Creative Learning processes

- why?
by Hanne Olesen

Why does the written language and books have top priority in schools? What becomes of body language, the language of design, the figurative language and the musical language?

The young people in school must grow and sprout up being beautiful flowers with perfect petals, they mustn’t wither, becoming grey and dull as their school days draw to a close.
We have been working at creating good growing conditions for our students.
We have nourished and nurtured them as we believe in the possibility of giving the students the opportunity to cultivate both their aesthetic/creative as their intellectual points.

• A child has 100 languages but is deprived of the 99
• School and culture separate the head from the body
• They force you to think without using your body
• and act without using your head
• Playing and working
• reality and fantasy
• science and imagination
• the inner and the outer
• are made into each others opposites

Malaguzzi, Italy

This quotation illustrates the lopsidedness which exists in our education system where the written language is top priority. What becomes of body language, the language of design, the figurative language and the musical language?
After primary school the main emphasis is put on one-sided rational thinking and theoretical acquisition of knowledge.
A little fantasy and playing may serve as the seasoning meant to make the big heavy letters and theories go down. This is what the school has been like for many years.
The book is, and has been, the most important tool.
Colours, music, emotions and dream appear at special occasions – if there is time to spare.
All this in spite of the fact that the object clause of the Danish primary and lower secondary school commits us to contribute to the all round development of the individual student We also have to give the students possibilities for experience and individual activity, which may enhance the individual students wish to learn and develop their imagination.
Scholars, teachers, business people and artists agree upon the importance of strengthening the aesthetic contents of the education. We haven’t met examples to the contrary yet.
But it is not an easy task. We live in a society which increasingly is characterised by passive consumption. The students use a lot of their time passively watching and consuming the products of other people: television, films, videos, commercials etc.. They assume the role of consumer and watcher.
These society based features in the students also appear in school.

A "creative counterplay"

In this innovation project of three years we are trying to lay the main emphasis on the aesthetic-creative field of education.
Creative/aesthetic products tell a lot and constitutes an experience. This goes for the products of the students as well as the products of others.
This is why the starting point for most of our projects is something versatile like pictures, music, a film or an exhibition.
When a new project starts we want the students to get interested, we want them to warm up to the issue for personal reasons and not because we as teachers tell them what is right and what is wrong.
They must learn that in most cases there is not one authorised experience, but that one experience may be as good as an other.
We also aim at an equality in forms of expression, this means that a collage equals a presentation as a product.
In this way we are aiming at making the students more active and productive.
Furthermore we hope that they – through increased knowledge of the world of mass media – will gain a critical attitude towards the bombardment of information and entertainment which they are exposed to in their daily life.
We would like them to participate actively, inside as well as outside the school, instead of being mere spectators.

A brain consists of two hemispheres

It is a well-known fact that the human brain consists of two hemispheres.
The two hemispheres do of course not function separately, they enter into a complicated interaction. But it is possible to focus so much on the functions of one hemisphere that the other hemisphere will go slack and won’t get the adequate exercise.
In our culture the focus is mainly on the functions of the left hemisphere - where the analytical and verbal abilities are situated. This may result in a one-sided development, and the other hemisphere – in this case the right – will go slack and under-developed just as muscles that are not exercised go slack and begin malfunctioning.
In order to create whole human beings it is of vital importance that the interaction and the utilisation of the two hemispheres get equal attention.

The imagination doesn’t disappear

When young people say that they don’t have any imagination, we can rightly tell them that this is not the case – the imagination has just been on stand by for a long time and has to be looked for. In other words the right brain hemisphere needs rehabilitation.

Puberty

At the age of 14 most young people will already have cast aside the possibility of using their imagination and playing games in school. Many will tell you that they don’t understand art, and that drawing and painting are childish activities etc.
The rejection is a means of defence against the fear of the unknown. When they are feeling afraid or insecure, they don’t want to open up – they dare not letting themselves get emotionally involved.
They will turn to ridicule and use it as a weapon.
The creative learning processes are to be found in the field between the known and the unknown. It is in this field that we shall provoke and challenge the students.
Many alterations take place in the young people’s minds and body during puberty. They must try on many identities before they find themselves, find what they want to become and what the meaning of it all is going to be.
They are sensitive and often they react strongly if they suspect the grown ups of trying to fob new identities off on them.
Their egodefence is especially strong at that age.
Often they won’t open themselves fearing to seem childish and insecure.
Our task as educators is to create situations that will help the students to open up, making them wonder at things and making them share their feelings and the fantasies.
We don’t want the students to restrict themselves to words, we also want them to tell of their experiences using their body, music, poems, paintings etc.