Is there a recipe to teach imagination?

Feb 1 / Kelly-Ann Denton
the v series

How do we, as teachers see'd the imagination? 

In the 21st century, how do we cultivate the imagination? Traditionally our educational system has been built on the assumption that teaching is necessary for learning to occur. Accordingly, education has been seen as a “process” of transferring information from a higher authority (the teacher) down
to the student. This model, however, doesn't work in developing the capacity to ignite original thinking.

True knowledge occurs when information becomes embodied understanding; we have to act in the world to understand it. This is why imagineer.me will not give you recipes. Instead of a how-to guide that offer task-specific formulas, we give you principles that transcend any single context.
So where do we begin?....... at the beginning.

We must have imaginative teachers if we want creative schools.

Think about it this way, just say I have a recipe and I give it to 100 teachers. We will get 100 versions of the recipe. If those same teachers teach students to follow that recipe we will get more of the same.
Alternatively imagine I gave those 100 teachers five ingredients on a table, left them to it and asked them to come up with a recipe. Can you imagine how many new and novel meal ideas we’d get? What if they gave the same analogous task to students? What if there was no wrong or right, grade or judgement. It was just fun and creative.
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In our education system there is some resistance to doing things that are not “evidence based”, and that is fine for some disciplines. It’s a rotten idea in creative and imaginative education.

In our first course in The V Series, V1_The Neuroscience of Imagination we lay a foundation for what imagination is and how to begin planting the seeds for it. We first have to understand the concept of imagination; where it is located in the brain and how it works. From here we can start to build the infrastructure (neural pathways) that allow for ideas to more easily transfer from one region of the brain to the other.
So then what?

After we develop an innate understanding of how to get our minds ready for original ideas, we move into developing our Critical Thinking skills (V2_Blind Thinking – Seeing the Blocks to Imagination). This opens our minds to great potential including the opportunity to see with brand new eyes.

From here we can learn to think in a non-linear way and this is where visual thinking really propels us forward. Working with symbols and metaphors is marvellous for abstract thinking, and abstract thinking is the nature of imagination.  It is only then, we can employ processes such as Design Thinking to become more "creative" - the final step, we call this (V5_Non-linear Creative Ideation Process).

The 21st Century requires new skills and top of the list are Creative and Critical Thinking and imagineer.me provides short online courses to help our community build new original thinking skills.
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Why not start learning?

Watch. Learn. Improve.

The V (visual) series of courses are part of a cluster of imagination/visual learning disciplines that form a turning point in imagination training. 
V1_The Neuroscience of Imagination lays the foundation for a better understanding of what creativity is and how to develop it. It is also the beginning of visual learning.
V1 to V9 follow on from each other in order to build on skills as participants journey through the imagination learning process.
These thinking processes directly affect our ability to be better critical thinkers and absolutely develop our ability to be imaginative and therefore more creative.