Innovative education and its Importance in education
What Is Innovation in Education?
Many mistakenly believe innovation has to do with the use of technology or new inventions. In “Four Dimensions of Innovation in Education,” Lars Esdal, executive director of Education Evolving, describes innovation in education as doing things in a new way. To do something differently requires coming up with an approach, process, product or strategy.
Esdal explains that outdated thinking of how to design a school leads to subpar performance in public education. “Learning experiences could be redesigned to be far more relevant to student interests and career paths, personalized to their aptitudes and abilities, and responsive to their culture and identities,” he writes.
Innovation in education encourages teachers and students to explore, research and use all the tools to uncover something new. It involves a different way of looking at problems and solving them. The thinking process that goes into it will help students develop their creativity and their problem-solving skills.
Innovation does not mean creating something from nothing. Just like with any good science project, it relies on researching existing solutions to come up with a new hypothesis to test.
“Original research is critical to our education system’s overall success,” writes Vadim Polyakov in “Innovation in Education Is More than a New Approach.” “I firmly believe that proving — or disproving — hypotheses with strong rigorous research is the best way to move education forward.”
Innovation improves education because it compels students to use a higher level of thinking to solve problems.
The Importance of Innovation in Education
Increasingly, innovation in education at school is more than just a buzzword. It is fast becoming a way of learning and teaching for both students and teachers respectively. Innovation in education encourages students and teachers to research, explore, and use all the tools to uncover something new.
Innovation involves a different way of looking at problems and solving them. It also improves education because it compels students to use a higher level of thinking to solve complex problems. Innovation does not just mean the use of technology or new inventions, though these can contribute to innovation. Innovation involves a new way of thinking, thereby helping students develop their creativity and problem-solving skills.
Innovation in education can be a rather intangible concept and can mean different things to different people. However, there are very real and tangible benefits of innovation in education. Innovation cannot be tested or graded, but it can be inculcated and built up in students. In this environment of high-stakes testing, it can be incredibly difficult to introduce innovation and creativity in the classroom. However, here are fivr different ways that teachers can introduce innovation in the classroom…
1. Challenge students by giving them a problem that is both authentic and interesting: There is no one project for every student. This means that a project has to be flexible enough for students to fit it to their own interests. It also means that teachers need to know about their students’ interests. Authenticity involves using real tools to tackle problems, which do not have their answers printed at the back of a book. Ideal problems involve defining some general parameters and tools, but leave the specific problem definition up to the student. An example of such a project could be, “Design a musical instrument that you can play without using your mouth or hands”.
2. Give students the basics but keep it short: You will need to give students some basic information and knowledge to get started on their projects. However, the amount of information that the class will need will be less than what you would expect. You can chunk this information into organized blocks of 5 to 10 minutes and deliver these in a mini-lesson at the start of the class.
3. Encourage students to research independently: If the project design is clear and coherent, students will get the vast majority of the information they need from their own independent research. This research can draw from Wikipedia, internet message boards, programming language documentation, sample code, and so on.
4. Build complex skills in students: You can encourage students to use complex tools to complete their projects. Some of these tools include Tickle, Tynker, Scratch, Makey Makey, and so on. Both teachers and students need to become familiar with these tools to use them regularly.
5. Check that students have understood the concepts: In a classroom focusing specially primary or on highly individualized projects, teachers need to monitor what students are struggling with. Optimal learning occurs when students struggle with a problem that they are able to find the solution to. If they cross over into frustration or confusion, they are likely to give up. Teachers should keep a careful track of what students know and what they should learn in order to successfully complete their projects.
