Discovering Imagination – Workshop
Discovering Imagination - Workshop Changing the conversation between the child and the parent.
Batch of 1985, IIT Madras alumni is a group of IITians (AidVision) who are very passionate about promoting creativity and thinking skills among young people. AidVision, IITM is conducting a unique 1-day high impact workshop for children of age 13-16 as a part of several initiatives. Discovering Imagination is one such workshop where parents also have to participate. This will be followed by a 30-day daily exercise given to the parents – which they have to practice with their children. More details are given in the tail of this article.
AidVision sponsors various initiatives for the mentoring and developing the young mind. Prof. Sivakumar Srinivasan, the present Dean (students) leads this project. Prof. Sivakumar is a senior professor of Applied Mechanics at IIT, and has been a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology, USA. One of the successful AidVision run programs at IITM is the Engineers for Life (EFL) program where the attempt is to transform Engineers into Inventors. At EFL, the students learn inventing skills (empathy, compassion, curiosity, creativity and cross-cultural skills).
For three days in March at IIT Madras, children aged 13 to 16 along with their parents participated in a unique workshop on ‘Discovering Imagination’. The intent of the workshop was to help children and parents discover imagination and creativity. The principle is that creativity not only needs to be learnt but also constantly nurtured and encouraged – and who better to do this than the parent. The present role of the parent seems to be that of a mere provider. This course helps the parent to assume the role of a mentor. Because, creativity needs mentoring, not teaching. The hope is that this workshop will also change the conversation at home. One must imagine the parent and the child speaking about living in Mars one day, or getting access to clean water for the entire world. Which is why the parent, and not just the child, is the focus of the workshop. This workshop includes interactive classroom-based sessions on aspects of creativity, imagination, curiosity and systems thinking. Videos, discussions, activities and exercises make the sessions enjoyable. As a follow up to the workshop, daily exercises are given to the parents over a period of 30 days – which they have to practice with their children. This is based on the principle that anything practiced consistently for 30 days becomes a habit. The larger question is: Can we as a community, nation and as inhabitants of the world cause an imagination revolution? Because, if something does not exist today, it is because it has not yet been imagined. Parents will be happy to know that plans are afoot to convert many of the ideas that emerge in the workshop into tangible products.
The contents of the workshop have been designed by Mr. Shiva Subramaniam, a creativity coach and consultant (the paperclip), who also delivers the workshop. Shiva anchors the Life Skills and Engineers for Life programs at IIT Madras and also teaches an elective course called Discovering Creativity as a Guest Faculty. He has also been a part of the Tata Group Innovation Forum while at Tata Consultancy Services.
The feedback from the parents and children has been very encouraging. Prof. Satyanarayan Chakravarthy, Professor of Aerospace Engineering (Ph.D. Georgia Tech, USA), who is spearheading the National Center for Combustion at IIT Madras was one of the parents who attended this workshop. He has this to say: “As a parent, I was happy to see my daughter break out of her limitations. I found this programme awesome!”
For those parents interested in registering for the one-day program on Discovering Imagination please fill up the details in the form provided here (or write to aidvision1985@gmail.com)