Is teaching creativity possible?
Piaget’s 'Constructivism' states that we are all subjectively constructing our own understanding through personal experience. Constructivist learning is based on students' active participation in problem-solving (a cognitive conflict) and critical thinking regarding a learning activity that they find relevant and engaging. Papert’s “Constructionism” is inspired by Constructivism.
In its simplest form, Constructionist theory states that the comprehension of abstract concepts is accelerated by literal construction activities. According to Self-Determined Learning theory (SDL), educational organisations need to provide an environment that allows for the learner to work toward “integrated regulation” (characterized by the activity becoming personally important for a valued outcome), specifically to foster the development of an acceptable level
of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, where competence is the understanding of how to attain various external and internal outcomes and being, or at least feeling, effective in performing the requisite actions; where relatedness involves developing secure and satisfying connections with others, feeling understood and cared for by others; and where autonomy refers to being self-initiating and self-regulating of one's own actions, the feeling of being the originator of one’s behaviours.
In Designerly Ways of Knowing, Nigel Cross described design education as being a missing ‘third area’, (the two already-established areas were the sciences and the humanities). Since science is analytic but design is constructive, a different approach is needed to teach design, so that students develop the ability to resolve ill-defined problems by adopting a solution-focussing strategy. While exploring what that different approach could be, I was inspired by Problem-Based Learning and Constructionist Theory.
Problem-Based Learning is a pedagogical system initially developed to help medical students develop convergent thinking abilities so they could deduce the single correct answer to a medical problem, in a setting that mimicked their future professional practice. Developing a coherent equivalent in design pedagogy is fraught with difficulties, as design students need to develop divergent thinking abilities so they can create novel solutions, in a setting that mimics their future professional practice. Constructionist theory states that the comprehension of abstract concepts is accelerated by literal construction activities. It is this sense that Constructionism is connected with experiential learning and builds on Jean Piaget's epistemological theory of Constructivism.
Constructivist learning is based on students' active participation in problem-solving (a cognitive conflict) and critical thinking regarding a learning activity that they find relevant and engaging. They are constructing their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs. So, I combined a Constructionist approach with a designerly equivalent of Problem-Based Learning, to create a novel pedagogical system for design instruction.
In its simplest form, Constructionist theory states that the comprehension of abstract concepts is accelerated by literal construction activities. According to Self-Determined Learning theory (SDL), educational organisations need to provide an environment that allows for the learner to work toward “integrated regulation” (characterized by the activity becoming personally important for a valued outcome), specifically to foster the development of an acceptable level
of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, where competence is the understanding of how to attain various external and internal outcomes and being, or at least feeling, effective in performing the requisite actions; where relatedness involves developing secure and satisfying connections with others, feeling understood and cared for by others; and where autonomy refers to being self-initiating and self-regulating of one's own actions, the feeling of being the originator of one’s behaviours.
In Designerly Ways of Knowing, Nigel Cross described design education as being a missing ‘third area’, (the two already-established areas were the sciences and the humanities). Since science is analytic but design is constructive, a different approach is needed to teach design, so that students develop the ability to resolve ill-defined problems by adopting a solution-focussing strategy. While exploring what that different approach could be, I was inspired by Problem-Based Learning and Constructionist Theory.
Problem-Based Learning is a pedagogical system initially developed to help medical students develop convergent thinking abilities so they could deduce the single correct answer to a medical problem, in a setting that mimicked their future professional practice. Developing a coherent equivalent in design pedagogy is fraught with difficulties, as design students need to develop divergent thinking abilities so they can create novel solutions, in a setting that mimics their future professional practice. Constructionist theory states that the comprehension of abstract concepts is accelerated by literal construction activities. It is this sense that Constructionism is connected with experiential learning and builds on Jean Piaget's epistemological theory of Constructivism.
Constructivist learning is based on students' active participation in problem-solving (a cognitive conflict) and critical thinking regarding a learning activity that they find relevant and engaging. They are constructing their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs. So, I combined a Constructionist approach with a designerly equivalent of Problem-Based Learning, to create a novel pedagogical system for design instruction.
All of the physical puzzles required the participant to reframe the problem statement and to think divergently, rather than applying deductive or inductive logic. They had to create a solution and then build it. They could access clues for each puzzle at any time, and move between the puzzles as they wished, with the screencap above showing a pair of design students in action. This aspect allowed them to self-regulate their learning, as they could alter the difficulty level at any time.
The objective of my PhD was to evaluate whether an 'internalisation' had occurred (the integration of extrinsically motivated behaviours). This integrated regulation is characterized by the activity becoming personally important for a valued outcome. I explored how this Constructivist/Constructionist perspective could be applied to Design Pedagogy, where a student's comprehension of abstract concepts can be accelerated by tacit learning, by literal construction activities, by thinking with their hands. I also examined how Self-Determined Learning (a general motivation theory), Agency (where learners can contribute into the flow of the instruction they receive), and Gamification related to pedagogical engagement theories when combined in practice.
My full thesis, entitled "Thinking with your Hands: Tacit Problem Reframing with Interaction Design Students" is available here.
The objective of my PhD was to evaluate whether an 'internalisation' had occurred (the integration of extrinsically motivated behaviours). This integrated regulation is characterized by the activity becoming personally important for a valued outcome. I explored how this Constructivist/Constructionist perspective could be applied to Design Pedagogy, where a student's comprehension of abstract concepts can be accelerated by tacit learning, by literal construction activities, by thinking with their hands. I also examined how Self-Determined Learning (a general motivation theory), Agency (where learners can contribute into the flow of the instruction they receive), and Gamification related to pedagogical engagement theories when combined in practice.
My full thesis, entitled "Thinking with your Hands: Tacit Problem Reframing with Interaction Design Students" is available here.
