Dates: June 7-16th (9:00-2:00, Monday-Friday)
Texts:(1) Creativity is Forever (1998) by Davis; (2) Blueprints for Thinking in the Cooperative Classroom (1991) by Bellanca and Fogarty; & (3) Packet of Handouts
Instructor: Dr. Curtis J. Bonk, Associate Professor, IU Bloomington
(he will be live at IUB or IUPUI)Phone (812-856-8353); E-mail: cjbonk@indiana.edu; http://curtbonk.com
Additional Course Information can be found at: http://curtbonk.com/bobweb.
About the Instructor: Curt Bonk, recipient of the 1999 Burton Gorman teaching award in the School of Education at Indiana University-Bloomington, teaches educational psychology courses within the Learning, Cognition, and Instruction program at IU. Dr. Bonk's interests in higher-order thinking and teamwork stem, in part, from working for five years in the business world as a CPA and corporate controller. During the past decade, Curt has provided workshops for teachers, administrators, and other educators on active learning environments, distance education, cooperative learning, critical and creative thinking, and case-based reasoning. He has recently completed an edited book on electronic collaboration and various course Web sites.
Course Description: This course will survey programs and strategies for critical and creative thinking as well as cooperative learning and motivation. Students will learn about the evolution of various thinking skill programs and learning techniques. Each area--motivation, creative thinking, critical thinking, and cooperative learning--will be defined and explained. Next, specific techniques and assessment approaches will be offered as well as implementation steps. Demonstrations and hands-on experiences of various methods will be used to highlight method similarities and differences. Finally, advice for getting started using these alternative instructional strategies will be offered. Three credit hours may be earned during this Intensive Summer course. This is a course that normally ranks in the top 5-10% of courses across IU campuses.
Recommended for: Elementary and secondary teachers, school administrators, principals, instructional designers and consultants, trainers, college instructors, and graduate students.
As a result of this workshop, participants will: (1) understand the commonalities and differences among creative thinking, critical thinking, and cooperative learning; (2) begin to feel comfortable using these new methods; and (3) design innovative thinking skill activities as well as personally unique cooperative learning procedures and methods.
Students will be expected to: (1) complete the required readings; (2) write and reflect on the subject matter; (3) search for additional resources beyond the course; (4) develop their own curriculum materials and workshop plans, and (5) share their plans and ideas.