Lifelong Kindergarten - Vignesh Prasad

### Chapter 1 Creative Learning - X type learners = willing to take risks and try new things. Define their own problems. - Froebel's Gifts = 20 toys where children can get an appreciation for shapes, patterns and symmetries of natural world. - Re-creation vs recreation - Creative Learning Spiral - Imagine → Create → Play → Share → Reflect → Imagine - 4 Ps of creative learning - Projects - Passion - Peers - Play = encourage risks and try new things - Creativity need not be artistic expression Everyone can be creative → Big C vs little C → Creative thinking use instead of creativity Creativity doesn't come as a flash of insight You can nurture creativity - Technology is not the problem. How we use it is? Don't focus on the tool but rather how it is implemented and used. - Maximise creative time vs minimise screen time - Creative confidence = something wrong as an opportunity. Making mistakes is okay. ### Chapter 2 Projects - Makers of Things - Projects feeding into creative learning spiral - Children create knowledge by constantly revising, testing their theories as they play. Knowledge is not poured into them. Active builders not passive recipients. - Rather than computers as a teacher, more as a tool to make new things - As children construct things in the world, they construct new ideas in their heads, which motivates them to construct new things in the world. - Ask not what the toy can do for the child, ask what the child can do with the toy. Toys to think with rather than toys that think. - Puzzles can teach you grammar, punctuation of a problem. But only projects where you write a story can teach you how to express yourself. - Projects can help develop thinking. Better writers tend to become better thinkers over time. Puzzles might also give you this but not next two. - Projects can help develop a voice and a way to express themselves. - Doing projects, children can see the possibility to contribute actively to society. Developing their identity seeing themselves as part of the future. - Too often we focus on basics and end up with disconnected knowledge. When they learn things as they do projects the concepts are encountered meaningfully and knowledge is embedded in a rich web of associations. This makes it easier to access and apply the knowledge in new situations. ### Chapter 3 Passion - Building on Interests - Access not only to the latest technologies but also to people who can inspire and support them. - Passion - self directed learning, helped them recognise, trust, develop and deepen their own interests and talents. - Technologies should have low floors and high ceilings. Also important to have wide walls so it can support a wide range of projects. Important for children to be able to work on projects that are personally meaningful to them. - Testing by looking at diversity of projects. If all projects are too similar, means well were not wide enough. - Hard fun = not about making lessons easier, it's about making them exciting. - Learning experiences is best when immersion and reflection happen alternatively. Diving in and stepping back. - Gamification may not work in the long term, especially in terms of creativity. Rewards give a short term boost but it's effect wears off and can reduce long term motivation. - Draw upon intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic rewards. - Personalised learning = not a computerised tutor but learners having choice on what and how they're learning. - Not unstructured but a different structure. Finding balance between freedom and structure is the key to creating a fertile environment. - Close started open ended. Start with help and scaffolding but let them explore after that. ### Chapter 4 Peers - Beyond Rodin - Design of the space deeply influences the attitudes and activities of the participants. In particular with respect to collaboration - Thinking is integrated with doing. Most thinking is done in connection with other people: share ideas, get reactions and build upon other' ideas. - Today's society → Collaborative effort + Collective Action - Teams come together informally coalescing around shared interests. Teams are dynamic and flexible evolving to meet project needs. - Spirit of Samba school - grow out of tradition and cultures of the local community. - Providing the right tools support and opportunity for more and more collaboration to happen. - Openness can enhance creativity in many different ways. Concept of open sourcing to further collaboration. Remixing ideas of others. Building on others work is seen as cheating. Goal to create a culture where people fee proud that someone adapted their work. - Community guidelines for culture of caring - Be respectful - Be constructive - Be honest - Help keep the space friendly Modeling this behaviour as well - Caring culture → Members feel comfortable sharing sensitive and personal issues - "Support learning through design experiences and cultivate an emergent community of learners". Create an environment of respect and trust. - Teachers deliver instruction → imitate not innovate. Other option is not do anything which is also extreme. - Good teachers play four roles - Catalyst - Provide a spark to accelerate learning. Right type of questions to catalyse. Exploration and reflection. Learner remains the active agent, in charge of the activity. - Consultant - Understand members and support them. "Guide on the side" not "Sage on the stage". - Connector - Connect learners with others they might work with, learn with and learn from. - Collaborator - Mentors also work on their own projects and invite others to join. Blur boundaries between teaching and learning. - Mentors as lifelong learners to be good models as well for children. - Adult are important to provide expertise. Hole in the wall showed that. ### Chapter 5 Play - Play doesn't require toys or open spaces just curiosity, imagination and experimentation. - Playfulness as a mindset - Not all play can lead to creative learning. Ask what types of play may help develop creative thinkers? How can we encourage these types? - Playground vs play pen = freedom to experiment and design your own activities and games. - We want children to experience the challenges and joys of turning their own ideas into projects. - Tinkering - Taking advantage of the unexpected - Drawing on personal experience - Using familiar materials in unfamiliar ways - Planners vs tinkerers → Top down vs bottom up. Tinkering starts with explorations that might seem random but can be focused into an activity. Creative thinking grows out of creative tinkering. - Children differ from one another not only in their interests and passion but also in ways they play and learn. - Patterners vs dramatists. Patterners are fascinated by structures and patterns, dramatists more interested in stories and social interaction. - To help children develop as creative thinkers, we used to create environments where children feel comfortable making mistakes and where they can learn from them. - Rather than measuring what children learn (through numbers), we also need to document what children learn (through compelling examples). Portfolio based approaches have proven to be successful in many contexts. - Making sure to focus on what's most important for children to learn, not what's easiest to measure. ### Chapter 6 Creative Society - Reggio Emilia - Deep respect for abilities of the child. Schools designed to support and document children's exploration and investigations. Make learning visible - encourages reflection, helps facilitators understand way for parents to see children's work. - 10 tips for for parents and teachers 1. Show examples to spark ideas 2. Encourage messing around 3. Provide a wide variety of materials 4. Embrace all types of making 5. Emphasise process not product 6. Extend time for projects 7. Play the role of matchmaker 8. Get involved as a collaborator 9. Ask (authentic) questions 10. Share your own reflections - 10 tips for designers and developers 1. Design for designers 2. Support low floors and high ceilings 3. Widen the walls 4. Connect with both interests and ideas 5. Prioritise simplicity 6. Understand the people you're designing for 7. Invent things you want to use yourself 8. Put together a small interdisciplinary design team 9. Control the design but leverage the crowd 10. Iterate, iterate and iterate again