How is convergent thinking within education harmful to

students?

Fiona Chen

-Separated by age

-Taught specific subjects

-Education is based on the principles of mass production

Since the Beginning…

-“Turned into containers, into receptacles to be filled by the teachers”

-“Education becomes act of depositing”

Paulo Freire

Within this system…-Equal treatment

-Perform better depending on the

environment

-Perform better depending on the time

of day

-Convergent Thinking

Convergent Thinking

-Select single best answer

-No room for ambiguity.

-Right or wrong

-No gray areas.

Negatives of Convergent Thinking

-Standardized tests

-People get judged

-Regurgitation is reinforced

“Discourages independence of

actions, and encourages fear and feelings of powerlessness”-Stephen Carr and Kevin Lynch

Daedalus

Lens and perspectives of society

Socially acceptable ways + knowing the “right” answer= Graduate high school

Controlled our mind + Limited Imagination

No “Real Freedom”

Ultimate Antagonistic Contradiction

Written by Beth Jarman and George

Land

The Paperclip experiment

1600 5-year old kids

Creativity test usually given to incoming engineers and mathematicians.

Breakpoint and Beyond

The Paper Clip Experiment

Age 5- 98% Age 10- 80% Age 15- 12% Adult- 2%

Creativity of the children should have increased, not decreased!

What to do about the

flaw?

-Do not aim to IMPROVE

-Aim to TRANSFORM completely

-Find new way of thinking: Divergent Thinking

Allows individuals to

arrive at one or more solutions

Explores all the possibilities

Draws original connections from what they have learned and experienced

Divergent Thinking

Creativity exercises

and tests

Free writing

Art sessions

Interactions with music

How to reinforce it?(Indoors)

Creativity exercises

and tests

Free writing

Art sessions

Interactions with music

How to reinforce it?(Outdoors)

The End

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20013424?seq=3

http://books.google.com/books?id=1EBT3Qj5L5EC&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=creativity+of+people+who+are+homeschooled+versus+creativity+of+people+who+are+not&source=bl&ots=7JelDB2x-k&sig=QNQUIMa_h_oLBPXZiOA0k_xAXxo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PexzT9foL-Hi0QH9g7j_Ag&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=creativity%20of%20people%20who%20are%20homeschooled%20versus%20creativity%20of%20people%20who%20are%20not&f=false

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

Bibliography