Creativity and the new national curriculum

Forest Education Network
National Networking Day
Creativity and the new national curriculum
Jon Cree
Training Coordinator, Bishops Wood Centre,
Worcestershire County Council
Jon Cree has been involved in environmental education and training
for over 30 years and is currently the training coordinator and
manager of the 11-19 programme at the renowned Bishops Wood
Centre in Worcestershire. This talk considers the ways in which the
impact of creative educational approaches used in outdoor settings
can be linked more directly to the new national curriculum.
“Nature belongs at the heart
of school life”
Guess who said that last month
We can imagine all this pulling on real experiences and make it
imaginable, knowing our connection to the fluttering of a butterfly
on the other side of the world makes us imaginative and visioning a
new world such as polar bears living in deserts imaginary – our
imagination makes us infinite (in the words of John Muir) and the
natural world enables us to act this out more easily.
Imagination = Creativity
=Innovation Edith Cobb, 1950
Imagination is the source of creativity – not the same thing.
Imagination is the ability to bring to mind that are not present
to our senses but can imagine both things that exist and
things that don’t. If I ask you to think of your favourite tree, a
table in your house, a fox prowling through a dark wood, I bet
you all slightly different mental images based on your
experiences these are imaginable . A fairy holding three
golden eggs in a thorn tree a bear wearing a green dress now
your bringing to mind something you haven’t experienced, at
least I assume not! – these are imaginative i.e. composed in
the mind. Imagination – our primary gift of human
consciousness – we can review and revisit the past, take on
different views and show empathy see with others eyes and
feel with their hearts and use it to form our own views –
utilising both hemispheres – good brain gym. Without
imagination we cannot predict and therefore create a future!
Take this little girl creating an aerial railway and made
concrete using natural materials
The national curriculum provides pupils with an
introduction to the essential knowledge that they
need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to
the best that has been thought and said; and helps
engender an appreciation of human creativity and
achievement.
The national curriculum provides pupils with an
introduction to the essential knowledge that they
need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to
the best that has been thought and said; and helps
engender an appreciation of human creativity and
achievement.
Whether this means studying great minds is open to interpretation
The Extinction of Experience – Pyle, 1978
Miyupimaatisiium –
cree connections
Anam cara –
celtic connections
Biophylia –
genetic connections
Miyupimaatisiium = being alive well – saturated in values = well
being/land/health and identity
Anam Cara = truth/beauty/inner soul/soul mate – all encompassing
including relationship to the whole
Biophyllia = genetically hard wired into other life forms E O Wilson
“We are human in good part because of the particular way we
affiliate with other organisms and land....they offer the challenge
and freedom innately sought. To the extent that each person can
feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untrammeled
world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of reenchantment to invigorate poetry and myth....'“
In order to create meaning from our
imagination we need to utilise both
hemispheres – the left thinking connections
and abstract the right more analytical making
meaning of the imaginative – whole brain
approach need to be able to process story –
thats what natural world and particularly
woods help us do by giving time and space
and materials to test our thoughts and
activate three of our emotional systems that
can activate the higher order thinking.
The limbic system (emotional driver of the brain) has 7
sets of emotional systems – the SEEKING system is the
granddaddy – it is this, along with the PLAY and CARE
systems, that drives creativity
Adventure, problem solving and challenge – the process
stimulates this system = dopamine=higher order thinking
Adventure, problem
solving and challenge –
the process stimulates
this system =
dopamine=higher order
thinking
Creativity
Creativity is a step on from imagination – it
brings imagination into the real realm it
involves doing something – putting
imagination to work. We can have this
stimulated by seeing shapes in the trees
feeling the wood, playing with materials such
as mud – it is applied imagination in maths, in
writing, in making, in music etc etc. The hand
is the cutting edge of the mind (Jacob
Bronowski – ascent of man)
Maths
Shapes, space and measures (descriptors)
Level 1
When working with 2D and 3D shapes, pupils use everyday language to describe
properties and positions. They measure and order objects using direct comparison, and
order events.
Level 5
When constructing models and when drawing or using shapes, pupils measure and draw
angles to the nearest degree, and use language associated with angle. Pupils know the
angle sum of a triangle and that of angles at a point. They identify all the symmetries of
2D shapes. They know the rough metric equivalents of imperial units still in daily use and
convert one metric unit to another. They make sensible estimates of a range of measures
in relation to everyday situations. Pupils understand and use the formula for the area of a
rectangle.
Sparking the imagination
Through sensory stimulation that serves the
making of meaning. The natural world helps
us perceive connections and fine tune our
knowledge and restore our concentration –
Stephen Kaplan called it soft fascination which
generates ‘thinking neurons – nature neurons.
“Nature is certainly well-endowed with
fascinating objects, as well as offering many
processes that people find engrossing” (p.174).
There’s clouds, sunsets, leaves rustling in the
breeze, and attending to these patterns
doesn’t take much effort.
