Imagine a classroom alive with curiosity, where learning isn’t passive but hands-on. In this classroom, a 10-year-old girl isn’t just reading about marine biology from a textbook but coding a game to help a lost dolphin find its way home—blending computational thinking with her passion for ocean life.
This is the essence of creative learning: an education model that prioritizes curiosity, exploration and self-expression. Yet our education system remains hyper-focused on rote learning and rigid skills like memorizing the multiplication table, rather than opening gateways to imaginative problem-solving.
In recent years, increased access to computer science and coding has provided a crucial pathway to more engaging educational experiences. And while these coding programs are one of the best ways to ensure students hone their imaginations alongside their proficiency, they are just one part of a broader landscape of creative learning environments that are about to become really, really important.
Dynamic process of creativity
We stand at a critical moment in education. With the rise of AI, the next generation of learners is facing an unpredictable job market.
As AI becomes more proficient at technical tasks and automates more of our everyday lives, it’s imperative that students master skills that showcase their value-add and relevance—things like adaptability, problem-solving, original thinking and persistence. These so-called “soft skills” don’t usually come with lesson plans in an education system that prioritizes standardized tests and passive consumption over active creation.
That’s why we must reimagine education as a dynamic and creative process, one in which children are encouraged to take risks, collaborate and explore their curiosities. The environments that embrace this philosophy—whether in schools, digital coding platforms or interactive museums—are preparing children for a world that demands more than just technical proficiency; it demands imagination.
This philosophy is at the heart of the work happening in schools and networks that have long embraced creative learning. At High Tech High, a collective of public charter schools in California, students engage in work meaningful to them, pursue their passions through projects and connect their studies to the real world through fieldwork, internships and community service.
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At Big Picture Learning schools, learning is personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs in creative ways that lead to meaningful project-based work.
Organizations such as Digital Promise are also leading the charge to elevate what they call “powerful learning” across all their work, ensuring that creative learning principles are not confined to informal spaces but embraced across all educational environments.
Urban arts programs do the same for creative expression. When young people paint murals that reflect their communities or compose digital music that speaks to their experiences, they develop confidence in their voices and perspectives.
These programs help students see themselves as creators, not just consumers. This is an essential mindset in a world that increasingly requires both technical fluency and creative agility.
The same can be said for digital spaces like Scratch, where young people aren’t just playing games—they’re creating them. Like an artist refining a mural or a maker iterating on a robot prototype, students engage in a process of trial, discovery and revision. In doing so, they learn that creativity isn’t a single spark of inspiration, but a sustained practice of persistence.
A world of their own making
The point is, if we want to prepare young people for an AI-dominated world, we must champion learning models that inspire creativity, persistence and collaboration. Celebrating individual success stories is not enough. We need to create a big tent—a shared movement that brings together all of these efforts under a collective vision for the future of education.
By amplifying the work of schools, educators and organizations proving what’s possible, we can demonstrate the power of creative learning and help it become the norm, not the exception.
Now is the time to lift up and connect these efforts, across schools, libraries, museums, community programs and digital platforms, so that educators, policymakers and communities see what’s possible when we invest in creativity. Together, we can build a future where every young person has the opportunity to create, innovate and imagine a world of their own making.
