WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO

FOSTER CHILDREN’S CREATIVITY?

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS THIS

CAN BE ACHIEVED...

Presentation By Amanda Findley

& Lisa Logan

CREATIVITY – WHAT IS IT? The use of the imagination or original ideas or

thinking processes to create or think something new.

Maslow – Differentiates between big-picture creativity and everyday creativity.

We All have the potential for Creativity...

WHY IS CREATIVITY IMPORTANT? • Develops important life skills like; Divergent thinking,

Problem solving and innovation. relatively new term or concept. Creativity now viewed as form

of giftedness or as having genius /artistic abilities. Some people believe that a person can be creative without a

product while others believe that creativity can be anything new, original or unique. Developing talent or creativity is dependent on cognitive and environmental factors – this is where teachers come in.

Everyone is creative. Those who are more creative have learned to be so.

Creativity scores have decreased since the 1990s Emphasis has been on poor curriculum and accountability

practices within education. Music and Arts viewed as a lesser cognitive pursuit as lacking

importance in the education processes. Troubling when employers see creativity as; important

leadership or employment characteristic. creativity is regarded in society as one of the top three

personality traits in relation to career success.

HOW CAN TEACHERS ENCOURAGE STUDENT’S CREATIVITY? Small changes to classroom

and teaching practices can encourage student creativity in the classroom.

Ways teachers can encourage creativity are;

Designing spaces to encourage creativity,

Creative content, Creative ways of teaching,

learning and engaging students,

Stimulate innovation or divergent thinking processes for students.

TEACHING PRACTICES & METHODS TO ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY

What if games or Fat chance (near impossible scenario with unrealistic timeframes)

Impossible Scenarios - Photo writing prompts are good for this.

Activities that position students to think divergently

Problem solving activities Show and Tell – Exposes students to a wide

variety of stimuli – Blogs, films, stories, facts, objects, and other experienced based stuff.

Physical Environment –huge impact on creativity - students need space to create, to make noise, to ask questions, to make a mess, to transform. So give students a space that they can be creative learners within.

Group Work – Collaborative communication and work will allow students to take the pressure off themselves as individuals to perform & Students are always more creative too when they are able to bounce ideas off each other.

TEACHER ACTIVITY – WORD/PHOTO PROMPTS – TO PRODUCE ENVIRONMENT FOR DIVERGENT THINKING PROCESSES

THINK

DIVEGENTLY

REFERENCES Jane Piirto, Phd, 1998, Understanding Those Who Create, 2nd

Ed, Great Potential Press, AZ, United States of America. Anna Lithgow, 09/04/2013, “How can we foster creativity in

the classroom” You Tube, http://creativespaceineducation.wordpress.com.

Kyung Hee Kim Phd Educational Psychologist, Child Creativity Lab, 17th August 2013, You Tube,

Silver.Todd, Think Like a Genius – The Ultimate user manual for your brain, 1996 Bantam Books Publishing, New York, United States.

Micheal.J.Gelb, Discover Your Genius-How to think like History’s most ten revolutionary minds, 2003, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, USA

Duchesne,S., McMaugh, A., Bochner, S. & Krause, K. (2013). Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching. 4th Edition. Cenagage: Melbourne.

Metaphorming Strategy or PracticeC Connect Two or more ideas or

concepts as having a relationship

R Relate What the relationship is between the things

E Explore Asking open ended questions, thinking in new ways about it

A Analyse Take a second look with consideration of knowledge now known about it, look for insights, or evaluate it.

T Transform Think, Invent or create something new based upon what you now know ( the connection and discovery processes prior) about it

E Experience Apply your ideas or solutions

Levels of create1 Connection Connect by comparing2 Discovery Explore the

comparison to reflect something new

3 Invention Invent or create something new based upon the connection, comparison and discovery processes prior

4 Application Use the invention in new ways or contexts

Model

of

Creativity