Nel nostro impegno a preparare gli studenti alle carriere e alle sfide del mondo reale e a dotarli delle competenze del XXI secolo, spesso dimentichiamo che, in qualità di educatori, abbiamo il dovere di sognare e di creare spazi in cui tutti abbiano l’opportunità di sii creativo e dai il meglio di te di per sé.
The new edition of the course “Creativity for the future: promoting Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving in the classroom” took place in Bologna from 14/07/2024 to 20/07/2024. The participants came from all across Europe, with António Fernando da Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela in Portugal, Dina Isabel da Agrupamento de escolas de Arganil in Portugal also, Marketa e Frantisek both form VOS a SPSE Frantiska Krizika in Czech Republic, Maria da I.E.S. SIERRA DE GUADARRAMA in Spain, Anna da Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych in Polonia, Karen e Sue both from St Benedict College, Office of the Head College Network in Malta and Efthymia, Foteini e Evangelos all of them from General Lyceum of Litochoro in Grecia.

Talking about key competences for living in the 21st century, participants touched on the topic of learning and innovation skills, digital skills and also career and life skills, focusing their attention on the 4Cs: critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. Most importantly, we learned through hands-on practice how differently our brain and thinking skills function when there’s a problem to solve.
 
Participants were presented with a series of challenges to help them reflect how common barriers to out of the box thinking can be easily overcome by applying specific strategies. For example, using the 6 Thinking Hats method, participants were able to put into practice “pensiero laterale” and devise its concrete application to some existing content they are teaching. Through individual practice and peer review it became noticeable that this method can be used in any subject, from science to language learning, but also as a formative assessment tool, to encourage students thinking outside the box.


Moving to strategie visive, participants experienced new activities which could be used to stimulate students’ creative expression and could be a basis for brainstorming or discussing their ideas. We challenged an “only-art” perception of what “visual thinking” encompasses, by proposing an innovative and digital perspective.
 
A reflection on the importance of training students’ critical thinking skills was needed in a world where most of the time they are passively exposed to loads of (dis)information. Participants engaged in reasoning, questioning and debating activities that could be adapted to different classroom situations to help students become active and aware agents of their own learning.

But to introduce a good dose of creativity and critical thinking in the classroom, not only we shall struggle to find new solutions, as innovation often comes from reframing traditional tools. Our participants enjoyed playing various games and had an opportunity to adapt them to their own subjects while building a stronger learning perspective on them.
Finishing the course, everyone had a chance to create a personalized display of their training and cultural journey in Bologna and, from a tour visiting some historic places of the city to solving problems as a team and where everyone had a handicap, we said goodbye to a week full of laughter, creativity and new experiences!
Scopri di più su questo corso qui.