At the end of our first lecture on Sociology I was intrigued to find out more about the subject and get stuck in to our Tutor Directed Task (TDT). We were asked to watch the above video and reflect on what we had just seen.
When reflecting on this video I found myself writing a list of questions, rather than coming up with any answers. These are questions that I wanted to share with you as a way of seeing if anyone had an idea of possible answers to these questions but also so that I could look back and see if I could answer these questions for myself in the future.
1. How can we change the way we teach children so that they all believe they are equal?
2. How can we embrace the exciting society we are living in but not let horror stories from the media take over?
3. Is it possible to make the classroom a fun and active environment whilst sticking to a rigid curriculum?
4. Is there any scope for intergenerational learning and a mixed age education system?
5. How can we encourage more divergent thinking in the classroom?
6. Should adults be taught about divergent thinking through interaction with pre-school children?
I like question 5: How can we encourage more divergent thinking in the classroom?
Traditionally the arts have been seen as a subject requiring divergent thinkers, whilst maths and science are linked to convergent thinking. This research paper challenges that idea:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871187110000301
Have a read and see what you think.
Richard
Thank you for this Richard, I found it a very interesting read. It strikes me that for the most part, convergent thinking and divergent thinking are seen as very separate entities. This of course makes sense as research has shown that different kinds of people have different learning styles and think in different ways. However, it made me question whether there is scope for more of an overlap in these two different areas and how we can teach and encourage this in primary schools.
Rachel