I recently watched a TED talk by Douglas Thomas called A New Culture of Learning. Douglas shared his believe that 3 things need to happen for learning to occur; engage an individual's passion, allow them to use their imagination and provide constraint. The last item on this list intrigued me. Thomas suggested that when you put rules in place, it sparks the imagination. As part of my innovation plan, I have spent time introducing various items from our district's makerspace to our new librarians and administrative team. I am including pictures from a team meeting where I introduced Strawbees. Strawbees, simply put, look like large straws. The package include small connectors which allow you to build 3 dimensional shapes with ease. I placed the items in the center of the table and told our team they could build anything they wanted to. Everyone looked at the pieces and slowly picked them up. They looked to each other for inspiration, but didn't know where to start or what to build. I immediately thought about the lack of rules or constraint I had provided. The reaction of the team made me think of Thomas and the idea that having constraints in place, spark the imagination. After watching the team struggle to think of something to build, I provided each person with a challenge card. New life had been given to the group! They went right to work attempting to meet the challenges. As I continue to work with librarians, I plan to share this knowledge with the hopes that they will see the benefit of providing constraints when working with their students. I certainly did!
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AuthorConnie Sharp is a District Librarian in Nashville, TN. ArchivesCategories |