My son colored ten pages in his coloring book. He improved in shading and in understanding the colors of shapes. Beyond that, though, he didn't learn much. It was a decent escape and a lot of fun, but it wasn't particularly creative. Most of the deeper thinking had been manufactured in advance.
- Does it provoke students to think deeper about the subject?
- Does it enable students to organize their own thoughts without having to learn a new structure?
If the organizing and creating are all prefabricated, it's a worksheet and a coloring book - sometimes a very slick version, but still a coloring book. If, however, the medium allows students to think deeper about life than it's worth using.
John T. Spencer is a teacher in Phoenix, AZ who blogs at Education Rethink. He recently finished two books, Pencil Me In, an allegory for educational technology and Drawn Into Danger, a fictional memoir of a superhero. You can connect with him on Twitter @johntspencer