Meirion Jones

IBDP History, Humanities & TOK Teacher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇿🇦 Father I Husband to @Oh_Thereslovely| Rugby fan| #IBDP #IBTOK, #ibhistory

[Sarah 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 🇨🇭 🇹🇭 🇸🇪 🌎 @Oh_Thereslovely]

Honestly, online tutors can be very hit and miss but Dr Anna is phenomenal. I cannot recommend her highly enough. She lists A Levels but also does IBDP Chemistry. https://t.co/fqFM0hVmrt
#ChemistryTutor #IBDP #IGCSE

[Sarah 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 🇨🇭 🇹🇭 🇸🇪 🌎 @Oh_Thereslovely]

د. آنا (Dr. Anna) 🎓
مدرسة كيمياء خبيرة في مناهج IBDP و A-Level.

✅ الشرح باللغة الإنجليزية بالكامل 🇬🇧
✅ أسلوب علمي متميز لرفع الدرجات.

🌐 للحجز: https://t.co/VSPfNIEN9L

#كيمياء #IBDP #ALevel #ChemistryTutor #الامتحانات

[Cathy Taylor @BISS_Altorp]

Our Open House is underway! Altorp is looking amazing and we are proud to show it off to prospective families #internationalschool

[Harry Sisson @harryjsisson]

BOOM! This Kamala Harris ad from 2020 SLAMMING Trump is going viral right now! It still applies and she is the right person for the job. HARRIS 2024! https://t.co/ksSoIXKgOl

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

When I first started to learn about #cogsci, and what passes for the ‘science of learning’ in some educational discourse, I was particularly confused by what I read about creativity. I’ve seen it repeated in many blog posts and books that creativity is not possible without extensive background knowledge - and therefore children need to be taught lots of background knowledge by direct instruction between they are able or allowed to be creative. Just tell them what you need them to know, and then get them to repeat it, goes the dogma. They can’t be creative yet.

I couldn’t work out how anyone who had spent any time with young children would repeat this theory. For young children are endlessly creative and innovative, often with very little background knowledge. They explore things in novel ways, often creating havoc as they do so. When it comes to creative solutions to a problem, they often come up with more ideas than the adults around them.

I had a look at the research, and realised that there are different types of creativity. What is sometimes called ‘Big-C creativity’ does indeed need expert levels of background knowledge. It’s the type of creativity which composers demonstrate when they write a symphony, or physicists when they suggest a new theory. Ground-breaking and original innovation. It is about producing something, perhaps a work of art or novel research.

Most of us, however, never reach the heights of Big-C creativity. We never do anything which is ground-breaking in the eyes of the world. However, we do engage in ‘little-C creativity’ – creativity which is novel for us, but not for the rest of the world. For this level of creativity, expert level background knowledge is not necessary.

When a child mixes paint for the first time and discovers that yellow and blue make green, they are making a genuine discovery. It’s just one that the rest of the world has already made. When they write a sentence or a story, it can be novel and creative for them, even if in the eyes of the world their accomplishment is not original. With little-C creativity, there may be no end product. That isn’t necessarily the point. Process is as important as outcome.

In fact, in some cases too much background knowledge can stifle little-C creativity. Research shows that if we tell children in advance what a toy can do, they won’t explore it and discover its other functions.

Little-C creativity is an integral part of how children learn. They try things out and puts things together in new ways. They make guesses and test them out. They increase their knowledge as they do so. If we stifle this, in the belief that it’s more efficient to tell them the answers because they cannot yet be creative, we don’t know what the result will be on their later creativity and learning. It seems likely that it won't be positive.

For great and original innovators did not start out directly with big-C creativity. They spent years being little-C creative first, trying things out, practicing the skills they need, and producing things which had little value in the eyes of the world, but were novel and original for them. They honed their skills and developed their background knowledge at the same time. They mixed the paint and made a mess.

That is how humans learn. Creativity is integral to learning.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@ianwhite21 It’s an extensive document and you’ve dismissed it in its entirety in a 1 tweet.

It gives voice to students - something we don’t always hear.

Surely the most valuable perspectives to consider are those that contradict everything we think we know.

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

A groundbreaking study of 10-12 year olds shows kids read better on paper, not screens.

‘For “deeper reading” there is a clear advantage to reading a text on paper, rather than on a screen, where “shallow reading was observed”.’
https://t.co/IWafLgCMTc

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@GMB What is this pundits argument? No Maths GCSE and suddenly we’re devaluing the profession and getting anyone off the street. That’s just daft - a drama teacher needs to have a degree in… wait for it… drama/theatre arts. Just daft.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@GMB Why is always Maths? What would happen if we said that every teacher had to be fluent in a second language? Or had to have studied philosophy? If you think I’m mad these are requirements in other developed countries.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@ZoeParamour @b0n0myt1res Sorry but that’s a poor argument. Of course someone in the medical profession needs mathematical knowledge. As a history teacher I hardly ever use my mathematical knowledge. Someone could be a fantastic history, art or English teacher without being any good at Mathematics.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@Hayo_luke They can’t… but memorizing hundreds of facts doesn’t mean they have good foundational knowledge. My concern is that exam boards test ‘facts’ because it’s so much harder to test deeper understanding. Knowledge, to my mind equates with conceptual understanding, deep understanding.

[Allistair McCaw @AllistairMcCaw]

A good explanation of what culture is, and isn’t. Credit 🎥: @BobBallouSports

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@jacricks @naomicfisher Respectfully I think you’re conflating this with the all out silent corridors, silent dinner rooms, kids walking in rows at all times debate that’s been discussed recently. This isn’t that. This is just sensible, consistent and structured. There’s nothing radical here.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@ianwhite21 The only thing I’d add to this is to look at long term culture shift. Reward being caring, respectful, honest etc. When some kids conduct themselves in a way that disrupts learning there is usually bullying and unpleasantness alongside that. Make the school a nice place to be.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@HeyMissSmith What I find most infuriating is the notion that what is happening now is so much better than in the past. There have been exceptional teachers, with exceptional practice, in the UK for generations. If anything we should be asking for the wisdom of those teachers.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@timothyjejarvis @HeyMissSmith But that’s not the only two options. Some very important aspects of teaching are very difficult to quantify, measure and research. What some might see as ideology others might consider wisdom.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@larrylemonmaths @HeyMissSmith Surely you can’t seriously think that teaching has never looked for evidence of good practice? The extent of this push to look for the measurable and quantifiable is probably exceptional - but not completely without precedent.

[Meirion Jones @MJonesHistory]

@AmandaBuchan11 @HaddocksBeard @Haggis_UK @terrychristian Respectfully I think you’re misunderstanding the term. The fertility rate is simple the average number of children each women is having. You may well be correct about the causing of the falling FT. It is about women deciding to have fewer (or no) children.