Diversity and Creativity

The classroom is a diverse place. The makeup of a classroom comprises students who differ in their abilities, learning styles, and interests. Each student represents or reflects a culture, a parenting style, language/dialect, personal experiences, knowledge, and a unique brain network through which information is linked, processed, and retrieved. As we move towards global learning, which is technology-mediated, we are expecting the learning environments to be more and more diverse. Educators can take advantage of this diversity to promote 21st-century skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation, but how?

Let’s focus on creativity. Creativity as a process has its origins in the differences between people; how they see and interpret the world around them. Creativity is called upon when there is a need to improve, change, and solve problems. It’s when we need a novel alternative or a better one to what we currently have. The social, cognitive, and psychological differences among people feed creativity. What can be created or learned if we all think the same, do the same things and use the same words to describe the same reality? (Vlad, 2020. p. 7)

Working interdependently with diverse others promotes creativity and innovative thinking and making.

https://www.iste.org/explore/5_Reasons_Why_It_Is_More_Important_Than_Ever%20_Teach_Creativity

Education System: Educators often ask students to be creative and think out of the box. What does that mean?

Try reflecting on our educational practices and see how the current approach align or not with the growing need for creative and innovative thinking. Diverse students in a classroom are expected to learn the same curriculum objectives and sit for the same standardized tests. The input and output are very much predetermined. Not only that, but we also hand them in multiple choice tests and ask them to circle the correct answer. We confine their thinking and limit correct answers to one of three options. How does that approach promote creative thinking when we are literally handing them the flattened box in the form of a test paper and then ask them to think out of that box?

Teacher Training: Creativity, from cognitive science perspective, is to possess divergent or lateral thinking. The lack of educators’ training is another factor that hinders the cultivation of creativity in diverse classrooms. Educators need to understand how to promote such thinking and trigger students’ creative insights. What happens prior to the creation of that creative idea matters the most. Innovation is built upon creativity, and creativity entails risk taking, synergy, trial and error and being courageous to be wrong and more than once. It's worth noting that as we think creatively, we incorporate our social and cultural beings. Socializing creativity can be a great outcome of diverse students working cooperatively and collaboratively in classrooms. Diverse social human beings work with each other’s unique strengths, perspectives, and knowledge to think and produce creative ideas/actions. Are our teachers trained and ready to design such learning experiences?

In a recent study in Hong Kong, LAM et al. (2021) investigated the role of e-technologies in supporting constructivist pedagogies. The authors discussed five pedagogies:

1- Active learning

2- Student centered learning

3- Peer learning

4- Personalized learning

5- Differentiated Learning

The findings indicated that e-technologies enriched teaching and learning processes in a variety of ways. First, teachers worked as facilitators of learning. The e-learning technologies facilitated a quick and easy exploration of topics which were assigned by the teacher. Students were placed at the center of the learning process, used their digital devices to follow different learning paths. Students could pursue their own choice of activity, engage in active learning and report to the teacher using e-technologies such as Nearpod, Schoology or Edpuzzle. Students could work at their own pace and revisit digital learning material when needed, which provided for personalized learning. In addition, students worked cooperatively in pairs and small groups to investigate a topic and to present their findings to the class using e-learning software and applications. The technology mediated learning tools were also used to support students who were less able or have special learning needs. LAM et al. (2020) wrote that e-learning technology has the capacities to enrich teaching and learning practices in the classroom. The authors (2020, p. 9) quoted Groff (2013) who explained that:

These enriched teaching and learning experiences would be less accessible without eLearning technology.

Educators have diverse students with different interests and abilities. Teachers can outsource part of their teaching load to e-learning technologies and enjoy working with smaller groups of students, raising questions and extending their thinking in a constructive way.