Creative remote learning in science education

What’s the idea? The current remote teaching situation means that teachers require new ways to demonstrate various principles, and creative methods are rewarding, efficacious and possibly essential. What does the research say? Science has a reputation as a supplier of rational rather than creative thinking, and it may be a surprise to find that incorporating creativity in science teaching has been recognised as the next step in developing science education (Kind and Kind, 2007). Scientific knowledge is built by interpreting new experiences and information, and creativity is similarly Piagetian (Schmidt, 2011). Hence, harnessing creative instincts not only helps learning but it develops techniques to address future problems in all contexts. How does it work in practice? The first step is to set out a framework. Most creative scientists are highly knowledgeable about their field and so introducing creativity into a lesson must rely on presenting relevant information and outlining