Activating students' creative thinking is one of the most exciting things about being a teacher. Anne and I work hard to inspire our students to move from a knowledge level of third-grade concepts to a deeper understanding of them. We try to plan lessons and activities that help students think divergently and apply the standards we are teaching them to new situations. This is challenging at the beginning of the year. Our students are used to feeling great if an answer or a solution comes to them immediately. Then, they are done. They have done what we asked of them. It takes a long time for them to get used to the idea that if an answer comes to them too quickly then they haven't tapped into their best ideas and solutions. It takes time to embrace feeling "stuck" and getting excited about it because they know that is when new learning is taking place and their brains are growing. It takes time to understand that persevering through challenges is so worth the effort because the invigorated feeling they get is like no other!
We want to give you a peek into how we tried to activate our students' creative thinking across different subject areas. We are keeping it real. The pictures portray hard work and thoughtfulness, not necessarily neatness and beauty.
Let's begin with science. After our first experiment with the water cubes, we were led to a new question--"What will happen if we put the cubes in colored water?" This new question was born when the students noticed a weird phenomenon. Anne and I had placed some of their clear cubes, from part one, onto different colored Post-It notes so we could see what happened to them when we left them out of water. The kids noticed that the clear cubes on the hot pink Post-It Notes absorbed the pink dye, yet the cubes on the bright blue and regular yellow Post-It Notes did not. This was the perfect opportunity for the kids to activate their creative minds and think about the cubes in a new way.
They had to try to use what they learned from their new observation and their conclusion in part one to write a new hypothesis. The energy in the room was palpable. Evidence that the kids are beginning to love the challenges and are willing to stretch their thinking.
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| After a few days, the students wanted to draw a square around the cubes to prove they were getting smaller. They came up with new questions, too. One was would the pink dye on the plate bleed through the yellow Post-It Note and would the cube absorb it. |
After 24 hours, the students went out of their minds with excitement when they saw their new cubes. Many were thrilled that their hypothesis, or most of it, was correct. Others were shocked by what happened because they did not expect it due to the old cubes only absorbing the dye from the pink Post-It Note.
Tomorrow, we will have them think about these cubes in yet another way! We will let you know how it goes.
In math, we are learning about multiplication and arrays. We have a variety of math abilities among our 38 students, but all of them were able to benefit from this activity. It went from a basic understanding of arrays and equations to writing their own multiplication stories. As much as the students thought they had a solid understanding of the concept (and they did at the knowledge level) they were surprised by the challenges of writing a story problem. They realized they really had to think deeply about the meaning of the factors and what real-life situations would work in a multiplication story.
A final activity we will share is an oldie, but a goodie. We did another See, Think, Wonder activity with a Scholastic News chart. This was the first time the students had to write down what they saw--not what they think they saw--independently. Those images then led to a discussion about what they thought and wondered. For a very small chart, we were able to generated an insightful discussion.
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| One girl in Anne's room made a text-to-world connection with the Amazon rainforest from this chart. She discussed the fire that is happening there. The students in Anne's room were so inspired that they wanted to find out more about it. So, this week both of our classes will read about the fire in our Time Magazine. |
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| It was amazing to participate in the high-level discussion the activity See, Think, Wonder promoted. One boy in Anne's room said he "loved today." He thought the Scholastic discussion was the best!. |
Tomorrow we are going to do a See, Think, Wonder activity in math using a video from 3-Act Tasks. This was introduced to us by our Instructional Facilitator, Kirstin McGinnis. She is full of amazing resources, and this one does not disappoint. We cannot wait to use it.
If you want to learn more about Activating Students' Creative Thinking ELA, you might want to check out the online course offered by Advancement Courses. I took it this summer and loved it. It really offers fresh new resources and ways to think about helping students problem-solve and think creatively and divergently so they are ready to compete and succeed in the 21st Century!
Check out some of the following "creative thinking" links.
Artful Thinking Our favorite!
Visible Thinking Don't miss this site!
I Can Visualize (Instrumental) We can't wait to figure out when to use this.
Have a great week!
Kim and Anne
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