Inspiring Each Other's Creativity in the Classroom

Research shows that creativity is an important dimension of learning. creative thinking is vital for the acquisition of knowledge because environments conducive to the development of creativity help children develop positive attitudes towards learning and are effective motivators that make learning fun.
The new edition of the course “Creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving in the classroom” took place in Bologna from 19/02/2023 to 26/02/2023. The participants came from all across Europe, with Urszula Morawska, Ewa Jerzykowska-Zagórska , Katarzyna Breczko from Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. 42 Pułku Piechoty w Białymstoku  in Poland,   Joanna McInerney Gerard Cullen from College of FET Ennis Campus in Ireland, Meike Schmalenbach and Nicole Schönhals from OSW Bochum and, Andreas Roestel from Gymnasium Steglitz in Germany, Iva Cláudia Cardoso Tavares, Vanessa Mesquita Rocha, Elsa Maria da Mota Rodrigues, Bruna Morais Quintela from OSMOPE and Sandrina Covelo Raminhos, Margarida Maria Cordes Correia Curto, Carla Maria Pereira Vairinhos, Tiago Miguel Simões Ribeiro from Agrupamento de Escolas Emídio Navarro in Portugal.
First, the participants began by learning about the undeniable skills of life in the 21st century. In this part, the participants focused on the concepts of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication, which we refer to as 4C, and shared their personal experiences. What we wanted to discuss here was how different thinking skills are from each other, how they handle the current situation and problems, and what different ways of communication are preferred.
Secondly, certain challenges were presented to the participants that would enable them to understand how to overcome different and unexpected obstacles with the right strategies. For example, thanks to the different methods, the participants were able to put “lateral thinking” into practice. Individually, it was realized that this application could be used in different areas of education, from the scientific field to language learning, and could be used as an efficient application tool for students to think outside the box
Moving to visual strategies, participants experienced new activities which could be used to stimulate students' creative expression and could be a basis for brainstorming or discussing their ideas. We challenged an “only-art” perception  of what “visual thinking” encompasses, by proposing an innovative and digital perspective. 
In our lives, where technology includes every day, we realized that students are often exposed to a lot of wrong information. Therefore, another topic we wanted to address was critical thinking skills. Participants participated in reasoning, questioning, and debating activities for different situations that could occur in the classroom to help students be active and aware of the knowledge they had acquired.
Finishing the course, everyone had a chance to create a personalized display of their training and cultural journey in Bologna and, we said goodbye to a week full of laughter, creativity, and new experiences!
Discover more about this course here.