Primary Education debates

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein Hello everyone, today I will be discussing the importance of creativity. This word is thrown around in primary education often relating to the arts, although it is an important part of all subjects. What is creativity and why is it valuable to encourage children to be creative? Creativity for Robinson is “the process of having original ideas that have value” (Robinson and Aronica, 2015: 118). We are born with this ability but whether this ability flourishes or is diminished can be affected by the way children are brought up. Creativity is observable in the actions of primates, other mammals and birds, but it holds a very special place in our own species (Kaufman and Kaufman, 2015) In animals, it seems confined to the actions associated with finding food, ma...

Hello fellow education enthusiasts, in this blog I wanted to investigate how bringing children closer to nature has the potential for positive outcomes. My interest sparked when working with children, I have observed how each individual child in a group responds to going outdoors, the majority of which is positive. They showed excitement when told that we were going to look for insects, birds and animals. The children had lots of interest in nature and were constantly asking questions and talking about what they were seeing. This is a clear sign that above everything else, children tend to enjoy outdoor play and learning. Especially when it involves interacting with nature. I have seen quieter children becoming more confident and engaging more in sessions and socialising with peers more than they do when inside. This has also been observed by Pascal and Bertram, where they have stated that the involvement shows evidence of deep learning. “The children demonstrated high levels o...