TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR CREATIVITY

Teaching and Learning for Creativity

Teaching and Learning for Creativity

Introduction

Froebelian-inspired kindergarten advocates in schools originally linked the concept of creativity to educational aims on theological grounds. The strength of their spiritual convictions, which assumed a connection between the child's inner powers, the impulse to creative activity, and the Almighty, secured a place for creativity in the field of early childhood education. Three major, overlapping phases of research took place, each guided by a different definition of the construct. Roughly speaking, creativity meant 'technological innovation' in the first wave of research; 'rebellious, unconventional ideas' in the second; and 'recognized work of major significance' in the third. Within each group of studies, there were also variations, especially during the most recent period (Sternberg, 1999).

The strongest arguments for fostering creativity in schools have appeared in the early childhood literature but have impacted other levels of education very little. The task of studying the topic scientifically has fallen instead to academics whose aims have been more often scholarly than educational, resulting in an ironic state of affairs. On the one hand, early childhood education, which clearly values creativity as a central goal of schooling, has generated little research on the topic. On the other hand, creativity researchers (with rare exceptions) have neglected educational aims and means.

With the recent additions to the curriculum of ensuring each a day there is an hour being spent teaching literacy and numeracy, there has been pressure to dismiss some of the more creative learning. However, a Creative Primary Curriculum is a way of ensuring that children benefit from creative subjects without jeopardising the national curriculum. Purchasing one a Creative Primary Curriculum could also make a vast difference to the performance of a teacher, which in turn benefits a child's learning.

Creativity in Primary Curriculum

Creative Primary Curriculum, ensures that a child gains the experience and learning of subjects such as Space, Growth and Habitats. There are companies that can be found online which specialise in Creative Primary Curriculum's and offer a full lay out for each Key Stage, so the stress of deciding which extra subjects are beneficial is taken out and the teacher's are left to concentrate on doing what they do best, teaching.

Creativity is best understood as domain specific (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, 1999; Feldman, 1994). Conceptualizing creativity as domain specific highlights the importance of subject matter knowledge. Teaching content should not be secondary to teaching process. Moreover, the talents necessary for creative work in one domain may not be the ones needed for creative work in another, emphasizing the need to recognize domain differences as well as individual talents when constructing intervention efforts to enhance activity (Sternberg, 2003a).

Creative accomplishments of enduring value often spring from atypical minds (Gruber & Barrett, 1974; Gruber, 1988; Feldman & Goldsmith, 1991; Gardner, 1993; Csikszentmihalyi, 1999; Sternberg & Lubart, 1995; Holton, 1996). To learn about high level creativity, efforts should be directed toward the study of atypical mind-brains. Systematic study of extreme cases (savants, prodigies) or of children with various neurological ...