On the influence of creativity in basic programming learning at a first-year Engineering course

Teaching fundamentals of programming is a complex task that involves the students’ acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. It is also well known that programming often requires a certain degree of creativity. There are some studies on how to foster creativity with programming, but few studies have analyzed the influence of students creativity on their performance as programmers. In this paper we present the results of a study, with a sample of 89 freshmen engineering students. Our results suggest (p<0.01) that a high level of creativity is correlated with achieving excellence in programming. Creativity is a generic competence which is not currently covered with in most engineering curricula, and we conclude it should be taken into account. Females, diverse thinking student and some disadvantage groups may benefit from a free-thinking environment in the classroom, in particular at their first-year in college.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Evolution of Authorship: Work Made by Code

Hi, it’s great to be here. I want to thank Jane and June for the invitation and for what’s turning out to be a really wonderful collection of comments and thoughts. When I first started thinking about the problem that computer authors might present for copyright law, I thought I was thinking about a uniquely twenty-first century problem. As it turns out, though, computer authorship is sort of an old problem for copyright law, with a history that goes back to the early days of computing

Information dynamics: patterns of expectation and surprise in the perception of music

This is a postprint of an article submitted for consideration in Connection Science © 2009 [copyright Taylor & Francis]; Connection Science is available online at:http://www.tandfonline.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0954-0091&volume=21&issue=2-3&spage=8

MAKING PROGRESS WORK: A NEW LIFE FOR THE OLD IDEA

This article represents an attempt at re-examining some critical issues that are related to progress. There are several questions to be addressed in the following pages: Is progress really necessary? What fundamental purpose does it serve? Can our civilization survive without progressing? Does progress have roots in nature or is it merely a human fancy? In answering these questions, this article will explain the important relationship between our idea and practice of progress, on one hand, and nature, on the other. It will show that progress is not a human fancy; it has deep roots in the evolution of nature and the universe. Substantive criticisms should not only point to mistakes and flaws. They should also lead to alternatives. This article will conclude by outlining some fundamental principles to be used in reshaping our progressive practice. The main feature of this reformed practice, as argued in the pages that follow, should be the process of creation that plays a vital role in the survival and evolution of our universe. The failure to embrace and understand this process has generated major flaws that that continue to plague our pursuit of progress. The article will explain that the reason for this failure is not an accident but a necessary result of anthropocentrism that has dominated and continues to dominate our civilization. By using the process of creation as the main organizing principle of our theory and practice of progress will make possible to eliminate the main cause of our numerous problems with progress

A Cognitive Theory of the Aesthetic Experience

This paper aims at naturalizing the aesthetic experience on the basis of cognitive sciences. In traditional philosophical aesthetics, the aesthetic experience requires a specific attitude and a characteristic work of imagination. Today, cognitive sciences offer a rich set of empirically corroborated concepts useful in explaining these notions in naturalistic terms. This paper extends these concepts to explain how the aesthetic experience is integrated and how it affords knowledge

Critical realism and creativity : a challenge to the hegemony of psychological conceptions

Humanist thought has long considered the nature of creativity in workers but the dominant framework for conceptualising creativity, rooted in psychological theory, has provided inadvertent limits on who might be considered creative at work. This is because creativity is commonly defined through the recognition of produced and valued novelty. This definition obscures all that is unrecognised, unrealised, unexercised, and currently in potential from being considered as creativity. Given that creativity can sometimes exist in potential, and that some workers have their creativity actively prevented from being recognised, researching and understanding the unrecognised creative person can be seen as an important goal for humanist scholars. The goal of this paper then is to unpick the contradiction between unrecognised creativity and dominant definitions of creativity in order to enable a deeper understanding of creativity at work. The paper proceeds with an immanent critique of the dominant framework and its definition of creativity, before proposing a critical realist inspired ontology of creativity, including an augmented definition of creativity. The consequences of this research for understanding creativity in organisations are briefly reflected upon

