This page hosts materials developed for an online course developed by Mitchell Resnick of the MIT Media Lab. Mitch and his team have spent decades studying how young people engage creatively in online environments and applied this knowledge by building a website, resources and supportive community to encourage children and teens to create for themselves in the scratch environment.
To find out more we recommend Mitchell's book Lifelong Kindergarten extracts of which are provided in his course materials which we have adopted and adapted for our own 'course' on learning about imagination and creativity in learning through making.
Mitchell argues that children learning at Kindergarten engage in a process that can be represented as a Creative Learning Spiral (below). Through this process children use and develop their own imaginations and ideas, try them out, experiment with alternatives, get input from others, and generate new ideas based on their lived experiences and what they have learnt. The idea of a creative learning spiral underpins the scratch learning environment together with 4 principles - the 4 P's of Creative Learning.
To find out more we recommend Mitchell's book Lifelong Kindergarten extracts of which are provided in his course materials which we have adopted and adapted for our own 'course' on learning about imagination and creativity in learning through making.
Mitchell argues that children learning at Kindergarten engage in a process that can be represented as a Creative Learning Spiral (below). Through this process children use and develop their own imaginations and ideas, try them out, experiment with alternatives, get input from others, and generate new ideas based on their lived experiences and what they have learnt. The idea of a creative learning spiral underpins the scratch learning environment together with 4 principles - the 4 P's of Creative Learning.
4 P's of Creative Learning
1) PROJECTS - provide a vehicle and context for imagining and doing like designing, making, performing and much more. They are the means by which we express ourselves and the means through which we make things and/or we make things happen.
2) PASSION - is how we feel about doing something we care about and are deeply engaged in. It is the emotional state we enter when we are interested in and care about. It fuels the will to immerse oneself in a project and to sustain our interest.
3) PEERS - are the people we form relationships with, interact and collaborate with when we engage in our projects. Through our interactions we learn new things, we grow and share ideas, we gain feedback on our ideas and the results of our work. Eventually we may gain recognition for what we have done.
4) PLAY - is the action resulting from a playful state of mind. It is a mode of being, doing, inquiring that enables imagination and creativity to flourish in a spirit of interest and exploration while engaged in projects and social interaction.
These principles provide the organising principles for an online course that was offered by the MIT team in 2017. The team generously left their resources for others to use. https://www.facebook.com/LearningCreativeLearning/ We think they provide the foundation for a good learning through doing experience and we have only made a few small adjustments to some of the activities to make them more relevant to our situation.
1) PROJECTS - provide a vehicle and context for imagining and doing like designing, making, performing and much more. They are the means by which we express ourselves and the means through which we make things and/or we make things happen.
2) PASSION - is how we feel about doing something we care about and are deeply engaged in. It is the emotional state we enter when we are interested in and care about. It fuels the will to immerse oneself in a project and to sustain our interest.
3) PEERS - are the people we form relationships with, interact and collaborate with when we engage in our projects. Through our interactions we learn new things, we grow and share ideas, we gain feedback on our ideas and the results of our work. Eventually we may gain recognition for what we have done.
4) PLAY - is the action resulting from a playful state of mind. It is a mode of being, doing, inquiring that enables imagination and creativity to flourish in a spirit of interest and exploration while engaged in projects and social interaction.
These principles provide the organising principles for an online course that was offered by the MIT team in 2017. The team generously left their resources for others to use. https://www.facebook.com/LearningCreativeLearning/ We think they provide the foundation for a good learning through doing experience and we have only made a few small adjustments to some of the activities to make them more relevant to our situation.
WEEK 1
In this video, Mitch Resnick introduces the core ideas of creative learning and
how those ideas are inspired by the way children learn in kindergarten.
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ACTIVITIES WEEK 1
1) Read excerts from Chapter 1 Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchell Resnick paying particular attention to his 4P modelof how imagination and creativity are encouraged. 
2) Please share your object (photo, sketch and short description)
and your reflections on the experience of interacting with it with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/ Prompts: Why was it special amongst all other objects? How did it affect the way you interacted with the world? Can you make connections with how you interacted with your object and the 4P's of creative learning. |
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THE 4 P's OF CREATIVE LEARNING
WEEK 2 PROJECTS
In this video, Mitch Resnick describes how people learn and create new things through making projects. He introduces the Creative Learning Spiral as a framework to structure and reflect on the creative process.
In this video, Mitch Resnick describes how people learn and create new things through making projects. He introduces the Creative Learning Spiral as a framework to structure and reflect on the creative process.
ACTIVITIES WEEK 2 - PROJECTS
1) Read excerts from Chapter 2 Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchell Resnick
| chapter2-excerpt.pdf |
We invite you to make a project and share your process with the community! You can make something:
Please share your project and your reflections on the experience with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
Prompts: Why this particular particular project? How did you get started? What was intriguing, provoking, challenging about it? What did it feel like while you were engaged in your project and how did your feelings affect you? What did you learn? How did imagination and creativity feature in your project?
