Creativity: Part 2

AIG PDFebruary 4,

2014

Important Points to Remember

• Creativity is implied in the Common Core rather than explicitly stated

• The Common Core expresses expected OUTCOMES rather than detailing HOW students should develop competencies (like creativity)

Common Core Math

• Creativity is not addressed explicitly in the mathematics practice and content standards. There are, however, areas where creativity is implied.

• This is most evident in (but is not limited to)

measurement and data, algebraic thinking, geometry, statistics and probability and modeling.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Common Core ELA

• Creative writing and expression are included in the Common Core ELA standards to some degree, most obviously in the items that refer to creative writing.

• P21 encourages all states and districts to strengthen the Common Core by emphasizing the grade-level indicators that call for creative expression in ELA, including creative writing and creating and delivering presentations.

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• Creativity can also be incorporated as an element of almost any performance task related to ELA, and educators should consider how creativity will appear in curricula and performance-based measurements.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Suggested Practices

• Design curriculum that encourages inquiry-based learning

• Develop interdisciplinary performance tasks and/or project-based learning units

• Provide students with choices and the opportunity to apply what they know in meaningful ways.

Fluency is…

The ability to generate a large number of ideas

Got Milk? Campaign

Got Milk? Campaign

Flexibility is…

The ability to generate different ideas. Ideas that fall outside the logical or expected.

Where do you see Flexibility?

Originality is…

The ability to create fresh,

unique, unusual, totally new, or

extremely different ideas or

products.

What is Original?

Elaboration is…

The ability to add to, embellish, or build off of an idea or product.

Why Elaboration?

Rubric Time!

Caine’s Arcade

Rube Goldberg

Creativity Requires…• Creative climate is the physical and psychological support for

fostering ideas. The creative climate includes the family climate, the school climate, the social climate, the national climate, and the cultural climate. A creative climate encourages students’ expression of creative attitudes, prepares them to work harder, better accept a failure, and take a risk, and frees them from conformity.

• Creative attitude is centered on open-mindedness and openness to the novelty of new ideas.  Creative attitudes may include: sense of justice, self-expressiveness, sensitivity, empathy, courage, confidence, hard work, intellectual independence, rebellion, and resilience.

• Creative thinking is the cognitive processes that are necessary for a creative product. Creative thinking requires three different skills: divergent, convergent, and emergent thinking. Creative thinking can be trained, developed, practiced, and strengthened.

Kyung-Hee Kim

Divergent and Convergent Thinking…

• Divergent Thinking– ability to elaborate, and think of diverse and original

ideas with fluency and speed– Brainstorming is a great example!

• Convergent thinking– ability to use logical and  evaluative thinking to

critique and narrow ideas to ones best suited for given situations, or set criteria 

– use this type of thinking when we make crucial and well-formed decisions

• In creative production both thought processes are necessary – You first diverge ideas – then narrow and refine your ideas through

convergence 

Emergent Thinking

The process of transferring ideas

into a final product. It requires shifting

between convergent and divergent

thinking

30 Ways to Foster Creativity1. Embrace creativity as part of learning.

2. Use the most effective strategies.  3. Think of creativity as a skill.  4. Participate in or create a program to develop creative skills.  5. Use emotional connections. 6. Use a creativity model.  7. Consider how classroom assignments use divergent and convergent

thinking.  8. Creativity flourishes in a “congenial environment”. 9. Be aware during discussions.  10. See creativity in a positive light.  11. Try the Incubation Model.  12. Use a cultural artifact.  13. Establish expressive freedom.  14. Be familiar with standards.   15. Gather outside resources.  16.Allow room for mistakes. 

From: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-things-you-can-do-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom/

17. Allow space for creativity.  18. Give students time to ask questions.  19. Creativity builds confidence.  20. Encourage curiosity.21. Structure is essential.  22. Observe a working model of creativity.  23. Consider the work of current experts in the field.  24. Explore different cultures.  25. Find ways to incorporate and integrate art, music and culture.  26. Use a collaborative creative thinking model to solve classroom

problems.  27. Design multidisciplinary lessons when possible. 28. Tapping into multiple intelligences is key.  29. Understand that creativity is important to students’ future in the

job market.  30. Teach creative skills explicitly. 

From: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-things-you-can-do-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom/

30 Ways to Foster Creativity