The Significance of Creativity for Teaching Philosophy

Although creativity constitutes a central human ability that needs to be fostered in school, research in didactics of philosophy hasn’t so far developed accounts of how to train creativity systematically. In this paper I will provide the foundations for a didactics of creativity for philosophy and ethics education. The approach is based on the insight that creativity is an important competence to be promoted in philosophy and ethics classrooms. I will define the concept of creativity and review key empirical findings from the field of educational psychology and psychology of learning which will help me working out a framework for fostering creativity in the philosophy classroom. Central to this is the idea that creativity can only be taught if the use of creative task types is preceded by a phase of acquiring domain-specific philosophical and ethical competences and knowledge. I will then argue that this objective can be implemented particularly well through the design thinking method. In this context, task types that promote divergent thinking are particularly effective. I will use three classroom examples to illustrate how creativity could be fostered in philosophy and ethics classes

Creativity-Integrated Art History: A pedagogical framework

Art history offers a unique opportunity for students to encounter real, historical examples of the creative process in action. By showing examples of the complex process through which artwork is created, art history classes can provide emulative examples for the next generation of innovative designers, artists, historians, educators, and creative thinkers. Art history has a tradition of teaching Big-C creativity principles by highlighting creative products and individuals. Therefore, the art object is emphasized at the expense of unpacking the process and everyday, or mini-c, creativity of the work. At a time when the field of Art History is beginning to ask itself what it really wants students to gain from their classes, creativity should be one of those skills. The purpose of this paper is to present a pedagogical framework for reconsidering the way art history material is presented to students in a way that promotes personal creativity growth. The suggestions in this article take advantage of strengths that are already present in the field of art history, while also pointing out new means of bridging the gap between Big-C and mini-c creativity by incorporating principles of design thinking. This article includes a sample lesson of what Creativity-Integrated Art History (Cr-IAH) can look like

The Creativity and Humility Guidebook: Fostering a Community Filled with Creativity Through Humility

Although an often-under-explored cognitive skill, humility has an important relationship with a person’s creative capacity. Due to its inherent focus on honesty, flexibility, and openness, intellectual humility significantly increases an individual’s problem-solving abilities. This paper will detail the development of The Creativity and Humility Guidebook, which will be used to provide a thorough overview of both creativity and humility to the Roberts Wesleyan University community in order to equip faculty and staff with a fuller understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the two. Due to the turbulent climate of higher education in today’s world, coupled with the countless social, economic, and political issues that plague society, a guidebook that focuses on increasing a university’s creativity through humility comes at a pivotal time in which the clear benefits of creativity training are crucial for success

Perspectives in Gifted Education: Creativity

This is the fifth in a series of monographs published through the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education at the University of Denver, and it has been graciously funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley foundation. The first monograph contained different perspectives on the growth and development of young gifted children while the second addressed the characteristics and needs of the twice-exceptional - those who are gifted and also have some type of disabling condition. The third monograph focused on the personality and spiritual and character development of gifted children; the fourth explored giftedness in a variety of diverse, under-represented populations of learners. It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Bonnie Cramond as guest editor for this issue. which is focused on aspects of creativity and the gifted learner. Dr. Cramond is currently a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia and has formerly been director at the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. During her career she has worked as a classroom teacher and university professor and researcher, and she has assumed many leadership roles through membership on national boards, editorship of journals, presentations at conferences, and contributions to books, articles and monographs. Her efforts and leadership have furthered professional understanding of creative learners.https://digitalcommons.du.edu/perspectivesingifteded/1004/thumbnail.jp

Creative Teaching in EFL Classrooms: Voices from Afghanistan

This qualitative research aims to explore the reported experiences of five Afghan EFL instructors at the English Department, Herat University, concerning the creative teaching of English. It specifically investigated the challenges and the opportunities regarding the creative teaching of English that these teachers have encountered in their courses. The researchers employed constructivist perspectives of learning in which learners make meaning out of their previous experiences and knowledge (Hill, 2014) as the theoretical framework to analyze and interpret the data. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed by using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that creative teaching made the learning process fun. It also revealed that creative teaching increased students’ participation and motivation because it put students in the center of the learning process. The findings also demonstrated that some students showed resistance toward change—moving from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach—when creative teaching was implemented. It also showed that some instructors needed the support of higher education administrators to incorporate creative teaching into their courses as there was a conspicuous lack of professional development needs in this regard. The study argued that the creative teaching of English positively impacted students’ academic achievements. This study could serve as a significant way to introduce information and strategies on creative teaching to L2 instructors in similar contexts as Afghanistan. The results provided implications for creative teaching in EFL classrooms as well as for the future of teaching English in ESL and EFL contexts

