Innovation Plan Project

Innovation Plan Proposal: Creating critical thinkers using coding and creativity apps.

Are we starting to have an extinction of critical thinkers?

Some authors have stated that one current and big problem humanity is facing is the lack of thinking minds. On today´s world, companies around the world are in a big need of workers with a set of basic, but really important skills. They need people that can solve problems, can collaborate with others, be responsible of their own actions and life among some other skills.

To our misfortune, current high school and college are lacking these skills. When they come out to the real life, they struggle to keep a job, to build relationships, to analyze basic or deep information and take correct decisions. Our students are no longer critical thinkers.

People can ask why is this happening? What is going on? Authors around the world agree that one major thing that has been a constant on this issue is information. It can sound as nonsense or weird, but that is one big issue. Today, everybody has all the information needed in their hand (literally). If we want to know something, Internet search engines like Google gives us a lot of information within seconds. And if we want the information in real life, we can get it. This is one of the reasons why students can’t keep engage in class. Students do not find interesting to learn information that can be found in a snap with their devices.

This is happening all around the world, not just in America or in our city. Students have too much information. They are exposed to “Youtubers” or “influencers” that the only thing they do is being online. Or what about all the personalized ad campaigns? Every click, every internet connection there is information and the saddest part of this? All this information is already digested, is already filtered, all this information makes our students’ minds weak and non-responsive to anything else. This is why students that are critical thinkers are starting to become a scarce resource for our planet.

What is happening at schools?

Unfortunately, this happens at schools as well. Students are having more trouble to be engaged in a classroom. Lessons for them seem endless and not interesting at all. As some authors in different scenarios have stated, the reason for this is because our current education system has NOT evolved. If we see our history for the past 200 years, we can see how everything around us has evolved: language, economy, countries, companies, crops, earth itself has adapted! but since the Industrial revolution, education has almost stayed the same.

And we, as teachers, as academics as agents of change and being part of the education system, we have the duty to do something and I would say that it has to be done really soon. We need to start adapting ourselves to what every other area was been doing: EVOLVE.

MY PROPOSAL. It’s all about the students.

In my proposal I want to create critical thinkers. I want to create students that become owners of their own success. As educators, we interact with our students everyday. Year by year we witness how generations change, what they improve and what they lack. One major thing I’ve seen is that these new generations do not have nor create critical thinkers.

A critical thinker is a person that can make adequate decisions based on information. A critical thinker is able to analyze a whole situation and use the available tools in the best way possible. I want to be part of the students’ process to help and guide them to be successful in life. I want them to be able to use all their tools at their disposal, to think critically, to solve problems, to work in teams. My intention is to teach them that they are responsible for their success and that their only limit is the sky.

How am I going to manage this?

My goal is to create students that can think critically. The way I am going to achieve this goal is to teach my students the skills needed to succeed. Those skills that companies now a days are asking from graduates. The skills that will help them achieve their maximum potential in their personal and professional life. These skills are also known as the 21st Century skills and they are:

In order to guide my students into the success path, my innovation plan will use different approaches. One of those is to build meaningful relationships. By working with them on a daily basis, I feel confident to change their minds from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. I feel confident that they will become critical thinkers, and as a consequence, they will become involved with their community to help others succeed.

Additionally, I will be using iPads, Apple Software and Coding to teach the skills they need to succeed. Multiple authors and researchers have shown that when a student is engaged, and motivated, they will be more prone to commit to their own learning. Tests scores and academic grades improve considerably.

Why coding? Why Apple apps? Why iPads? Because Apple has invested a lot of its resources on creating accessible information, accessible software. Thanks to Apple the gap between imagination and real life has almost disappeared. Apps like iMovie, Pages or Swift Playgrounds will help the students to bring all their thoughts into a more tangible world.

As for coding, many of the benefits of coding is that it helps students to: have structure, plan ahead, analyze what is wrong and develop their own critical thinking, It also increase reading comprehension, data analyses and find solutions. And when they struggle, they can always rely in their learning community.

What to expect?

By the end of the school year, my students will be able to use an iPad easily. They will be able to show their creativity using different apps. At the same time, they will become coding literate and develop computer thinking. This thinking goes hand to hand with critical thinking. My students will have the basic knowledge on how coding works, how to solve problems and how to collaborate. They will learn on analyze their surroundings and use any resource at hand to find a solution in any area, personal or professional. When my kids leave my classroom they will be in the path for their own learning and success. They will learn that their only limit is the sky.