Connecting Connecting Creativity to Creativity to 2121stst Century Century

SkillsSkillsColleen Anthony

Department of Student Success—Gifted and Talented

JEFFCO Public Schools canthony@jeffco.k12.co.us

Wendy LeaderUniversity of Colorado at Colorado Springs

wsleader64@gmail.com

WelcomeWelcomeTo Begin our Connections…To Begin our Connections…

Working individually or with a small group, complete the following map to define your current understanding of creativity.

Plucker, J. A., & Dow, G. (2010.) Attitude Change as the Precursor to Creativity Enhancement. In Beghetto & Kaufman (Eds.), Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom.

Working Definition of Working Definition of

CreativityCreativity

What did you discover?What did you discover?

Creativity is defined as a novel and appropriate response to an open-ended task. (Ruscio and Amabile, 1999)

What is Creativity?What is Creativity?An Ability to imagine or invent something new.

An Attitude to accept change and newness, a willingness to play with ideas and possibilities, a flexibility of outlook, the habit of enjoying the good, while looking for ways to improve it.

A Process to continually improve ideas and solutions, by making gradual alterations and refinements to their works.Introduction to Creative Thinking, Robert Harris. Version Date: July 1, 1998

Creativity SkillsCreativity Skills• Fluency. The ability to produce a larger

number of ideas• Flexibility. The ability to make

connections between unrelated concepts• Originality. The ability to make unique

ideas• Elaboration. The ability to manipulate

an idea and work on it until it is well-formed

Guilford, 1950; Rhodes, 1961; Torrance, 1965.

Creativity StrategiesCreativity StrategiesEncourage alternate solutions or products Encourage alternate solutions or products

when existing solutions are inappropriate or when existing solutions are inappropriate or yield less than satisfactory results.yield less than satisfactory results.

• SCAMPER• Attribute listing• Random listing• Brainstorming• Creative Problem

Solving• Synectics – Analogies

• Six Thinking Hats• Morphological

synthesis• Creative dramatics• Biographical study• Imagery• Encounter lessons

Fairweather, E., & Cramond, B. and Piirto, J. (2010). In Beghetto & Kaufman (Eds.), Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom.

Elements of Elements of CreativityCreativity

• ComponentsoPersonoProcessoProductoPress (situation and environment)oPassion*

(Rhodes, 1961; Lemons, 2011*)

Creative MethodsCreative Methods• Evolution: Incremental improvement;

Every problem that has been solved can be solved again in a better way.

• Synthesis. Two or more existing ideas are combined into a third, new idea.

• Revolution. Completely different, new idea• Reapplication. Look at something old in a

new way. • Changing Direction: Attention is shifted

from one angle of a problem to another

Introduction to Creative Thinking , Robert Harris. Version Date: July 1, 1998

Levels of CreativityLevels of Creativity• Intuitive expressive: independent, spontaneous

• Productive: product expressed through academic or

technical mastery over some portion of environment (art,

science)

• Inventive: ingenuity in seeing new uses/ideas beyond

the traditional

• Innovative: original, out-of-the-ordinary

• Emergenative/Genius: entirely new principle, paradigm

or assumption

(L. Wilson, 2004 from A. Taylor, 1959)

Levels of CreativityLevels of Creativity• Two levels:

o Local (“Little c”) – expressive, inventive, productive, everyday

o Global (“Big C”) – innovative, emergenative, earth-shattering, legendary

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1996)

• Four C Model of Creativity:o Interpretive (“Mini-c”) – new, personally

meaningful interpretations – important to recognize in the classroom

o Professional (“Pro-c”) – professional-level expertise – can provide long-range goals for students

(Beghetto & Kaufman, 2009)

Characteristics of Characteristics of CreativityCreativity

Work with a partner to determine both positive and negative characteristics of creativity.

Characteristics of Characteristics of Creative IndividualsCreative Individuals

Positive Perceptions

Imagination ----------------Tolerance for ambiguity-Nonconformity ------------Humor -----------------------Preference for solitude --Resistance to closure -----Attracted to complexity--

Negative Perceptions

--ADD, Head in the clouds--Wishy-washy--Doesn’t fit in, Stubborn --ADD, Class clown--Loner, unsociable--ADD, Never finishes--Won’t do the “basics”

Characteristics apply across domains.(Characteristics from Barron, 1969, 1988; MacKinnon, 1978)

Characteristics of Characteristics of Creative IndividualsCreative Individuals

Four core attitudes:•Naïveté – observing the obvious with fresh perspective•Self-discipline – specifically directed to creator’s choice of area, not to the agenda of others•Risk-taking – courage to stumble, fail, and rebound form rejection•Group trust – required belief in group process, necessary for collaborative creativity

Core attitudes apply across domains.

(Piirto, 2005)

Selected Strategies for Selected Strategies for

Building Creativity in Building Creativity in

Content AreasContent Areas• Brainstorming (example: math)• SCAMPER (example: writing a story)• Six Thinking Hats (example: literary

analysis)• Variations on Synectics (direct

analogy, personal analogy, fantasy analogy, symbolic analogy) (example: direct analogy in social studies)

• Observation journals (example: science)

Classroom Classroom EnvironmentEnvironment

• Teachers’ expression of their own creative qualities

• Open valuing of creativity• Teacher flexibility• Teacher optimism• Teacher spontaneity• Teacher not taking self too seriously• Perceived teacher warmth• Teacher likeability• Teacher enthusiasm• Teacher courteousness

From Fairweather & Cramond, 2010

Classroom Classroom EnvironmentEnvironment

•  Climate of psychological safety: o students safe from ridiculeo students accepted for who they areo students willing to take riskso students free from excessive pressure

• Ways to achieve psychological safety: o accept & value all children’s contributionso stress cooperationo limit time constraints, competition, & punitive

evaluationo create atmosphere of respect by not tolerating

taunting, name-calling, bullying or put-downsFrom Fairweather & Cramond, 2010

Classroom Classroom EnvironmentEnvironment

• Student autonomy• Appropriate structure & guidance:

o consistent, high expectations expressed in a non-threatening way

• Specific feedback to convey standards & promote learning

• Rich variety of resources• Room for movement & varying workspaces• Room for active as well as quiet learning• Time for reflection & processing

From Fairweather & Cramond, 2010

Ideas from the following chapters in Beghetto, R., & Kaufman, J. (Eds.). (2010). Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom. NY: Cambridge University Press: Fairweather, E., & Cramond, B. Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together, pp. 113-141. Plucker, J., & Dow, G. Attitude Change as the Precursor to Creativity Enhancement, pp. 362-369.

Develop a Goal/Action Plan Develop a Goal/Action Plan to Intentionally Incorporate to Intentionally Incorporate

CreativityCreativity

Create a PlanCreate a Plan

Cultivate a Cycle for Cultivate a Cycle for Self-reflection Self-reflection