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Digital Glue
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
The
path of learning can be represented as a journey away from perception
of the
world as an undifferentiated whole, toward increasingly
particular perceptions.
The ability to sub-divide and categorise is necessary for a precise,
analytic understanding
of the world. But the ability to synthesize is also of great
importance
and, currently, less well served by our education system.
The risks run by an over-analytical approach to learning are :
The risks run by an over-analytical approach to learning are :
- that the learner perceives knowledge as becoming incoherent and, furthermore, that a sense of incoherence can, in turn, contribute to student alienation from learning communities;
- learners are not encouraged to think in creative, original ways - nor to feel that independent thinking has anything much to do with learning.
A
year or so ago, I had conversations with two
eminent
academics from very different fields (Inorganic Chemistry and
Fine
Art), which crystallized this problem for me. Asked the
question, "What
do you think of the new students, schools are sending you?",
both replied
in a similar vein - that they felt their students were very
knowledgeable but seemed to lack the ability to use that knowledge as
building blocks for new ideas...
Much closer to home, my daughter, aged ten, spent as much spare time as she could reading or writing - and was taught by one of the best teachers of English I've ever met - but came home one day and said she hated Literacy...
Picasso's Bull sculpture symbolizes for me the creative thought processes. By taking a bicycle saddle and handlebars and re-presenting them, he offers us new ways of seeing both bicycle and bull - and also, a deeper understanding of our own perceptions. In a similar way, film making draws on a wide range of competencies from the curriculum and beyond. Applying them in a new context can strengthen and deepen the network of skills we use to make meaning.
In short: film making offers a coherent, creative approach to education when there has rarely been greater need for such approaches - or, put another way, film making is digital glue...
KiMM (Kids in Media and Motion)
Below is "a video describing the work
KiMM has been doing over the last three years in primary and secondary
school in Luebeck, Germany". It clearly illustrates the "Digital Glue" principle...
Much closer to home, my daughter, aged ten, spent as much spare time as she could reading or writing - and was taught by one of the best teachers of English I've ever met - but came home one day and said she hated Literacy...
Picasso's Bull sculpture symbolizes for me the creative thought processes. By taking a bicycle saddle and handlebars and re-presenting them, he offers us new ways of seeing both bicycle and bull - and also, a deeper understanding of our own perceptions. In a similar way, film making draws on a wide range of competencies from the curriculum and beyond. Applying them in a new context can strengthen and deepen the network of skills we use to make meaning.
In short: film making offers a coherent, creative approach to education when there has rarely been greater need for such approaches - or, put another way, film making is digital glue...
KiMM (Kids in Media and Motion)