The most common quote displayed in early learning centres is from Picasso.
"Every Child is an Artist"
However, being a creative person goes way beyond painting and drawing. It is a disposition or way of being. A creative person can look at something old and transform it into something new. This in itself is an expression, a creative expression.
So is there a special key that every creative person has? The one thing that all creative people have in common is the use of their imagination & metaphors
Imagination & Metaphors
Imagination is a mental faculty that every one has. We use it to generate mental images and set them into motion. Metaphors are used to give an observation new life. We use the imagination to see the likeness of things that seemed to be unrelated. And making a metaphor is like hitting play button on your imagination! Here are 3 steps for making a metaphor.
1. Observe the idea
2. Compared it with another idea
3. The similarity between the two ideas
Though an artist may use a piano or paint brush to
express themselves, the true tools of an artist is the Imagination & Metaphors
Habituation
Habituation is when our environment is too predicable, switching off our attention. This can help us block out the predictable stuff and focus on important things, like a conversation or achieving goal! The downside is, if this predictability is in our career, we can switch off. An artist is inspired by changes.
But if something has been habituated, you no longer sense the changes, you switch off.
Therefore no inspiration, no creativity! So this is one reason why it can be a challenge to remain an artist when we grow up.
The fun loop - designing fun
Environment
The things that fill the space around us
Predictability
when your expectations match reality
Surprise
An event that gives you an emotional kick
Reward
The desire to chase it, to do it again
Our brain is wired for change! When your expectations are surpassed by something greater you get an emotional kick. And it involves a chemical called dopamine. This unexpected change switches your attention on. So there is a strong connection between surprise and attention. The element of surprise keep us switched on, tracking change and being present. This basically tells your brain, do it again, or give me more!
Fun & Brain Chemistry
Laughter and fun are not trivial.
“Laughter and humour can be a tonic for the brain. Triggering the brain’s emotional and reward centres spurs the release of dopamine” This chemical dopamine makes our brain light up, it gives us an emotional kick. Dopamine makes our thoughts louder, and memories deeper. It heightens our attention, memory, motivation.
All key parts of learning!
This happens when we have fun! When you experience a positive surprise your heart rate goes up, you jiggle with laughter, and your brain releases dopamine.
In our fun loop, the element that triggers this is called surprise.
When this happens, the learner will want more - wanting to do it again!
Fun is the heartbeat
Fun is the heartbeat of a creative person.
All great learning has a beat or rhythm, and moves the learner to do more. And the main two factors that drive this rhythm are predicability and surprise.
When the rhythm is too predictably, children habituate, switching off. But at the right moment, if the rhythm changes, it provides the emotional kick switching their attention on.
Basically, you affect the learning dynamics of your teaching!
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Try the Interactive!
Let’s Get Practical
The key to injecting the A into STEM is the use of questions, imagination, and metaphors.
The example we used was paper.
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Environment
Paper and texters are common in the learning environment.
Predictability
Children know that two colours mixed together make a new colour
Surprise
Using paper chromatography you can unmix colours. This provides an emotional kick to the learner.
Reward With new motivation, the learner can stretch the idea further.
Let's get metaphoric!
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Observe the idea "We see the black sharpie has a lot of purple in it!"
Compare the idea with another "Brace yourself, i'm going to get metaphoric here, I imagine Its a purple fire! Or a spiky caterpillar. Or an explosion of light!"
Similarity between the two ideas "The purple streams of colour are like streams of light. Oh, with 4 black lines i can create a square window.
When I had this idea i was inspired! So I made a design that I called the “window of consciousness”
