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Have you ever seen Blue Man Group perform? If not, here is a ten-minute video that showcases the group’s unique, creative talent: Blue Man Group – part 01. In their own way, the members of the Blue Man Group reflect the essence of the Landfill Harmonic project. For example, at the heart of Blue Man Group’s act are musical instruments made from things that were not originally designed to make music. Similar to the Landfill Harmonic accomplishments, Blue Man Group’s creativity is not just applied to making music, but to making the instruments that make the music.

Something you might not know about the Blue Man Group is that the members have created a school specifically designed to encourage and cultivate the creative spirit in children. Called “Blue School,” this educational environment applies the principles described by Ken Robinson (and others) to the design and operation of a school. This short three-minute video provides an overview of the school and its mission: The blue school.

Blue School actively supports the learning of 21st-century skills. When carefully examining the instructional experiences that help students learn and apply 21st-century skills, you might realize that culturally relevant pedagogy is often a natural byproduct of such approaches. This discussion is designed to provide you with further practice in analyzing learning situations to better understand how culturally relevant pedagogy, learning 21st-century skills, and creativity naturally form a triangle of support:

As you discovered while viewing the video on Blue School, there are schools that encourage culturally relevant pedagogy, creativity, and innovation. The background information you gained through learning about Blue School leads you to the focus of this Discussion and another prime example of a school doing some amazing things.

Initial Post: High Tech High is a secondary school committed to facilitating 21st-century skills. Examine the 21st Century skills culture video that provides an overview of High Tech High and its commitment to facilitating 21st-century skills. As you carefully examine the information presented about the school, consider how its courses and programs naturally support a culturally relevant approach to instruction that promotes creativity. After viewing the video, answer the following questions about the school:

• In what way is culturally relevant pedagogy evident at the school? Link specific observations from the video with one or more of the following specific characteristic of a culturally relevant environment:
  1. Maximizing academic success through relevant instructional experiences.
  2. Addressing cultural competence through reinforcing students’ cultural integrity.
  3. Involving students in the construction of knowledge.
  4. Building on students’ interests and linguistic resources.
  5. Tapping home and community resources.
  6. Understanding students’ cultural knowledge.
  7. Using interactive and constructivist teaching strategies.
  8. Examining the curriculum from multiple perspectives.
  9. Promoting critical consciousness through opportunities to challenge predominant elements of the students’ social norms.

• Do the same for creativity instead of cultural relevance. In what way is creativity evident at the school? Link specific observations from the video with one or more of the following specific characteristic of instruction that supports the development of creativity:
  1. Encouraging students to believe in their culture-influenced creative potential.
  2. Nurturing the confidence to try.
  3. Helping learners find their creative strengths.
  4. Promoting experiment and inquiry and a willingness to make mistakes.
  5. Encouraging generative thought, free from immediate criticism.
  6. Encouraging the expression of personal ideas and feelings.
  7. Conveying an understanding of phases in creative work and the need for time.
  8. Developing an awareness of the roles of intuition and aesthetic processes.
  9. Encouraging students to play with ideas and conjecture about possibilities.
  10. Facilitating critical evaluation of ideas.

• Summarize the relationship between 21st-century skills, culturally relevant instruction, and creativity.

Suppose you are a high school social studies teacher who works in a culturally diverse school somewhere in Texas. At the teachers’ team meeting, you had a discussion with the other teachers in your grade level about the upcoming unit on the “purpose and function of the U.S. Constitution.” One of the teachers indicated that she planned to distribute the same packets she used last year and schedule five days of independent seat work for her students to complete the packets by locating answers in the course textbook. This would be followed by a written exam over the material in the packets.

You have been aware for some time that the students in this teacher’s class are frustrated, bored, and worst of all, not really learning anything important about social studies as shown through the student data. This could be your opportunity to get her to try something new and more valuable to students. You explain to this teacher that you plan to implement a week-long problem-based learning experience for your students, involving group projects, computer time, and class presentations; you would like to share this plan with her and to partner together on the project. She is apprehensive because it sounds like a lot of work, but you assure her that you have the entire experience planned well.

In this assignment, you will apply principles of problem-based learning to the design of a specific learning experience within a culturally relevant and collaborative learning experience that facilitates the 21st century skills of creativity and innovation. Review the Week Five Instructor Guidance for detailed assistance on preparing for and completing this assignment, including access to resources that will help you identify the characteristics of problem-based learning environments. Next, create your assignment to meet the content and written communication expectations below.

Content Expectations

• Plan (5 points): Create a general plan for this problem-based learning experience that includes the following six components:
  1. Overview of the general problem you will establish related to the topic “The purpose and function of the U.S. Constitution”
  2. Description of the project that will need to be developed by the group and presented to the class
  3. Description of how you plan to use the computer time (refer to the information in the Instructor Guidance for examples of how you might make this decision)
  4. Overview of how student groups will be assigned and monitored
  5. Description of how the creativity and innovation 21st century skills are learned and/or specifically applied within the project
  6. Brief summary of how the learning experience incorporates cultural relevance strategies

• Problem-Based Learning Perspective (2 points): Plan includes common characteristics of problem-based learning, addressing an open-ended problem posed to each learning group.

• Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (1 point): Plan includes descriptions of the specific culturally relevant strategies supported.

Written Communication Expectations

• Page Requirement (.5 point): Submit three to five pages, not including the title and reference pages.
• APA Formatting (.5 points): Format your paper according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Syntax and Mechanics (.5 points): Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.
• Source Requirement (.5 points): Reference at least two scholarly sources. All sources on the references page need to be used and cited correctly within the body of the assignment.