Student Creativity Faces Challenges With Standardized Testing and Academic Pressures
Academic pressures and testing demands are narrowing the educational experiences that cultivate imaginative thinking and artistic growth in young learners
By Education Technology · ·BoxlightClassroomCreativityCreativity in the Classroom
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Academic pressures and testing demands are narrowing the educational experiences that cultivate imaginative thinking and artistic growth in young learners
One of the many concerns facing the development of students today is the decline of student creativity. With frequent curriculum changes, more and increasing expectations, along with the pressure to excel academically, schools seem to inadvertently drift away from nurturing creativity and curiosity. The strict focus on standard tests and memorization has painted classrooms with a monochrome of rigidity that often sidelines imaginative exploration, artistic expression, and the natural wonder that fuels young minds.
The strict focus on standard tests and memorization has painted classrooms with a monochrome of rigidity that often sidelines imaginative exploration, artistic expression, and the natural wonder that fuels young minds.
Preston Trebas, STEM Training and Development Specialist at BoxLight, unveiled some of the layers of this issue for an episode of BoxLight and explored some insights into the pressing realities teachers navigate daily. Some of the pressing thoughts were: How do teachers reconcile the external pressures with their desire to ignite student creativity in their classrooms? How does the current educational climate cultivate or curtail the inherent creativity every child possesses? Trebas tackled what's contributing to this change.
Video TranscriptExpand ↓
Hi. My name's Cameron Heffner. I am the Liberty STEM teacher. I teach grades for through eight, and this is my second year teaching. Here at Liberty, we have the boxlight panel. We have the robo three d printers. We have the My Bot robots and the Jensai lab discs. Liberty's a very diverse district where we have almost seventy percent of our students on free and reduced lunch. And our goal is to and continues to be, to provide opportunities for our students to allow them to grow to I I think most importantly, to allow them to explore resources and instructional options that present different learning opportunities, alignment with different content areas, and and critical is the exploration of career opportunities that could develop because of their proficiency. So I'm originally certified in grades four through nine math and science. I know that's them involves that are engineering and technology, but those are gonna be new fields for me. So, I was excited to explore them, but definitely nervous because It was taking me out of my comfort zone. But after I was trained in it, I felt a lot better. They were very user friendly. So using my STEM kits has made my life a a lot easier, and there are tons of different options for ever grade grade levels. Using the Jansai Labist, we were able test the pH of different substances, we were able to tell if they were acidic or basic. Being able to three d print our own pieces for our lessons has been awesome because the students think of it as new materials and equipment they get to use. So they always get into Wow. This is made in the classroom using the boxlight panel. The students are able to interact as a whole class discussion. They're able to add their own thoughts to the board, we're able to save the files, and it's also interactive in a way where they can play games that help increase and enhance their learning. I definitely recommend working with boxlight products because it's like a one stop shop for everything you may need. It has the lessons, it has the technology, and it has the customer support you will need. So it's definitely a great investment into our school district, and I think it would be a good investment in any other school district too.
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