I teach art to seventh and eighth grade students. Many times I give an assignment that requires students to come up with a solution on their own. A solution that is unique and creative. The project has a rubric they must follow, but the solutions that will fit the rubric are limitless. This is when a majority of my students start to become concerned. Many questions are raised. “If I do this will it be wrong?” “I don’t know what to do, can you help me?” “Will you just tell me what to do?” The process of coming up with the solution becomes something that my students fear. They want to have concrete answers. I always respond by telling them, “Art class is a place to exercise your mind in new ways, remember there is no wrong answer as long as you include the requirements on the rubric.” I believe that doing more lateral thinking exercises it will teach my students to move through several solutions with ease to find the one they think will work best. I do not want my students to be constrained to believing only one idea exists.
According to Wikipedia, Lateral thinking, “refers to solving problems through an indirect and creative approach. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Edward de Bono started writing about the importance of lateral thinking in 1967. He stated that, “Creativity is a skill that everyone can learn--It is what we call lateral thinking.” Like all skills it must be practiced to improve at it. Once it is practiced enough it will be cognitively implemented and students will start to use it independently in the future. Lateral thinking also teaches students to use critical thinking skills, allowing them to go from a familiar idea to creating a unique idea on their own.
Lateral thinking is a skill that will not only enhance a student’s success in the art room, but in all contexts of life when there is not a fixed answer. It will serve as a great problem solving tool for students throughout their education and will follow them into the work force. It will provide students with the mindset to keep working through problems, even if they make mistakes, until they find the solution that works. I believe that teaching students lateral thinking skills it will enhance their educational experience and their ability to work through problems independently.
References:
De Bono E. (1968). New think; the use of lateral thinking in the generation of new ideas. New York: Basic Books.
De Bono E. (1969). The mechanism of mind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
De Bono E. (1970). Lateral thinking: creativity step by step. New York: Harper and Row.
De Bono E. (1976). Teaching thinking. London: Temple Smith.
Interesting project with a very narrow focus =8-) I've become a huge fan of De Bono and creative thinking. Many times students want to take the easy way out on an assignment. Creative thinking requires them to think outside the box. They have to work harder at coming up with solutions to the posed problem. My experience has taught me that student like black and white answers and will try to stay away from having the "leave" the box, when it comes to their assignments. I'm really looking forward to seeing where you take this project next.
ReplyDeleteWow...funny...I thought that this was a very broad topic, so I am VERY interested in seeing how you propose to address this problem. I try and get my students to use their creative, and problem-solving thinking while teaching math, and some of my students already learned that about me. I overheard one of my extended (accelerated) students who ALWAYS threw doozies at me saying, "Ms. Roy likes it when we can have challenging questions." Maybe I was working on this lateral thinking without even knowing this term...how funny is that? I am going to enjoy observing your process.
ReplyDeleteThis topic sounds very complex and abstract. I think it will be challenging to implement technology when it comes to helping students accomplish the goals you have set for them in this project. Are you thinking about implementing some type of WebQuest? I am at a loss for what kind of technology could help you accomplish this task.
ReplyDeleteI too am at a loss of a certain technology to use, but as a person who enjoys a logical path for everything, maybe I can help spark some ideas for helping the students struggling with lateral thinking. One idea that came to mind while reading your problem was to not just brainstorm ideas, but to take them a step or two to see what takes shape. Anytime I've created something that I liked, it was usually by accident. One thing just led to another. Perhaps if some software exists that allows a student to see how an idea would look like midway through the project, it would help to ease that student's anxienty.
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