Creativity: A Learning Goal
LET’S PRACTICE USING OUR IMAGINATION
At the School of Wonder, we focus on 4 learning goals that we consider essential for children to become free and global citizens that will forge a sustainable future for the planet. The one we’d like to present today is Creativity.
Embrace The Magic of Your Creative Self
Cultivate your inner wonder and unleash the creative self.
Sharpen your creative mind and let curiosity lead your way.
Explore different mirrors of yourself, different outlets of creativity and self-expression: what can you discover about yourself through dance, voice, or with a brush in your hand? Let your knowledge of yourself expand.
Become a lifelong learner, keep exploring, keep inquiring, stay curious, acquire knowledge.
Use your empathy and creativity to be a design thinker, becoming a creator instead of just a consumer.
5 core beliefs about Creativity:
1. CREATIVITY IS IMAGINATION AT WORK
Imagination at work : Do you need a flashlight on a rainy day? Don’t worry! Simply add fairy lights to your umbrella and you’re ready to go.
Sir Ken Robinson defines imagination as “the ability to bring to mind things that aren’t present to your senses”. Imagination is indeed a superpower, a wonderful gift, that we all have; however, to exist, it needs to be put into practice, as if it were muscle that needs exercising to become stronger and stronger. Creativity is that practice, that only exists when we make the time and effort for it. School of Wonder defines creativity as “the practice of using our imagination to find original solutions to real or imaginary challenges”.
2. CREATIVITY IS THE NEXT FORM OF INTELLIGENCE
Creativity is more important than we think. In this technological era, creativity, together with empathy, are the new required forms of intelligence. Humanity is necessarily moving towards more evolved tasks and more flexible mindsets, led by new technological possibilities and global connection. The new paradigms of life and work will also require learning to navigate uncertainty and adapt to flexible and constantly changing structures. You can read about this further in our post: The Need for Creativity and SEL Skills.
3. CREATIVITY = CURIOSITY + INGENUITY + SENSE OF WONDER
In our view, creativity, or as we call it, imagination at work, is built upon three elemental skills: curiosity, ingenuity, and a sense of wonder. These three skills are gifted to each of us from the moment we are born, but they need to be exercised like a muscle does in order to produce creative work.
Contrary to common belief, we are all creative beings. We just need to keep practicing these skills so that they can keep existing and evolving in us.
The skill of wonder is the ability to acknowledge and appreciate the marvelous-ness around us, even when we can’t see or touch it. Curiosity is the call to wonder. It’s the spark that shows up, suddenly suggesting a way, an exploration, an adventure. It exists as a guide, and it somehow knows without knowing. It’s important to acknowledge it, and when it shows up, give it a chance and follow it.
Ingenuity is the designer in us, the one who makes the effort to explore the mystery and connect it to reality.
4. CREATIVITY STARTS WITH THE WONDER OF THE REAL WORLD
Creativity is rooted in the wonder that surrounds us, in Nature and in the real world.
I call “wonder” that marvelous and mysterious sense of magic that surprises us at moments when we feel connected to our environment. It provides a pleasant sensation of flowing with it in oneness, being part of its beauty in movement. These moments might not last long, but every time they happen, they can fill our hearts with gratitude, hope and optimism, as a virtuous circle that feeds itself.
Even if it’s not scientifically proven, poets, artists and philosophers have been giving good evidence of its existence for thousands of years. To experience it, all that is required is to keep some hope and optimism alive in us, and perhaps a touch of innocence.
“Wonder” is important for Humanity because it is the entry point to becoming creative beings. When we stop “wonder”, we block the path of curiosity and creativity. I understand that many people, as they get older, lose their sense of wonder. Disappointments, mockeries, and bad luck kill their hope and erase their memory. Also, many kids now think that “wonder” only happens inside their tablets. We live in times of disenchantment and escapism, where cheap entertainment has cornered “wonder” to the unreachable worlds of unicorns made of plastic.
That’s why School of Wonder exists - to remember the wonder in the simple forms of our nature and in the humble beauty of our world and to equip children with the creative and social emotional tools that can transform their dreams into very real inventions and creative solutions.
5. CURIOSITY BRINGS THE SPARK + INGENUITY BRINGS THE TOOLS
Curiosity is the call for wonder. It’s the spark that shows up suddenly suggesting a way, an exploration, an adventure. It exists as a guide, and it somehow knows without knowing. Meanwhile, Ingenuity is the designer in us.
See how we approach this learning goal by signing up for one of our upcoming programs!