Chapter 3 - STEM Innovators
"So often in school, the what-if question is eliminated, but that's the source of true creativity and innovation." (p. 97)
I will be honest and say I had a difficult time coming up with a single quote to best encapsulate this chapter. This one best speaks to me though as an educator, and a maths educator in particular. Most of this chapter spoke about different young innovators in the STEM field, and how different adults in their lives facilitated their play, passion and purpose to make a difference in the world.
Question: Can someone be innovative in their quest for money? The example that comes to mind is many investment bankers. Does their quest make them inherently "wrong", and how did they develop to creatively make more money than their competition?
Connection: All the examples from the chapter are great, but the what-if question really speaks to me as a maths teacher. I would agree with the author that too often those types of questions are squelched from a very early age. Personally, I remember several teachers with a stated policy of no what-if questions. As a teacher now myself, I understand their frustrations because these questions lead the class away from the stated goals for the day. However, I too believe what-if questions of the utmost importance to developing creativity in learners of any age, myself included. Why do my stated goals for the lesson represent the be-all end-all of learning anyways?
Epiphany: I think I'll make more what-if questions a stated policy for my classrooms starting tomorrow. Not only could such a policy help more STEM innovators develop, it also would help students meet the CCSS Standard of thinking abstractly.
Chapter 4 - Social Innovators
"Regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds or degree of school success, what all young innovators have in common is the importance of play, passion, and purpose in their lives. These intrinsic motivations are what drive them to achieve and to persevere - and what gives their life texture and meaning... They want and need to make a difference - and of course they want a certain amount of recognition for this work. That's only human." (p.139)
I chose this quote because I believe it sums up the main ideas of the chapter about Social Innovators. What really separates these young people from others is the need to make a difference and improve society as a whole. Even still, I believe the STEM innovators from the previous chapter strove mightily to make a difference in their own ways.
Question: How can I best create an environment where my students learn to question the world around them as a means to finding their purpose?
Connection: I thought this chapter interesting because many of the learners described rose from typically labeled "at-risk" situations. Many of my students at the continuation school where I currently teach probably fall into the same category. What can I change to help more of my students succeed as the subjects of this chapter have? I probably don't have a good answer to that right now, so maybe the play-passion-purpose framework is a good place to start. To me, that means serving up activities with multiple pathways that allow students to play with the mathematical concepts more fluidly as a launching point.
Epiphany: My aha moment here, and it's really more from the last two chapters, comes in the form of a desire to fan the flames of whatever makes my students passionate. Whether it be art, computations, sports or comedy, I believe I can best serve my students by assigning value to those passions and encouraging their development of life purpose through pursuing those same passions.
Citations:
Wagner, T., & Compton, R. A. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. New York: Scribner.
"So often in school, the what-if question is eliminated, but that's the source of true creativity and innovation." (p. 97)
I will be honest and say I had a difficult time coming up with a single quote to best encapsulate this chapter. This one best speaks to me though as an educator, and a maths educator in particular. Most of this chapter spoke about different young innovators in the STEM field, and how different adults in their lives facilitated their play, passion and purpose to make a difference in the world.
Question: Can someone be innovative in their quest for money? The example that comes to mind is many investment bankers. Does their quest make them inherently "wrong", and how did they develop to creatively make more money than their competition?
Connection: All the examples from the chapter are great, but the what-if question really speaks to me as a maths teacher. I would agree with the author that too often those types of questions are squelched from a very early age. Personally, I remember several teachers with a stated policy of no what-if questions. As a teacher now myself, I understand their frustrations because these questions lead the class away from the stated goals for the day. However, I too believe what-if questions of the utmost importance to developing creativity in learners of any age, myself included. Why do my stated goals for the lesson represent the be-all end-all of learning anyways?
Epiphany: I think I'll make more what-if questions a stated policy for my classrooms starting tomorrow. Not only could such a policy help more STEM innovators develop, it also would help students meet the CCSS Standard of thinking abstractly.
Chapter 4 - Social Innovators
"Regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds or degree of school success, what all young innovators have in common is the importance of play, passion, and purpose in their lives. These intrinsic motivations are what drive them to achieve and to persevere - and what gives their life texture and meaning... They want and need to make a difference - and of course they want a certain amount of recognition for this work. That's only human." (p.139)
I chose this quote because I believe it sums up the main ideas of the chapter about Social Innovators. What really separates these young people from others is the need to make a difference and improve society as a whole. Even still, I believe the STEM innovators from the previous chapter strove mightily to make a difference in their own ways.
Question: How can I best create an environment where my students learn to question the world around them as a means to finding their purpose?
Connection: I thought this chapter interesting because many of the learners described rose from typically labeled "at-risk" situations. Many of my students at the continuation school where I currently teach probably fall into the same category. What can I change to help more of my students succeed as the subjects of this chapter have? I probably don't have a good answer to that right now, so maybe the play-passion-purpose framework is a good place to start. To me, that means serving up activities with multiple pathways that allow students to play with the mathematical concepts more fluidly as a launching point.
Epiphany: My aha moment here, and it's really more from the last two chapters, comes in the form of a desire to fan the flames of whatever makes my students passionate. Whether it be art, computations, sports or comedy, I believe I can best serve my students by assigning value to those passions and encouraging their development of life purpose through pursuing those same passions.
Citations:
Wagner, T., & Compton, R. A. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. New York: Scribner.