The first thing that struck me while reading the book was the fact that at d.school, there is a course called Creativity and Innovation. The aim of this course is to teach and train students to think creatively and out of the box through workshops, games and groupd assignments among other things.
Wow! A course that teaches people how to think creatively! I never knew that this kind of thing actually existed. I seriously thought that creativity was something that could not be taught. I thought that it was something you were born with.
Of course, the book told me that I was wrong.
Anyway, the minute I found out that Creativity and Innovation was avaiable to students at Standford, I looked back at the education in Thailand.
While students at d.school are involved in various exercises that encourage them to be imaginative, creative and think out of the box, students in Thailand are busy taking notes from what they hear in lectures. A lot of them struggle when being asked to solve problems beyond what they have learned in class.
Is it the teachers' fault that they only talk in front of the classroom? Is it the students' fault that all they want is to gain high marks in exams?
Whatever the answer, things need to change quickly. Other people are moving away from us further and further.
Thinking creatively is considered a skill needed in the 21st century. Maybe I will put a similar course to Creativity and Innovation in my curriculum. hehe!
This is it for now.
I will tell you more about what I have learned from the book, "inGenius", next time.