The Beyonder App: Designing a Website and a Mobile Application for Teachers to Integrate the Torrance Incubation Model into Classroom Content

E. Paul Torrance “the father of creativity” was quoted as saying “tomorrow’s world will be vastly different for today’s children. They will do kinds of work that do not exist now. This will require abilities, skills, attitudes and information that we cannot imagine today” (Torrance, 1993, p.159). Today’s world is vastly different, thus requiring creative skills and abilities to achieve success. Students growing up in today’s society are digital natives. This indicates that they do not know a world without technology advances, so technology is fully ingrained in their culture. Yet, today’s educational system has still not adapted to the idea of digital natives. Observations and research in the areas of education, creativity and technology suggest there is a need for educators to teach content areas, creativity and innovation skills as well as technology literacy to prepare students for the 21st century. The Beyonder App, a website and mobile application, focuses on the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning and Torrance’s creativity skill set as means for creativity integration. It is one mobile space that gives teachers the ability to easily interweave creativity skills into content areas while using the latest technology to engage today’s 21st century learners

A Quasi-Experimental Study on Creativity Development

With this quantitative quasi-experimental study, the researcher examined the effect of the implementation of a creativity development intervention on third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students as measured by the District Screener for Gifted Education in a central Georgia elementary school. Creativity development is of growing concern to U.S. educational and business leaders as jobs require creative ability. Using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance, the researcher compared the creativity raw scores from pre- and posttests of all third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students. The researcher also compared a representative sample of subpopulations using analysis of variance to see if the intervention affected gifted-identified and non-gifted-identified populations in different ways. Results showed significant improvement among all students, and the improvement was sustained over 9 weeks following the intervention. Findings have positive implications for development of creativity in all students. This study will inform educational policy makers of the impact creativity development can have on adolescents

The Learning of Human Ingenuity Within a Formal, Environmental Education Program: A Case Study of Two Secondary School Programs

This thesis explores the implementation of creative pedagogies to determine how creativity as a disposition and learning outcome is pursued in Ontario classrooms. Its focus falls within a broad context of growing interest in Environmental Education and increasing demand for problem-solving skills in the workforce and beyond. The study draws upon participant experiences to examine how creative problem-solving is realized. A case study approach was employed, using multiple data sources in two High School Environmental Leadership Programs. Findings from this research suggest that teachers prioritize the building, comprehension and application of facts and concepts over the use of instructional strategies that develop creative problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills such as synthesis, analysis and evaluation. Students preferred creative instructional strategies and wanted them more often. The study calls for renewed teacher commitment and additional professional development for instructional strategies that nurture student creativity and expand teachers’ pedagogy. Furthermore, policy recommendations call for environmental education to become a multidisciplinary subject of its own, considering the broad scope of content and skills from which it draws and the urgency to solve environmental problems

Understanding The Role of a Regional Magnet School in Creative Identity Development of Ethnically and Culturally Diverse Adolescents: A Case Study

The purpose of this dissertation exploratory case study was to examine the creativity-supportive practices at an innovative regional magnet school shaping Ethnically & Culturally Diverse (ECD) students’ creative identity development as perceived by different stakeholders including ECD students enrolled in the first three cohorts, teachers, and school administrators of RichTech Regional Magnet High School [RRMHS] (pseudonym). This single qualitative case study employed a small component of a quantitative survey, the results of which guided in part the design of interview protocols and sampling procedures for recruiting qualitative participants. Using a pragmatic research lens, I obtained and analyzed the diverse qualitative data including interviews with ECD students, teachers, and school administrators, open-ended qualitative survey responses, my field notes, and reflective memos. The findings of this dissertation study demonstrated that the creative identity development of ECD students can be supported in the context of an innovative regional magnet high school in three ways: (a) through facilitation of creative learning opportunities encompassing open-endedness and flexibility, non-linear synergy, student-centered future orientation as well as productive interactions of diverse perspectives; (b) through augmenting unique strengths of an innovative regional magnet school entailing limited size of student enrollment, intentional design of integrated diverse learning environment, as well as formulation of an innovative curricular and pedagogical model; and (c) through the promotion of teacher autonomy, the sustainable rapport between teachers and school administrators, development of sound beliefs by teachers and school administrators about student creativity as well as through leveraging teachers’ prior practical experiences of teaching ECD adolescent students. These key findings, recommendations, and implications for practice and future research are discussed in light of the limitations of the present study. With the limited research on the role of unique learning environments such as an innovative magnet school in promoting ECD adolescents\u27 creativity, this study is a small first attempt to better understand the magnet school-based salient opportunities for and experiences of ECD students’ creative identity development