Have you read this book?  Little Bets by Peter Sims came out this year by Simon and Schuster. Sims studied highly creative people and companies to learn about their innovation and thinking processes, people such as Steve Jobs, Frank Gehry, and Chris Rock, and companies like Pixar. While the book is helpful for business people and entrepreneurs, it is one that has a direct application to education, especially given the fact that Sims points out repeatedly: today’s children need to be prepared to be tomorrow’s problem solvers and innovators.   This book will help parents in their own endeavors, and also aid them in thinking more deeply about their children’s education.

In a chapter entitled “Questions are the New Answers,” Sims asks, “What is the purpose of education?  Is it to convey knowledge, as the current system is weighted, or is it to inspire and nurture an ability to constantly learn?”  This is after citing a study by researchers Gregersen and Dyer in The Innovator’s DNA in which they observed, “If you look at four-year-olds, they are constantly asking questions and wondering how things work.  But by the time they are six and a half years old they stop asking questions because they quickly learn that teachers value the right answers more than provocative questions” (Sims, 114-115).

Sims addresses perfectionism, and shows that “our creative capacities won’t be liberated unless we let go of the subconscious need to always be perfect or have the immediate answer” (Sims, 49).

He comments on the importance of an environment replete with humor and flexibility: “Creating an atmosphere that allows for playfulness and improvisation is one of the most effective ways to inspire the experimentation that leads to the best ideas and insights” (Sims, 65).

All in all, we found Sims’ book to be a positive influence in helping to continue to shape the atmosphere and purpose of Ignite.  We also found it useful on a personal level, helping us to realize that making “little bets” – trying new things, making small investments in good, original ideas with the understanding that they may fail or develop into different ideas altogether – is a positive, healthy, and innovative path to take as individuals and as members of a forward-thinking organization.

Have you ever wondered why bright children sometimes perform poorly in school?  The notion of gifted underachievement has been going on for centuries.  Just think of Albert Einstein, whose teachers thought him to be “slow,” and Thomas Edison who was told he was too stupid to learn.   If you have a child whose abilities are not reflected in his or her school work and performance, you may be interested in looking at these links.  There is a lot of info out there, but experience has shown us that a most effective antidote is to provide the child access to another totally different learning environment where teachers are sure to connect the child’s individual strengths to academic work, thus demonstrating to the student how his own strengths are valuable and valid in an educational setting.

Take for example the common problem of the middle school English class failure. Often, students who fail English class in middle school are, in fact, effective and eager creative writers.  Given the opportunity to write creatively in an alternative and supportive setting, the teacher can develop their skills as creative writers first, and then connect these skills to other forms of  critical reading and writing such as the essay.  This approach helps develop academic self-efficacy, or the belief that one is equipped to handle and overcome challenges.

Did you know?

“Robert Frost dropped out of Dartmouth College and Harvard University and failed as both a teacher and a farmer.”  (From Famous Failures by Joey Green (Lunatic, 2007))

The fact is that once a teacher understands how to integrate creative thinking opportunities in the classroom, any and every activity can include interesting, interactive, problem solving opportunities that students find relevant and exciting, opportunities that further engage them in the learning process.  ”But, alas,” you may say, “We are bound by state standards and tests and district curriculum.”  We say, take those state standards, that curriculum, and the concepts that will be tested, and design your classroom around learning experiences with which students can connect.  They need to be able to sink their brains into what they are learning; otherwise education becomes memorization, which is easily lost.

Integrating creativity in education helps students solidify their knowledge, makes them realize that they do indeed enjoy learning, and actually improves test scores since students actually connect with concepts rather than just memorizing them on a basic level.   Here’s an example.  A couple of years ago in a Math Games and Problem Solving class at Ignite, students were playing a version of battleship as part of a lesson on probability, graphing, and strategy.  The game board was graph paper with an x and y axis, and students had to plot their ships’ coordinates.

A few weeks later, one of the students arrived at class glowing.  ”We took our state test, and I was the only one in my class that knew how to answer the problems on coordinates because we had played battleship at Ignite!” she exclaimed.  This was a happy but secondary result to the work with battleship that day.  Our goals had been broader than preparing students for a test; we were asking them to learn how to think with a high-interest approach, and this produced an important ripple effect.

As Sir Ken said in the article, tests have become “the culture of education, the purpose of it, rather than a support for it.”  Solid educational strategies that facilitate learning and thinking on a deep level, that expose students to a wide variety of subject matter, should be the basis of education. Students who experience this rigorous yet inspiring type of learning tend to perform higher on tests because they know how to solve problems and think things through, not because they have memorized content.

So far this week, there has been:

paperfolding/cutting/math magic in Advanced Origami and Paper Arts (grades 3-6);

delving into stories and learning to purchase supplies with real money to create inventions with our 4, 5, and 6-year-olds in Take-it-Apart;

exploring children’s literature and beginning to write our own books to be published in Picture Book Project (grades 3-6);

luscious writing inspired by art in Creative Writer’s Workshop (grades 5-8);

studying gastropoda, simulating bug behavior, and creating our own insects in Science Explorations (grades 1 and 2);

and making electric circuits out of grapefruit and powering lightbulbs with them in Electric Science (grades 2-3) and Advanced Electric Science (grades 4-6),

and Future Problem Solvers (grades 4-6) have tackled big world issues in preparation for their competition.