- very big, very small, green, sweet, loud, unusual, …
- in your kitchen, in a makerspace, in your garden, anywhere outside …
- with paper, with wood, wool, wire with anything
- for yourself, for someone else, for work, for fun, …
Please share your project and your reflections on the experience with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
Prompts: Why this particular particular project? How did you get started? What was intriguing, provoking, challenging about it? What did it feel like while you were engaged in your project and how did your feelings affect you? What did you learn? How did imagination and creativity feature in your project?
WEEK 3 PASSION
In this video, Mitch Resnick describes the value of people following their interests, and
suggests strategies to engage people working on things that they really care about.
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ACTIVITIES WEEK 3 - PASSION
1) Read extracts from Chapter 3 Lifelong Kindergarten
2) What are you passionate about and how do these feelings interests and concerns manifest themselves in the things you do?
3) In this week’s video and readings, Mitch introduces the idea of “wide walls”: designing learning experiences where people can create a variety of different projects in a variety of ways, based on their interests and styles. What do the wide walls look like in your practice? What are some of the design choices or facilitation strategies that you already use, or you plan to use to widen the walls? 4) As an educator, facilitator or leader how do you try to encourage others to be passionate in their work? Please share your thoughts on what being passionate means to you and how feelings of passion influence what you do and how you do it in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/ |
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WEEK 4 PEERS
In this video, Mictell Resnick shares strategies for encouraging and supporting
collaboration and peer to peer learning within physical spaces and online communities.
ACTIVITIES WEEK 4 - COLLABORATING WITH PEERS
1) Read extracts from Chapter 4 Lifelong Kindergarten
1) Read extracts from Chapter 4 Lifelong Kindergarten
| chapter4-excerpt.pdf |
COLLABORATE & REMIX PROJECT
2) Please invite someone else to make something with you by remixing two or more things that already exist. You can remix anything: it can be something physical - like a garden or something in the house, or a poem, song, story, recipe, picture or anything else.
Please share your collaborative remix project and your reflections on the experience with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
Prompts: What insights did you gain from working collaboratively with someone else? How and where did imagination and creativity emerge in the process of interaction? In what ways did your collaboration reflect or depart from 4P the model.
2) Please invite someone else to make something with you by remixing two or more things that already exist. You can remix anything: it can be something physical - like a garden or something in the house, or a poem, song, story, recipe, picture or anything else.
Please share your collaborative remix project and your reflections on the experience with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
Prompts: What insights did you gain from working collaboratively with someone else? How and where did imagination and creativity emerge in the process of interaction? In what ways did your collaboration reflect or depart from 4P the model.
WEEK 5 PLAY
In this video, Mitch Resnick discusses differemt types of play and shares startegies topromote playful approaches to learning. He uses Marina Bers’ metaphors of “playpen” and “playground” to illustrate that “not all types of play are created equal”. What do you think? What does play look like in your practice? What are some of the design choices or facilitation strategies that you already use, or you plan to use, to promote a playground-style play?
ACTIVITIES WEEK 5 - ENCOURAGING PLAYFULNESS THROUGH TINKERING
1) Read extracts from Chapter 4 Lifelong Kindergarten
1) Read extracts from Chapter 4 Lifelong Kindergarten
TIME TO TINKER
2) In the video Lily and Sean explain what tinkering means and share some examples. Try tinkering yourself.
Please share your tinkering project and your reflections on the experience with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/ Prompts: What materials / objects were you tinkering with and why? What strategies and tools did you use? What insights did you gain from your tinkering project about play and playfulness? How was imagination and creativity involved in your tinkering? |
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WEEK 6 DESIGN- A CREATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITY
How can we help people develop as creative thinkers? In our last week, we explore strategies and motivations for supporting and expanding opportunities for creative learning. We invite you to share a project idea and reflect back on your journey as a creative learner. In the video, Mitch Resnick describes why it is important to support children and young people's development as creative thinkers in today’s fast-changing society, and shares ideas on how to bring the spirit of kindergarten to children of all ages and all backgrounds.
ACTIVITIES WEEK 6 - DESIGN A LEARNING ACTIVITY USING THE 4P FRAMEWORK
ln the final activity we would like you to design a learning experience that draws on te 4P famework for encouraging imagination and creativity to flourish. It could be adapting an existing module or teaching session(s) or inventing something new. Ideally it will involve a significant online activity/experiences but this can be blended with offline activities/experiences. Record your design in an image and animate it with either text, audio or video. Please share your design with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
ln the final activity we would like you to design a learning experience that draws on te 4P famework for encouraging imagination and creativity to flourish. It could be adapting an existing module or teaching session(s) or inventing something new. Ideally it will involve a significant online activity/experiences but this can be blended with offline activities/experiences. Record your design in an image and animate it with either text, audio or video. Please share your design with other participants in the #creativeHE Forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeHE/
CONCLUDING REMARKS