Story is the main medium is a natural human
thought pattern to create story and narrative –
can help if use props or apply to metaphor of
the natural world – e.g. sowing the seeds of
life and cherry tree is the tree of joy and brings
happiness and lightness – oak the tree of
protection and safety.
........guided discovery
..using symbols
and motifs
Can create an atmosphere of guided discovery
to stimulate the imagination and
understanding – a treasure trail through the
woods suddenly coming across a picnic of
teddy bears – how did they get here what did
they overcome and how did they survive!
Becoming reporters for the day to explore and
record the inhabitants and their jobs in two
community and find their missing link.
Science
Life processes and living things (descriptor)
Level 2
Pupils use their knowledge about living things to describe the basic conditions [for
example, a supply of food, water, air, light] that animals and plants need in order to
survive. They recognise that living things grow and reproduce. They sort living things into
groups, using simple features. They describe the basis for their groupings [for example,
number of legs, shape of leaf]. They recognise that different living things are found in
different places [for example, ponds, woods].
Level 4
……They use keys based on observable external features to help them to identify and
group living things systematically. They recognise that feeding relationships exist
between plants and animals in a habitat, and describe these relationships using food
chains and terms [for example, predator and prey].
Level 5
Being with life is so important – in the
moment, flow – a desire to know the object of
our emotional response. Story of boy at St
Marys at Kiddersminster – year 2 working at a
level 4 in science!! He knew everything about
woodlice – teacher explained he had wanted
to use a key and find out what they ate and
how they lived …
“did you know (the boy told me) – woodlice
eat dead leaves and trees so they can make
the soil good – also, and this is the amazing
thing about them they can have lots of eggs
which the mum keeps in a pouch and when
they hatch she stays with them to protect
them until they are full adults and when they
are prey they roll up to protect themselves.
And another thing – they breath through their
rear legs!”
...incorporating a
sense of life
Sense of life
Constantly ask oneself what each feature of
the event explains about life (for content
development)
Incorporate as many signs of ongoing life, or
living going on at the present moment (for
developing setup)
Point out (or have prepared as stated) features
and clues for the presence of life that relate to
the experience
Is there freshness, vitality, sound, motion, and
smells
Tie in the processes of life
Are you interpreting life (not history or nature)
Being aware that without adding ‘a sense of
life’ the experience will be dead, and receive a
lifeless response from the students
...setting a challenge
...having participatory roles
Create out of the
imagination ..... time
to play and reflect, the
woodland USP
Story – chicken little. When an acorn falls on her head she screams the sky is falling in.
Her panic alarms one animal after another. Before long they all run as fast as they can
to the kings castle to tell him about it. On the way they meet fox who genially offers to
show them the way – the promised palace is his den where he promptly devours them
all. In a similar Jakatan story a young lion stops an equally panicked group after much
and hare tells lion he heard a terrible thud. The earth is breaking apart and all the
animals are scurrying to save themselves. Lion instead of killing them has hare lead
him back to the place where he heard the crash and shows him the earth is intact and
the tale unfolds to a happy ending – each animal goes where he wants to be bat in the
sky etc. Iet the calm questioning of young lion (a Buddha) allowed the animals to
survive their panic and generate new viewpoints – consciousness raising questions.
The point is what we do with the imagination and meaning – the illumination of an
important value and evocation of a desire to pursue a behaviour that harmonizes and
the acquisition of skills to do so is at the heart of taking the creativity further into
meaningful active understanding.
James – give his background then quote “ doing and making weird things just didn’t
make sense then simply because he could use his hands to make something that
meant something meant he felt better about himself. During the action . Stories can
help – James “listening to the stories and then doing things made me think and act
differently. They helped me know what I did and didn’t know. The stories also made
me wander about things in the woods and do something constructive with my hands
and best of all, they stopped me getting broody and angry.”
Create out of the
imagination ..... time
to play and reflect, the
woodland USP
...and sometimes just
leaving some tools out
half finished work is
enough!
Freedom is the key and free choice with no
one dictating and directing – just the wood
doing it! Children's desire for freedom is
unquenchable and in the woods it is much
easier to leave them alone and let the
woodland learning happen – DH Lawrence
rules 1st leave him alone 2nd ditto and 3rd ditto
– THAT is the whole beginning.
“I feel free, its green,
calm and more able to
think and be”
“When I come here I
belong – you guys are
chill”
“I feel I can make
suggestions and have
learnt different ways of
thinking and looking at
problems from different
views – like the building
trade and how to make
it more environmental”
SEEKING meaning, Adventure, Anticipation,
the prospect of learning and creating
something new brings JOY – this is THE prime
motivator!
It is inspiring to see – but the opportunity to be
immersed in nature should not be restricted to
children whose parents can afford to pay school fees. I
want state schools across the country to look at Holme
Grange and think: ‘How can we do that?’
………..All these changes – in science, geography and
cooking – will help schools nurture happier, healthier
children; in touch with, and closer to, the natural world
around them.
Michael Gove (Spectator February 27 2014)
Hidden Woods - A Poem
by Hollie McNish www.hiddenwoods.co.uk

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