World Creativity and Innovation Day is an unmissable event in STEM and a great educational opportunity. Join us to learn more and get great ideas on how to mark the occasion!
April 21st is, according to legend, the infamous day that brothers Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome in 753 B.C. This event is sometimes celebrated in Italy as the “Birthday of Rome”.
April 21st is also World Creativity and Innovation Day – and here at Thimble.io, we say, “When in Rome”. Getting creative and promoting innovation is what we do – and when teachers and students are in our learning portal, it’s what they do too!
We’d love to tell you a bit more about this amazing annual event, and how our users and Thimble-certified teachers are making every day World Creativity and Innovation Day with the use of Thimble’s carefully created curriculum and hands-on STEM kits.
What is World Creativity and Innovation Day?
World Creativity and Innovation Day is an annual event celebrated on April 21st to raise awareness about the importance of creativity and innovation in problem-solving, decision-making, and overall human progress. This includes progress and innovation in technology! This day encourages people, schools, and organizations of all kinds to use their creative juices and innovative ideas to make positive changes in their communities and the world around them.
The day was first observed in 2002 and was founded by Marci Segal. Who is Marci Segal? Great question. We were excited at Thimble.io to learn more about someone who has such strong ties to our HQ location: Buffalo, NY.
Segal was a Creativity and Innovation Consultant. Segal has over 40 years of experience in the field of creativity and innovation. She has world with corporations, non-profits, and educational institutions all over the world to help them develop more creative and innovative approaches to their work and goals. In addition, Segal has developed several other initiatives to promote creativity, including the custom creativity coaching program entitled “Passport to Innovation.”
Segal received her Master’s in Creativity and Change Leadership from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College. She received numerous awards for her work and has been the keynote speaker at countless events educating groups about the importance of maintaining creativity and innovation within their organizations.
The United Nations actually recognized the day in a more official capacity in 2017, emphasizing the need to promote creativity in technology and innovation in order to achieve more sustainable development goals.
This day of creativity and innovation aims to inspire people to develop new ideas, think differently, and try to solve problems in more original and inventive ways. It sets aside dedicated time to give people the opportunity to engage in creative activities, explore new ways of thinking, and share potentially groundbreaking ideas with others. It encourages collaboration amongst people and organizations to generate new solutions to common problems by combining strengths and ideas. (Kind of like the incredible recent combination of Thimble.io and Edufront to certify 5 million students in STEM!)
How can we celebrate World Creativity and Innovation Day?
Celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Day can take many forms, from organizing creative workshops big and small, to events engaging in individualized creative activities like journaling, drawing, writing, or crafting. It’s a day to observe the power of human imagination and all it has brought to us with its potential to continuously generate a better future for all.
On this day in classrooms globally, K-12 educators can introduce students to creative thinking techniques, encourage them to “think outside the box”, and provide opportunities, tools, and resources for them to explore new ideas and approaches. This might include hands-on activities, collaborative projects, or challenges that require their problem-solving talents.
World Creativity and Innovation day is an excellent opportunity to get into some project-based STEM learning. Nothing promotes innovation like experiential learning and hands-on problem-solving. Trust us, we’re experts! By incorporating creativity and innovation into STEM learning, teachers can help their K12 students gain exposure to and develop skills to succeed in today’s rapidly changing workforce. Think about it: Future careers in STEM can be born from a single holiday!
Making Every Day World Creativity and Innovation Day
Katrina Baker, CTE teacher at Caldwell Exempted Village School District in Ohio, knows all about promoting creativity and innovation in her classroom. As a Thimble certified teacher, Mrs. Baker is getting creative, hands-on, and promoting independent problem-solving as she facilitates the completion of Thimble.io Creator Set kits with her High School CTE class.
Towards the end of the term, Baker promotes creativity by giving students free rein to tinker with their engineering kits and come up with projects that are all their own or modify previously completed class projects. Students can write their own custom code, or make adjustments to existing projects utilizing reusable components from their Thimble.io creator sets. Giving students the space, time, tools, and skills to innovate on their own is preparing them to be independent thinkers when they reach secondary education and employment stages. We’re proud to call her a Thimble Certified Teacher. There’s a reason she’s a nominee for the 2023 OAAE Outstanding Middle/Secondary Program award.
This day is a great opportunity for teachers of every grade level to inspire their K-12 students to think outside the box a bit, be innovative, and express their creative sides. Check out these basic activities that teachers can implement with their students to honor the importance of innovation and creativity in our world:
- Brainstorming session: Encourage your class to come up with new and innovative ideas related to a specific topic or theme. You can provide them with prompts for your design. This can be done individually or collaboratively. It’s a great opportunity for some cross-curricular action!
- Design Challenge: Assign a design challenge to your students that requires them to come up with a creative solution to a problem. This can be physical or digital. Tap into their competitive nature and create teams for the design challenge with an incentive for a job well done.
- Art project: Allow your students to express themselves through an art project. The medium can be anything from painting to drawing or sculpting. Display their finished projects or have them host an art gallery for parents and staff.
- Storytelling: Encourage your students to create their own personalized stories. These can be written or in short films. Consider overlapping story illustrations with an art project.
- STEM Challenges: Thimble kits have step-by-step instructions for completion, but are often followed up with a design challenge that pushes students’ limits of creativity and innovation. Thimble.io kits that are worked into the curriculum make every day World Creativity and Innovation Day.
Overall, the key to celebrating with your students is to create a risk-free environment that fosters creativity, imagination, and innovation. Encourage them to take risks, be curious, and explore new ideas and perspectives.
If you’re ready to make every day World Creativity and Innovation Day in your home, school, organization, or classroom – check out Thimble.io’s curriculum and innovative STEM kits today. Get those creative juices flowing!