Drs. Ronald Beghetto and Megan Workmon Larsen chat about how education has become more about structure than sparking joy and creativity in students. Workmon Larsen shares how her background in opera and psychology brought her to the field of engineering robotics, and how her work has developed into helping students find their true purpose.
Ronald Beghetto talks with Megan Workmon Larsen about how studying psychology and opera led her down a path towards robotics, design, and researching how students view their education journey. Focusing on higher education, Workmon Larsen explains how it is imperative that instructors and institutions allow students to become co-creators of their own learning. When we give students the opportunity to create their own paths, wonderful things happen. The challenge is that we cannot create uncertainty, rather the opportunity and space for spark and joy which leads to creativity. Beghetto and Workmon Larsen discuss how we can unstructure the structures and formal spaces in education, allowing students to explore and create. It is in this space that Workmon Larsen imagines a future in which schools structure education for exploration, joy, and motivational development over time.
You can learn more about Dr. Megan Workmon Larsen and her work by accessing her directory page at Arizona State University.