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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2014-11-26
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcFRfJb2ONk
mmhm okay we're going to get started with some kindergarten image word match I would like each of you to determine what is the word that matches the image in number seven okay certain club with some ideas good give me your hand because I want to share with you what my daughter Adeline Chobits allowing chose art and as her parents I thought that was awesome but this
is incorrect in Sir according to the testing guide the correct answer is mud and I'm sure that's what you all chose right right something so nebulous beast so concrete actually I think this quiz is a fitting analogy for the problem in art education today our education has been impacted by the standards and testing culture like all other disciplines in a lot of ways we've been focusing
on teaching things that are concrete things like elements of art art history and foundational skills in essence we're teaching things that we can test and assess but I believe art education needs to focus on developing learners that think like artists learners there are creative curious seek questions develop ideas and play which means we need to be much more intentional about how we communicate arts critical value
and how we teach our creativity so creativity let's do a low case making around us most of the issue now so creativity is being touted by business leaders like the folks at IBM %HESITATION by the educational reformist by the folks in econ economists like even Dan pink as the number one thing we need for student success economic growth in general happiness we also know the creativity
scores in this country are on the decline towards creativity tests which has been administered for decades has now shown since the nineteen nineties in decline especially me ages twelve in the United States we also know due to certain it's Robinson's now famous Ted talk schools are fundamentally in foundation link challenged to cultivate creativity but I do share with you some research that the Wallace foundation did
with Harvard's project zero in which they found the number one thing quality art education can do is develop the capacity to think creatively and the capacity to make connections so then why is there such a disconnect tween creativity and art education I think there's actually a couple of reasons why but we're going to focus on communication and messaging now those of us in the field we
have been working to really move art education out of a defensive place we've been trying to make a case for our own existence and we're trying to move it more towards non offensive message especially around creativity but we're not there yet and so we're gonna place that for another talk at another time instead I want to focus on a message that I think is much more
problematic and pervasive and the heat to put you on the spot they actually feel you are to blame I mean not you per se but you as a group of people who actually really support art education so let me give you some context as a parent I often hear adults saying things children as well as two other dogs and to the educators things like this oh
my goodness look how well you've drawn that whole so realistic you are somewhat creative you've heard messages like that before here's another one I think I hear almost daily %HESITATION Cindy I'm really support art education it is very important I mean I'm not creative I don't agree but my body I can't even draw a stick figure right these messages are incredibly problematic and the more you
may think they are a big deal but the more society pushes them out in the end society continues to own foster these cliche notions of what is creativity harder this for those in the field like me to begin moving towards teaching for creativity okay teaching for creativity what we mean by that I believe teaching for creativity is embodying the habits that artists employed habits in particular
there are three they think are essential to creativity they are one comfort with ambiguity to I did generations and three trans disciplinary research Russ talk about those in a moment first really do a little audience participation I would like each of you to use something on your person paper pencil your programs phone glasses doesn't matter and I'd like you I just got a couple minutes to
actually create something it represents the idea of metaphor go ahead alright be honest how many of you had a surge of panic when I just ask you to do that I would favor that sensation you actually are off the hook but I want to savor that sensation for a moment what you've just experienced it's I think the number one obstacle to creative work that discomfort that
discomfort is ambiguity it's not knowing I actually learned this from a group of teachers we've been working with them and they told us you know what we we drink it it's really difficult to engage our students increible Arkan particular open ended projects it just makes it really hard ironically enough later that afternoon with that same group of teachers and we gave them a challenge similar to
the one I just gave you interestingly enough almost immediately a couple of them now thing needed to leave for a day the day another group needed a break at that moment in still other state in the classroom but refused to participate in the activity what we realize is students struggle with ambiguity because we all do now does on the other hand realize that ambiguity is part
of the process they take it they identify it made tackle it head on so if or is are doing this can't you imagine if art education with the place well we knew students could go to prepare for lives of not knowing I work at the Columbus museum of art in three years now we provided the kind of art education that our community requested so for example
when we have an exhibition of the work of Claude Monet we talked about his history we allowed folks to experiment with his materials in this process and then we finally would create lesson plans go out others to do the same in essence what we were doing was generating content and allowing folks to make many Monet's but then it dawned on us we were actually engaging them
in what made Monet Manet and that was the way he thought Monet's ideas were revolutionary he questioned the natural world the way we see he questioned the politics of the time and that's what made his work so exceptional it was at this moment we realized we needed to be teaching for idea generation some have it jump with me now from one artist to another the lego
movie gave us such a gift when they presented the movie this summer more or less what they said was creativity is not the lego kit in the direction booklet but creativity is the bucket of legos in the potential for ideas within legos are just another material like drawing materials to help us make ideas manifest what I loved about this movie with the idea of the master
builder or the person who has the courage to have ideas but it dawned on me in much of education the master builders are the educators they're the ones who have ideas great lesson plans right but students are secondary to that process students are often more of the artist's assistant or sometimes even just a factory worker getting the project done visualize classroom full of master builders right
classroom full of master builders at play yes play play is essential play is a sure fire way to kickstart ideation artists play they played another number of ways either play with materials into ideas begin to manifest or they play with ideas into a repeat realize what media or materials they need to bring that into reality imagine an art education where educators were comfortable with the ambiguous
classroom where students ideas and interests lead the learning so I need to be honest with you nothing in my career my education or my %HESITATION teaching has influenced my thinking as much as being married to an artist are you married to Sean Foley and what I can tell you about artists is that they're bre racialist researchers they won't research anything but czar things right and what
I've learned is that they'll do anything that furthers their thinking let me give you an example about ten years ago Sean had this idea that if painting were dead what if he'd where doctor Frankenstein he immediately re reads Mary Shelley he re watches all the classic horror films he then devours books at the library on natural history history of medicine anomalies of nature he then starts
purchasing taxidermy cannonballs %HESITATION but then he informs me that we need to go to London he must go to London in order to study them museums of the pre enlightenment and in particular that early operating theaters so in essence his research search manifests and shine in thought making monsters of his own like this one so what Sean was engaged in is trans disciplinary research or research
that CERN's curiosity imagine if the future of education was not about discrete disciplines but rather was about disciplines like math art and science being in service to ideas what kind of spaces might we create in order to foster that type of thinking could we create centers for creativity where we cultivate and champion and measure this type of thinking so I don't want you for a minute
to stop championing art education but I do want you to be thoughtful about the chant when we say we want creativity in our schools we often say don't kill the arts today I want that battle cry to dress arts critical value don't kill the ideas I would like own children to think like artists no matter what career path they may choose I believe art education is
