Creative Minds
- by KitchenPantryScientist
I love the fearlessness of children’s imaginations. Kids aren’t burdened with the boundaries of reality, logic, and self consciousness that hinder our adult minds.
When I helped judge the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair and attended my own kids’ Imagination Fair (a creativity fair with no rules) at school, a few things jumped out at me.
First of all, many of the most interesting projects I saw were the ones created with the least use of expensive resources and components. It made me wonder whether technology can actually hinder creativity.
Secondly, I was shocked how “white” the science fair was. I recently read in the paper that some minority groups are lagging far behind in science education (as are American kids in general.) The science fair seemed to be a giant experiment confirming the hypothesis that we need to do more to foster science education for non-white students.
I did have to suppress a smile when a male judge commented to me that there seemed to be “mostly girls” at the science fair. I’m not sure that was true, but I look forward to the day when the science fair is an even mix of boys, girls, and kids with skin of all colors from all economic backgrounds.