Getting messy... Oh, I mean creative.

The question above seems so simple. What is it possible to make with the contents of your pockets.... empty your pockets and have a quick look. As I am writing this I have my phone, keys and a safety pin I picked off the floor not too long ago. Could I make anything with this array of items? Not really. So maybe the question is flawed... however the images here show what my year 8 students came up with when asked to do the same.

 To the right you can see a sort of bird with the wings made out of a pair of gloves and a manner of all other things forming the body. The two other pictures here show other innovative ways the students showed what they could do.




To the right is a representation of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy and below it another way of showing how being creative can be found within academia. Although the importance of being creative could be a contested idea the purpose of this post is just to show why we think creative geography can be so important to our students.

To quote Rawling and Westaway (2003), "When young people are encouraged to think creatively and independently about their geographical work, their self esteem increases, as does their motivation and their sense of achievement. These are convincing reasons for teachers to develop this work further".

For me, in my own classroom I can see the benefits for creating geography. Student engagement increases as they are taking ownership for the work they are doing, through the enquiry, planning and making stages. Also creative geography can be an excellent way for students to consolidate their learning.

The image to the left shows one of my Year 7 attempts at creating their own settlement. They received little instruction other than "off you go". The students clearly show the importance of water, however if you had the chance to speak to them they would have also explained the building materials located in the purple forest and where the road network went off to. Other groups in the class came up with even more "out there" designs, the key thing though is if the kids can genuinely explain what they have done then that is great for me.

The image to the right shows an example of our solar cookers that the students designed and made from scratch.

The image just to the left is a monopoly style board game that Year 12s designed to revise their AQA A level different areas of Newcastle case study. The students research each individual area, finding out rental and costs for sale and had to invent the chance and community chest cards with specific things that may happen in the different areas.

I created the two definitions above to try and give an  idea of what I mean by the term creative geography and creative geographers. Creativity shouldn't be just a one way process of teacher to student but rather a working together to ensure that students are enhancing their learning through the work.

So if I was to devise a plan for developing creative geographers in classrooms, the following few points would be incredibly important.

So for now, have a go at getting creative in your classrooms. Don't be afraid to get messy, remember as long as it is worthwhile for the kids then it is worthwhile for you to do too. My year 7s made crisp world maps and have been subject to oil spills. Creativity through enquiry and decision making are both great, just feel free to "let go" and allow the students to have a go without being held back by strict boundaries and limits.