Yet to come on Friday are Clay Animation and Advanced Stop Motion Animation (grades 3 and up).

Each of these classes have been replete with inspiration on the part of teachers and students alike. At Ignite, we strive to create meaningful and even life-changing learning experiences that make a difference in the lives of curious, creative, interested students and their families.  If you haven’t already, come join us!

Entrance to Future Exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.

“The simple question “What if . . .” has the power to change our world. Provocative, inspiring and seemingly impossible questions are being asked by today’s scientists, engineers, inventors, and entrepreneurs.

“The thrill of discovery, passion for new ideas and optimism for the future helps these innovators overcome the challenges they face as they take a seemingly crazy idea and bring it to life.

“Believe in the impossible.

“Then make it happen.”

These powerful words arrested my attention as I came upon “Fast Forward: Inventing the Future” at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Entering the threshold of “Inventing the Future,” I felt immediately at home in the realm of possibility, because this is what I live every day at Ignite.   We are educators asking these questions, and we are constantly searching for answers as we work with students, families, and teachers:

What if learning could always provoke “discovery, passion for new ideas and optimism for the future” on the part of students?

What can we do to ignite, engage, and train the creative minds to nurture the needed problem solvers of the 21st century, our children and students?

Though in a new context, the ideas were so familiar to me I moved eagerly through the  displays, pondering the questions posed around me, such as:

What if your coffee table was a musical instrument?

What if your pizza could be delivered by email?

What if you could speak any foreign language instantly?

What if your car could drive by itself?

What if you could take an elevator into space?

What if you could control a computer with your shadow?

As I shifted my own shadow around to catch virtual butterflies fluttering over the screen in front of me, I realized that the seeming impossible is always within the grasp of those willing to reach for it.  At Ignite, we are making it happen.

Shadow-controlled screen projected with butterflies at Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.

For a taste of the Inventing the Future at Science and Industry, click here to explore the online exhibit content, and share this with your kids!

Creative Improv students engrossed in their skit.

What was best about this class was the willingness of the students to support and nurture each other’s growth through the process of learning improvisation tools. Never was an idea shot down, nor shoved aside. The class was about experimenting, thinking on your feet, pushing boundaries, and connecting with each other. The students did this to the fullest extent, and even exclaimed one day: “I wish this class could be all day long!”

The result was fantastic, culminating at the end of the week with a show on the last day of class. They performed skits, interpretive dance, and even interacted with their audience by asking for sound effects for a scene.

Statues in Libbey Park

Jimmy’s Article in Ojai Valley News

Geocaching summer spark students find the first hidden cache in an obscure corner of Libbey Park.

Compass directions, latitude and longitude, global positioning systems.  These were just a few of the concepts and tools geocaching summer spark students had to use to find the swag tucked and hidden all over Ojai. They participated in games, challenges, hunts, finding buried treasure in the nooks and crannies of Ojai.  They then posted coordinates of their own unique caches on the official geocaching.com website, and found buried treasure all over Ojai.  This summer session was based upon a summer camp for gifted fourth and fifth graders held each year by teacher Barbara Branch (Dr. Babs) at Cal State Sacramento, and by all student reports, they are now hooked.  So if you see kids walking around Ojai with their heads buried in an iPhone or GPS system, you have a clue as to what they are doing!  If you want to get in on the fun, you can download the free geocaching app on your iPhone (though parents say that it is worth paying $10 for the souped-up version) and register at www.geocaching.com.  Geocaching is sure to provide good, clean, educational summer fun for your family.

Reporters examine archived OVN newspapers with editor Misty Volaski.

Founded in 2008, the third issue of Ojai Valley Kids’ Press was published last Friday after a week of interviewing, writing, and photographing by OVKP reporters enrolled in the Ignite summer session of the same name.  Ignite was transformed into a newsroom and students wore their press credentials each day as they learned the ins and outs of newspaper content and reporting.  The class culminated with visits to Ojai Printing, where students could see how their paper was to be printed and learn about a variety of print processes, and to the Ojai Valley News, to experience a real newsroom in action.

The original Summer 2008 OVKP staff was gathered as a response to a need for gifted elementary school writers to have a professional and productive outlet for their work.  Natalie Cahill, now an eighth grader, was the first editor of the paper as a fourth grader.  Christopher Van Son, an eighth grade intern in this week’s geocaching summer session at Ignite, was a reporter for the two 2008 issues of OVKP.

Through the experience of teaching the first OVKP sessions, Ignite founder Katie Haydon realized that the experience provided a productive and exciting outlet for interested writers.  However, there were many additional academic interests represented in the group, including math and science, into which students needed opportunities to delve deeper.  The concept for Ignite Creative Learning Studio grew out of this seed of an idea, and the paper has been on hiatus only because we have been working on developing classes for a broad spectrum of interests.

We hope to continue to publish the OVKP at least annually on an ongoing basis, so please let us know if your child would like to join the reporting staff.

With a little red wagon and stacks of papers, OVKP staff distributed over 400 copies to kid-friendly merchants in town. Get yours at Bliss, Ojai Ice Cream, La Fonte, Ojai Library, and more!

Sophie's mom treated all paper delivery staff to a cold treat on a hot day.