Tony Wagner: Creating Innovators

© Copyright 2012, Tony Wagner, Harvard University 1
Creating Innovators
Tony Wagner, Ed.D.
Innovation Education Fellow
Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard
tony_wagner@harvard.edu
www.tonywagner.com

What Is The Impact of A Changing World
on Education in the 21st Century?
• Knowledge has become a free
commodity
–From scrolls to tablets to books to the
internet
• Knowledge is constantly changing
–How many planets are there today?
• “Digital natives” learn in very different
ways than digital immigrants
–Googling stuff for fun

The World No Longer Cares About What You
Know . . .
So What? Now What?
The World Cares About What You
Can Do With What You Know

The Seven Survival Skills
for Careers, College, And Citizenship
1. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by
Influence
3. Agility and Adaptability
4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
5. Effective Oral and Written Communication
6. Accessing and Analyzing Information
7. Curiosity and Imagination

The Culture of Schooling
versus
The Culture of Innovation
• Individual Achievement versus Collaboration
• Specialization versus Multi-disciplinary
Learning
• Risk Avoidance versus Trial and Error
• Consuming versus Creating
• Extrinsic versus Intrinsic Motivation
– Play, Passion, and Purpose

What is The “Global Achievement Gap”?
The Global Achievement Gap is the
gap between what even our best
schools are teaching and testing
Versus
The skills all students will need for
careers, continuous learning, and
citizenship in the 21st century
What gets tested is what gets taught:
Having the wrong metric is worse than
having none at all

What Motivates The “Digital Natives”?
• Accustomed to instant gratification and “always-on”
connection
• Use the web for 1) extending friendships, 2) interest-
driven, self-directed learning, and 3) as a tool for self-
expression
• Constantly connected, creating, and multitasking in a
multimedia world—everywhere except in school
• Less fear and respect for authority—accustomed to
learning from peers; want coaching, but only from adults
who don’t “talk down” to them
• Want to make a difference and do interesting/worthwhile
work

Implications for “Reinvention”:
Graduating all Students “Innovation-ready”
From A Consumption-driven, Information-
based Learning System (what you know)
• Focus on “Timeless Learning” (academic
content that has persisted over time)
To A Creation-driven, Transformation-based
Learning System (what you can do with what
you know)
• Focus on using challenging academic
content to master the competencies of
“Just-in-Time Learning”

Redefining Rigor: 5 “Habits of Mind”
Learning to Ask The Right Questions
• Weighing Evidence
– How do we know what’s true and false? What is the evidence, and is it
credible?
• Awareness of Varying Viewpoints
– What viewpoint are we hearing? Who is the author, and what are his or
her intentions? How might it look to someone with a different history?
• Seeing Connections/Cause & Effect
– Is there a pattern? How are things connected? Where have we seen this
before?
• Speculating on Possibilities/Conjecture
– What if? Supposing that? Can we imagine alternatives?
• Assessing Value—Both Socially and Personally
– What difference does it make? Who cares? So what?
From www.missionhillschool.org

Questions Parents Might Want To Ask:
• To your child: What do you want to explore? What
are you curious about? What are you passionate
about?
• To your child’s teachers: What skills are you
teaching, and how are you assessing them? Are
students “creators” or consumers in your
classes?”
• To the school: What are you doing to improve
instruction, and how do you know it is working?
How well are your graduates prepared for college,
careers, and citizenship, and how do you know?

“Evidence-driven” Continuous Improvement:
Some Questions for Teachers & Administrators To Consider
• What skills are you teaching, and how are you
assessing them? How much time do students in
your classes spend on applying what they have
learned? What do they create?
• Are you a better teacher than 2 years ago—if so,
in what ways, and how do you know? What is the
school doing to systematically improve
instruction, and how do you know it’s working?
• How well are your students prepared for college,
careers, and citizenship, and how do you know?
Is your school “adding value?” How do you
know?

Redefining Educational Excellence:
Accountability
1. Hold Ourselves Accountable for What
Matters Most
• Use The College and Work Readiness
Assessment to assess analytic reasoning,
critical thinking, problem-solving, and writing
(www.cae.org)
• Videotape focus groups with recent grads &
survey students (High School Survey of
Student Engagement)
http://ceep.indiana.edu/hssse/index.htm

Academics
2. Doing the New Work: teaching & assessing the
skills that matter most
• Develop strategies for teaching & assessing the
3 C’s: Critical & Creative Thinking,
Communication, and Collaboration—in every
class and at all grade levels
• Pilot interdisciplinary courses around essential
questions and capstone projects for 5th, 8th, and
12th projects.
• Require all students to have digital portfolios,
work internships, and service learning projects

Collaboration & Transparency
3. Doing the New Work in New Ways
“Isolation is the enemy of improvement”
• Every teacher on teams for collaborative
inquiry—looking at student and teacher work
• Videotape teaching & supervision (lesson
study versus evaluation)
• Peer-reviewed digital portfolios for teachers
& leaders

Coming April 17 to a Bookstore or E-Book
near you…

And for your viewing pleasure . . .
(to see the trailer and order, go to: www.2mminutes.com)

For Still More Information . . .

And More Still . . .

For more information:
www.tonywagner.com

Tony Wagner: Creating Innovators

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