Creativity+and+Innovation


 * Featured Presentation:** Mitchel Resnick- [|Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society] Description: In the 1980s, many people talked about the transition from the “Industrial Society” to the “Information Society.” In the 1990s, people began to talk about the “Knowledge Society.” But I prefer a different conception: the “Creative Society.” Success in the future (for individuals, for communities, for companies, for nations as a whole) will be based not on what we know or how much we know, but on our ability to think and act creatively.

In this presentation, I will discuss new technologies and new educational initiatives designed specifically to help children develop as creative thinkers – so that they are prepared for life in the Creative Society. In particular, I will focus especially on two projects we are developing at the MIT Media Lab:

[|Ready to Innovate: Key Findings] Are educators and executives aligned on the creative readiness of the U. S. workforce? One finding: "Employers say problem-identification or articulation best demonstrates creativity, while school superintendents rank it ninth. Superintendents rank problem-solving first; employers rank it eighth. These discrepancies bolster the view that while schools teach students how to solve problems put before them, the business sector requires workers who can identify the problems in the first place." Check out the rest of the results!

[|A Call for Creativity] From 21st Century Connections

[|Courting Creativity] From Teacher Magazine December 2007 "A flexible, adaptive, lifelong learner who can think creatively and solve problems and frame problems creatively. That's what everybody's looking for," says Eric Liu, the motivational speaker and mentoring guru who is the driving force behind a new Washington organization called Creativity Matters."

[|Creative Class] The Creative Class Group (CCG) is a global advisory services firm headquartered in Washington, DC that develops new ideas and strategies for business, government and community competitiveness. The CCG team is comprised of next-generation thinkers and strategists who offer companies, associations and regions access to leading-edge knowledge, trends, research, consulting, education and professional development.

[|Creativity Holds Key to Success, Expert Says] From The Windsor Star Richard Florida said "North America's competitors a generation from now will not be from China and India but from Scandinavia and Northern Europe where they have realized the importance of having a creative class which employers also realize is important to their workforce and their ability to recruit talented employees."

National Public Radio [|Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control] "Organizing play for kids has never seemed like more work. But researchers Adele Diamond and Deborah Leong have good news: The best kind of play costs nothing and really only has one main requirement — imagination."

//[|Do Schools Today Kill Creativity?]// (video) by Sir Ken Robinson at the [|TED] conference.

//[|The Sources of Innovation and Creativity]// From the National Center on Education and the Economy for the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

[|The Right Brain v. The Left Brain: Take the Test]

//[|Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce]// Executive summary. 2007