only reason that this doesn't often happen is that it would require much more work that most teachers can't be bothered with.

5. Can a teacher's actions increase the creativity of students? If so, what would be those actions?
If a teacher were to give students more leeway in many of the assignments they give it would be more likely to increase the creativity in the students doing the work. This is really the most simple and effective way to increase the creativity in students.
6. What would help you become more creative? What role would teachers and/or schools have in that process?
The easiest way that teachers could make me more creative in their classes is to stop assigning a lot of busy work. Just about every teacher I've ever had has loved assigning work that I was never able to determine its purpose. This pointless work usually takes up so much of my time that I don't have time to do anything but the bare minimum on my work.

7. What would help you become more curious? What role would teachers and/or schools have in that process?
Really I can't become more curious. I'm always wanting to learn new things. Teachers should make non curious students curious, but just as importantly they shouldn't annoy and bore curious students until they purposefully stop trying to learn about a subject.