Practical Strategies for Developing Creativity in the Classroom

Susan Baum, Ph.D.Professor Emeritus

College of New Rochellesubeebaum@yahoo.com

http://confratute2011.wikispaces.com/

21st Century Skills

What is a culture of innovation?What is the role of creativity?

• The Creativity Crisis

• For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it.

• Newsweek– July 10,2010

Creativity and 21st Century Skills

• http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

Shifting paradigmsKen Robinson

Culture of Convergent Thinking

• High stakes testing

• Focus on one right answer vs. process

• Need for control

• Disregard for play or messing about

• Need for practical applications

“It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry--for this delicate little plant aside from stimulation stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail.” (Einstein)

Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put in the homeroom.

Creativity sparks innovation in all disciplines

The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future... All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care. Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.

DO YOU NEED TO BE GREAT TO CREATE?

:

Big C --- Little C continuum

PRACTICAL MANAGER TYPE

• “GIVE ME THE BASIC IDEA

• AND I CAN MAKE IT BETTER”

LEARNED EXPERT TYPE

GREAT SYNTHESIZER OF IDEAS:

SEES PATTERNS

MAKES CONNECTIONS

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER TYPE

• ENTREPRENEURS, INVENTORS, RISK TAKERS

• “WONT’ TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER”

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PEOPLE PERSONS• CREATIVITY FROM THE HEART.

• FEELINGS DRIVE THEIR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

CREATIVITY: A MULTI FACETED CONSTRUCT

• Person/ PERSONALITY TYPES

• Process

• Product

• Press/environment

Blocks to Creativity

Factors affecting creative productivityTheresa Amabile, Ph.D.

• Expected evaluation

• Surveillance

• Reward

• Competition

• Restricted choice– “how to approach the work”

• Extrinsic motivation

Creative Environment

• When you treat people with respect, acknowledgment, and genuine positive reinforcement, you significantly increase the odds of creativity -- and by extension, innovation -- flourishing in your organization.

• When people are inspired by their own interests and enjoyment there is a better chance that they will explore unlikely paths, take risks, and in the end produce something unique and useful.

(Amabile, 1986).

• It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by coercion and a sense of duty (Einstein).

Perceptual Blocks

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.

Could you do it in 3 lines?

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it with 1 line?

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?

Like this for instance.

Here is another way. Can you think of others?

Did you consider this one?

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?An infinite number of ways?

DIVERGENT THINKING

• Fluency = lots of ideas

• Flexibility = different

• Originality = unique idea to solve the problem.

• Elaboration = Adding details

Invention ConventionNecessity is the mother of invention. Using only the provided

newspaper, scissors, and tape invent each of the following items.

1. Something to save your life.

2. A wasp trap.

3. A way to measure a two story building.

4. A foolproof clue to your identity.

5. A container to hold a 10lb rock.

6. A hearing aid.

7. A teaching aid to teach children subtraction.

8. An object to help someone communicate.

9. Something a pet owner may need.

10.Something to help prepare food.

Judging Inventions & Creativity

Score

Flexibility

Originality

Fluency

Elaboration

Tuesday

Using Brainstorming to Generate Ideas

• Criticism is ruled out.

• Freewheeling is welcomed.

• Quantity desired.

• Piggybacking on other ideas is encouraged.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R

• Substitute

• Change or Combine

• Adapt

• Minify, Maximize, Modify

• Put to other uses

• Eliminate

• Rearrange

Brainstorming a But-So Book

• How many ways could you get to school if your car broke down?

SCAMPER

Substitute Who else? What else? Other ingredients? Other materials? Other process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice?

Combine How about a blend? An alloy? An assortment? An ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine Ideas?

Adapt What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest?Does the past offer a parallel? What could I copy? Whom could I emulate?

Modify Magnify? What to add? Minify? What to subtract? New twist? Change Meaning, color motion, sound…?

Put to other usesDo its form, weight, or structure suggest another use? New ways to use? Other uses if modified? Change context?

Eliminate Suppose we leave this out? Fewer parts? Condensed? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Understate? How can we make less more?

Reverse Rearrange? Turn it upside down? How about opposites? Reverse Roles? Turn tables? Interchange components? Other sequence? Change pace? Change Schedule? Transpose cause & effect

The Homework Issue

• Let’s scamper it!!!

In the curriculum

• Math: how many ways can you do this problem? Arithmetic is finding the answer. Math is questioning the answer.

• 37 + 14= 51 (Pick a number between 1-7)

• How many ways can we spell laugh? Justify by applying a rule of phonics or exception

• Wonderful World of Words

Moving to Write

Let’s be children.

Problem finding and discovery in science

• RECOGNIZING PATTERNS

• MAKING CONNECTIONS

• TAKING RISKS

• CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS

• TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHANCE• SEEING IN NEW WAYS

BARRON& EISNER

DISCOVERY LEARNING

• MESSING ABOUT

• ASKING QUESTIONS

• FORMING HYPOTHESES

• TESTING HYPOTHESES

• DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Playing around with 7-up and raisins

• Take a glass of 7-up, and another glass of water and half a dozen raisins and play.

• What do you observe? Ask 5 questions that start with I wonder about… or I wonder what would happen if…

My Plan

• Question: What do I want to know?

• My hypothesis…

• How will I conduct my experiment (materials and steps)

• Observations and conclusions

Encouragers

• Provide opportunities for play and problem finding.

• Have a creativity corner.• Teach divergent thinking skills.• Model creativity and

spontaneity.

Creative Learning Presswww.creativelearningpress.com

Creativity 1, 2, 3Author: Martha Cray-Andrews and Susan

BaumGrade Level: K-3

Encourage children to think creatively and solve problems using this cross-curriculum activity book. Parts I and II explain how to foster creativity in the classroom and design a creativity training program that focuses on fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Part III emphasizes infusing creative thinking strategies into curricular objectives.