Reform in America’s Education System Starts W ith YOUR Prospective T eacher Students

1. Reform in America’s Education System Starts With YOUR Prospective Teacher Students Julia Longhi

2. Excess spending + Unsatisfactory test results shows a change must be enforced • The U.S. spends more expenditures on education per student than any other country, other than Switzerland • America’s students consistently score below students in other advanced nations on achievements tests in most subjects • Almost half of U.S. students who graduate from high school graduate with a 7th grade level in math and 8th grade level in science1 1 Ornstein, Allan. 2010. "Achievement Gaps in Education."

4. Why YOUR School of Education? Source: U.S. News

5. What should be changed to improve the efficiency of education in the U.S.? • Drastically decrease industrialized structure • Require creativity development program(s) for prospective teachers • to gain knowledge on the importance of utilizing creative skills • to learn how to apply creative skills in the classroom, no matter what subject

6. Creativity is a natural ability(everyone has it) • No proof of a direct, positive correlation between creativity and intelligence2. • Creativity is an attribute of communities, businesses, schools, animals, and a lot more in addition to the artistically talented. 2Palaniappan, Ananda Kumar. 2007. "Academic Achievement of Groups Formed Based on Creativity and Intelligence."

7. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

8. Most prominent contributions to the industrialization of America’s Education System • Schools/instructors often too quick to turn down students’ unusual ideas • Students geared to think mathematics and sciences are the most important areas of study and should aim for a future in those two subjects, as opposed to aim for what they may have a sincere passion for • Standardized testing • Not accommodating all learning styles • Structure leads to heavy emphasis on memorization, routines, convergence, etc.

9. There is a uniform “hierarchy of subjects” around the world: Mathematics Humanities Arts

10. Özdemir and Çakmak’s study • 80 fourth graders put through a drama course to see if there would be a change in their creativity • Researchers measured pretest and posttest results using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and t-test analysis

11. Results of Özdemir and Çakmak’s study • The creativity scores of the students increased a statistically significant amount after taking the drama education course. • Results proved that drama exercises learning, socialization, problem solving, communication, independence, self-actualization, sharing responsibilities, and more3. 3 Cakmak, Aygen and Soner Mehmet Ozdemir. 2008. "The Effect of Drama Education on Prospective Teachers' Creativity."

12. Özdemir and Çakmakconclude: “Creative drama in education increases durability of the knowledge that the individuals experience in a learning environment where they can express themselves freely. Therefore, creative drama needs to be compulsory a part of all teacher education programs in each department of faculty of education aiming to prepare future classroom teachers for all grade levels. Also, the findings of this research suggest that creative drama should be an indispensable part of education and its use should be promoted in in-service teacher training programs and there needs to be efforts to make creative drama continually usable at schools.” (26). 4 Cakmak, Aygen and Soner Mehmet Ozdemir. 2008. "The Effect of Drama Education on Prospective Teachers' Creativity."

13. Importance of instructor’s role in fostering creativity • Evidence displays schools are so industrialized that students who spend a longer time in education are “more authoritarian, rigid, and less creative”5. • Creative skills carried into adulthood if utilized efficiently 5Mcguire, Dorothy Grace. 1983. The Effect of Problem-Solving Training on Non-verbal Creativity with Regular Education and Academically Talented Sixth Graders.

14. Importance of instructor’s role in fostering creativity (cont.) • Dr. Hosseini’s study • placed teachers in a creativity development program to see if there would be a change in their effectiveness of teaching and any other effects on the teachers’ students • five aspects of teacher performance examined: contextual-social, affective-cognitive, mental, educational, and physical aspects

15. Effects of the creativity program on the teachers • Moved toward STUDENT-centered classes • Students more comfortable expressing opinions or questions • Elimination of competition/comparing students with each other

16. Effects of the creativity program on participant’s students • Proposed more answers in class • Deeper understanding of lessons • Improved imagination and creation abilities • Self confidence increased

17. What else should be taught in a creativity development program for prospective teachers? • Teachers must work with the various dimensions of creativity • Remain open-minded with students’ ideas, not matter how unusual • Importance of utilizing creative skills • How to make exams less standardized

18. References Cakmak, Aygen and Soner Mehmet Ozdemir. 2008. "The Effect of Drama Education on Prospective Teachers' Creativity." International Journal of Instruction. Hosseini, Afzal. 2014. "The Effect of Creativity Model for Creativity Development in Teachers." International Journal of Information and Education Technology. Jukic, Tonca. 2011. "Implicit Theories of Creativity in Early Education." Croatian Journal of Education 13. Mcguire, Dorothy Grace. 1983. The Effect of Problem-Solving Training on Non-verbal Creativity with Regular Education and Academically Talented Sixth Graders. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. Ornstein, Allan. 2010. "Achievement Gaps in Education." Society. Palaniappan, Ananda Kumar. 2007. "Academic Achievement of Groups Formed Based on Creativity and Intelligence." The 13th International Conference on Thinking. Robinson, Ken. 2006. “Do schools kill creativity?” TED.

19. Thank you for your time.