"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Einstein

BRAVO Sir Ken Robinson again. Thank you for being a strong voice in education. You speak about what I deal with daily as an art educator. I am part of the revolution and I hope part of the transformation.

Art Teacher in Independence, MO.

About 12 minutes into his speech, he talks about how developing creative thinking needs to be operationalized in schools the same way that developing literacy is. I agree. I believe project-based learning encourages creative thinking. Teachers also need to value different ideas, encourage multiple solutions to given problems, and praise novel combinations of materials or concepts. Parents should encourage creative thinking too. The PBS Parents Web site has a good site for promoting creativity in children: http://www.pbs.org/parents/creativity

I feel like my son's elementary school is systematically crushing my child's creativity with worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. I would love to hear others' ideas and experiences for how schools or parents promote creative thinking in children. And thanks to Edutopia for providing this space to share ideas and to read about interesting work taking place in education around the world.

Sir Ken Robinson is on the right track. Individual creativity needs to be encouraged and developed, also group creativity, bouncing ideas off each other and appreciating each other's input. Where does creativity come from? Meditation, contemplation, knowledge, play, the acceptance and appreciation of creativity allow it to happen in all its forms. We need to value these things both in our culture and in our education systems.

The context of a "theory of change" presented by Sir Ken Robinson, and the need for "transformation" in our approaches to people, policies and practices in education, are vitally important. The linear thinking and the way education and educators work deserve examination. This thinking process toward transformation has been something I've been exploring in the Netherlands through Dr. Jef van Kuyk's Pyramid Approach to Early Learning (www.pyramidprinciples.com) and in the writings of Daniel Pink in his book "A Whole New Mind." Thank you Sir Ken.

Sir Ken Robinson's global message is so very powerful which addresses our state of education in direct comparison to our ecological environment- wow- this is reality!

Transform your teaching and learning environment to reflect true creativity! (Naomi Harm)

Sir Ken Robinson is the living epitome of what I have have researching about, speaking about, writing about, and now teaching about as an educator who is also a professional entertainer as a producer and director. The past 5 years I have interviewed and researched edutainment and convergence through this lens, and I too have found that the same creativity and communication that drives the entertainment field is the same creation and communication that must drive the field of education in a knowledge based economy. For better or for worse, education is the real driving force behind the economy, the ideas and the technology that makes the global economy work. Edutainers like Sir Ken Robinson engage us all, they compell us to think, and most importantly they create within us a desire to be creative. The bottom line is that creativity brings the fun back into education because the quality of one's education is often a reflection of the communication of the educators that one has had contact with in our lives. Bravo Sir Ken!

No one in any of these pages has ever mentioned foreign-language education. Isn't it time we address this vital issue in the US? HOW do we go about developing "project-based educational modules" for such classes when SO FEW Americans can speak a second language to begin with? What kinds of projects are out there for us to use--BEYOND the "101" level, please.

Thank you Sir Robinson (and Edutopia) for discussing creativity.

Sadly with the emphasis on NCLB we find that one of the major areas that not only allows for but encourages (and actively teach) creative thinking skills, the Arts, are slowly being eliminated or scaled back to make room for more science and math.

However, if our children cant apply those concepts and skills in an innovative and creative way - what do we have?

Unfortunately I think we also see much education as reinforcing the "standard" answer over the unusual (the old "theres only one correct way" mode of thinking).

To address the first comments by anonymous - I agree.
I think we not only need to rethink education and how educators teach, but how parents see education.
Many see the worksheets as the solution, and fail to see that by doing something as creative as making butter in class for example, you can teach reading, writing and math in a creative way.

Many parents see the butter, but not the math (the only legitimate way to teach math would be with a math worksheet).
Most students however, 20 years later, will remember the butter more than anything else.

I do believe however, that with continued work, and with the efforts of people like Sir Robinson, we may turn the tide.

I am constantly reminded (and remind anyone who will listen) of that scene from Apollo 13 which shows classic creative problem solving at its finest.
The crew is suffering from CO2 poisoning and the canister from the landing craft is a different size and shape that the one from the command module.
The scene shows one engineer throwing a load of everything contained in the craft on the table and saying to the others "We need to make this (lunar module), fit into a hole made for this (command module), using nothing but that".

Creativity at its finest.
Check and see how many of the designers of the Mars Rover were also artists and/or musicians on the side.

I agree 100% with Sir Ken on the need for a systematic change in education -- and how we incorporate creativity in our curriculum. What will this look like? I imagine that we will see classrooms where project based learning is fundamental, where cross grade level students mentor each other, where students take a key role in mentoring teachers on technology (they are way ahead of most of us anyhow!), where students are able to create work that incorporates technology in every discipline. To create systematic change, we need to listen to voices from many sectors. How can we open our education system to the world? How can we open our school doors to the community right outside? Meaningful resources are right there - waiting to be asked. We need to embrace voices from leading sectors of society -- business, the arts, sciences. There is a place for everyone at the table. Thank you, Sir Ken, for your consistent voice of educational reform. -- Julie

Sir Robinson's speech was absolute truth, however far too vague in actual HOW-TO's for me. (Perhaps I need to read his book.)
Talk is cheap.
EVERYONE knows “the Emperor” is naked. Most of us are no longer even afraid to utter it and some of us are shouting it. We are shouting however into an echo chamber,the only thing echoing back is apathetic, disconnected, enabled teenagers.
Where is the place to go if you are the one who believes you know how to design and make the emperor's new clothes?
Everyone is talking. Even those who haven’t set foot in a classroom in decades for example. Some are doing things in their own classrooms or schools but that will never cause the kind of transformation he is calling for and we all know is necessary.
The real question is how do we create any kind of united force for this transformation? Especially in public education where politicians, who will believe the mathematical impossibility that all children can score above 50% or that one set of tests can gauge learning, are in charge? The teachers, who really could actually CREATE answers, are ignored at best, or at worst, blamed for the ‘revolution’ Sir Robinson describes.
And yet some of us have to keep fighting in the trenches…or there is no hope.