Creativity, Virtue and the Challenges from Natural Talent, Ill-Being and Immorality

We praise and admire creative people in virtually every domain. We also sometimes blame, condemn or withhold praise from those who fail creatively. This article outlines and develops my virtue theoretic account of exemplary creativity that makes sense of how and why we think in this way. If we are interested in a robust account of creative excellence we need to look at the underlying psychological mechanisms that enable individuals to be imaginative, surprising or original (and those which undermine them). I will suggest that what it is to be a creatively excellent person depends – amongst other things - upon certain admirable character traits such as curiosity, courage and perseverance. Creative virtues are admirable character traits that ground creative excellence and contribute to individual flourishing. Once the view is laid out the rest of the paper will be devoted to addressing apparent objections to this view emerging from the psychological and philosophical literature: challenges based on claims concerning a) the idea that it is natural talent not character that matters for creativity b) if being creative is significantly linked to mental illness then being creative promotes ill-being rather than well-being or flourishing and c) potential and apparent conflicts between moral and creative virtues

A conceptual graph-based model of creativity in learning

Teaching creativity is one of the key goals of modern education. Yet, promoting creativity in teaching remains challenging, not least because creative achievement is contingent on multiple factors, such as prior knowledge, the classroom environment, the instruction given, and the affective state of the student. Understanding these factors and their interactions is crucial for successfully integrating creativity in teaching. However, keeping track of all factors and interactions on an individual student level may well exceed the capacity of human teachers. Artificial intelligence techniques may thus prove helpful and necessary to support creativity in teaching. This paper provides a review of the existing literature on creativity. More importantly, the review is distilled into a novel, graph-based model of creativity with three target audiences: Educators, to gain a concise overview of the research and theory of creativity; educational researchers, to use the interactions predicted by theory to guide experimental design; and artificial intelligence researchers, who may use parts of the model as a starting point for tools which measure and facilitate creativity.Peer Reviewe

¿Puede escuchar a los bits cantando? Estudio de la influencia de la creatividad en el aprendizaje de la programación

Resumen: La enseñanza de los fundamentos de la programación es una tarea compleja que involucra la adquisición por parte del alumno de diversos conocimientos y competencias. Es sabido también que la programación requiere frecuentemente de ciertas dosis de creatividad. Existen estudios que correlacionan la creatividad del alumnado en una escuela-conservatorio de música con su excelencia como músicos. Sin embargo, son pocos los estudios que han analizado la influencia de la creatividad del alumno de ingeniería en su rendimiento como programador. En este artículo se presentan los resultados de un estudio piloto realizado en una muestra de 28 alumnos y alumnas de primer curso de Informática en estudios de Ingeniería Industrial. Los resultados sugieren que para obtener la excelencia en programación es necesaria una alta creatividad, competencia transversal que no está actualmente contemplada en la mayoría de los planes de estudios. Se concluye que la creatividad es una competencia relevante para tener un rendimiento alto en programación, y que su enseñanza debería ser considerada en los planes de estudios de la enseñanza universitaria de la Informática. Los resultados de este primer estudio nos animan a continuar el estudio ampliando la muestra y el ámbito de aplicación. Además, se añaden algunas propuestas de integración de la creatividad en el aula.Abstract: Teaching fundamentals of programming is a complex task that involves the students’ acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. It is also well known that programming often requires a certain degree of creativity. There also exist some studies in which music students’ creativity is correlated with their excellence as musicians. However, few studies have analyzed the influence of a student’s creativity on his or her performance as a programmer. In this paper we present the results of a pilot study, with a sample of 28 freshmen engineering students. Results suggest that a high level of creativity is required to achieve excellence in programming. Creativity is a generic skill which is not currently covered with in most engineering curricula. We conclude that creativity should be considered in the syllabus of programming courses in order to get good performance results. The results of this first study encourage us to continue expanding the study sample and its scope. In addition, some proposals for enhancing students’ creativity in the classroom are proposed