How lessons from kindergarten can help everyone develop the creative thinking skills needed to
thrive in today's society. In kindergartens these days children spend more time with math
worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is
becoming more like the rest of school. In Lifelong Kindergarten learning expert Mitchel
Resnick argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be
more like kindergarten. To thrive in today's fast-changing world people of all ages must learn
to think and act creatively—and the best way to do that is by focusing more on imagining
creating playing sharing and reflecting just as children do in traditional kindergartens.
Drawing on experiences from more than thirty years at MIT's Media Lab Resnick discusses new
technologies and strategies for engaging young people in creative learning experiences. He
tells stories of how children are programming their own games stories and inventions (for
example a diary security system created by a twelve-year-old girl) and collaborating through
remixing crowdsourcing and large-scale group projects (such as a Halloween-themed game called
Night at Dreary Castle produced by more than twenty kids scattered around the world). By
providing young people with opportunities to work on projects based on their passions in
collaboration with peers in a playful spirit we can help them prepare for a world where
creative thinking is more important than ever before.
