by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | brain development, Creativity, genius
I was directed by the delightfully creative Jeffery Baumgartner (he deserves his own awe inspired post…watch this space) to a recent article in Wired Magazine that Jonah Lehrer wrote entitled “Cultivating Genius in the 21st Century”. The basic...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | arts participation, Creativity
A warming headline I read recently on the ArtsHub newsletter that I subscribe to. I loved the quotes throughout the article, the rationale for the change in the structure of the school awards framework. “[is]…to encourage greater student participation and...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | brain development, imaginative play
Anybody who has done any reading on play and toys will know that self directed imaginative play is the best kind of play there is. You might like to read related posts on Interest Driven Learning and Play Builds Skills. I present further evidence (as if we needed it)...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | brain development, Creativity, Doodling, drawing
So when was the last time you doodled? Often considered something we absent mindedly do to while away time when we are bored – it is a great way of keeping your brain active and engaged in spite of the appearance of inattentiveness. I love doodling – here...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | education, learning, Play
The Keynote speaker at the 2012 Digital Media & Learning conference was John Seely Brown, self procliamed “chief of confusion” and author of many books, most recently “A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | brain behaviour, Teaching
Meet the neurologist who was inspired to retrain as an educator and apply what she knew about the brain and take that to the classroom. Dr Judy Willis on the Science of Learning. If you don’t have 11 minutes to spare, here are my takeaways. The Science of...
by Nicky Tillyer | Mar 2012 | Play
I was introduced to a fantastic article this week, it is a news story from Feb 2008, however it’s message is just as relevant today “Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills” claims the headline. Fascinating to learn that it seems Mattel is one of...
by Nicky Tillyer | Feb 2012 | Creativity, education, parenting, problem solving
The cockles of my heart were warmed this week when I read a great article in the Melbourne Weekly Eastern Magazine about the lovely 21 year old Elizabeth Bowtell who recently completed a diploma of design technology at RMIT. It was the second paragraph that made my...
by Nicky Tillyer | Feb 2012 | colouring, drawing, relaxation
Have any of you tried to meditate before? Have you ever tried it with children? It can be quite tricky to achieve as you use borrowed time to convince them to sit still and listen to the CD/or story. I can manage about 5 minutes but after that my mind wanders off on...
by Nicky Tillyer | Feb 2012 | making movies
If you have not yet joined the Edutopia community at Edutopia.org then do yourself a favour and go there right now and jump on board. Recently I came upon this post about how to use video in the classroom. If you have always thought that it is too difficult and...
