Imagination is a reoccurring theme in chapter two and five. In chapter two, imagination is described as what ignites the curriculum. Chapter five suggests that imagination suggests creativity and expressiveness, along with creating images, plans and models. A benchmark for first grade science is “Explain that food comes from sources other than grocery stores.” Instead of “telling” students this the teacher could be creative and discuss the impact farmers have on our food source. The teacher could also have a guest speaker such as a farmer or a grocery clerk come into the classroom and discuss their role in our food source. By doing this students can use their imagination and pretend they are a farmer or grocery store clerk.
I feel that this benchmark example goes along with the idea of imagination in chapter two. By having a guest speaker in the classroom it would get the students excited about learning and keep them interested. “Ignited” is a word that describes imagination in chapter two and I feel the example I gave would ignite the student’s interest.
Chapter five explains that imagination helps create images, plans, and models. By having a guest speaker it would give students a mental image of where exactly foods come from. This could also allow the students to see the plan where food comes from a farm, gets transported on a truck, and then arrives at a grocery store.
I feel that in most cases imagination and creativity can be incorporated into a benchmark, but there will be instances where a benchmark could be too involved and require just discussion or explanation. I feel that in a middle or high school setting imagination maybe difficult to incorporate into the classroom, lesson plan and benchmark.
