Chapter 10
Using Work Samples to
Look at Creativity
“Writing meaningful observations as they are
occurring cannot happen in a teacher-directed
classroom. The teacher is too busy.”
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WORK SAMPLES
• Children’s drawings, writings, products,
inventions
• Media: Photos, video, audio tapes
• Transcripts of conversations
• Anecdotal records of dramatic play
episodes
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Development Revealed in
Work Samples
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Uses of Work Samples
Advantages
Disadvantages
• In natural setting,
non-teacher directed
• Compared over a
period of time
• Expression of child’s
thoughts and feelings
• Children’s products
are works in progress
• May lead observer to
draw erroneous
conclusions
• Reflect inferences
of selector
• Collection and
storage
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What to Do with It
• Depending on medium, it can be
duplicated for child’s portfolio
• Shared with child and family as a point of
discussion and comparison to work over
time
• Displayed in classroom (without
competition)
• Used to explore children’s interests and
extend with planned activities
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LOOKING AT CHILDREN’S
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Stages of Children’s Art
1. Making marks – 0 to 2 years,
experimentation
2. Scribbling – 2 to 4 years, exploration
3. Preschematic – 4 to 7 years,
nonrepresentational
4. Schematic – 7 to 9 years, more realistic
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Early Stages of Drawing
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Observing Creativity in Infants
and Toddlers
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Learning how to create something from “raw” materials
Exploring materials with their senses
Learning different ways to express thoughts and ideas
Learning to make decisions
Developing the ability to share materials and
appreciate others’ work
• Developing a positive self-concept
• Developing and refining fine motor and cognitive
activities
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Process vs. Product
• Materials presented
for exploration
• Unique outcomes
• Child has freedom to
select materials and
work
• Only child’s hands
and ideas in the work
• Finished work shown
as a model
• All works look similar
• Teacher/Adult gives
directions
• Adult “helps” child by
contributing to the
work or restricting the
child’s ideas
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Blocks as a Creative Medium
Types of Blocks
Stages in Block Play
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Plastic interlocking
Unit blocks
Hollow blocks
Cardboard blocks
Foam blocks
Special building sets
Cube blocks
Carry, fill, dump
Stacking, laying
Bridging
Enclosures
Patterns
Naming, representing
Reproducing
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Creativity and Development
• Cognitive – Problem solving, logicomathematical skills
• Social/Emotional – Expression, sharing,
cooperation
• Physical – Involves refinement of large
and small muscles
• Language – Expands descriptive
vocabulary, symbolic representation
©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Comparison of Stages
NOTE SIMILARITIES OF TRANSITION
BETWEEN STAGES
• Cognitive – Piaget
• Creative – Kellogg, Lowenfeld
• Language
• Writing
• Social Emotional – Erikson
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Helping All Children
with Creativity
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Giftedness
Divergent Thinking
Cultural Diversity
Ability Diversity
Helping Professionals
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Talking with Children
about Their Work
CONSIDER NOT…
PRACTICE
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• Describing
– Color
– Patterns
– Process
– Attention
– Relationship to
experiences
– Concepts
Complimenting
Judging
Valuing
Questioning
Probing
Correcting
Psychoanalyzing
Modeling
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Standard Related to
Young Children and Creativity
Child Development Associate (CDA)
Functional Area 7: Creative
Candidate provides opportunities that
stimulate children to play with sound,
rhythm, language, materials, space, and
ideas in individual ways and to express
creative abilities.
©2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.