Creativity – Q&A with Dr. Mitchel Resnick

Dr. Mitchel Resnick is LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the Media Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which develops new technologies to engage people (particularly children) in creative learning experiences. He received the McGraw Prize in Education for 2011. We asked him three questions about the importance of creativity. Why is creativity so important in today’s world? We live in a world that is changing more rapidly than ever before. Today’s children will face a continual stream of new issues and challenges in the future. Things that they learn today will be obsolete tomorrow. To thrive, they must learn to design innovative solutions to unexpected problems. Their success and happiness will be based on their ability to think and act creatively. Knowledge alone is not enough: they must learn how to use knowledge creatively. Can creativity be taught? To help children develop as creative thinkers, we need to provide them with support and opportunities to imagine what they want to do, create projects based on their ideas, play with their creations, share their ideas and creations with others, reflect on their experiences – all of which leads them to imagine new ideas and new projects. As children engage in this creative-learning spiral (see illustration), they learn to develop their own ideas, try them out, test the boundaries, experiment with alternatives, get feedback from others, and generate new ideas based on their experiences. How can new technologies help nurture creativity? In my Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the MIT Media Lab, we develop new technologies that, in the spirit of the blocks and crayons of kindergarten, provide learners of all ages with opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves. For example, ourScratch programming software enables children to create their own interactive stories, games, and animations - and share their creations with one another online. In the process, children learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.