Got Creativity?
• Who’s saying what about the
arts, creativity and the future
of America
• “The demand for a new work force to meet the challenges of a
global knowledge economy is rapidly increasing. As a special
report in Business Week magazine observed last year: ‘ The
game is changing. It isn’t just about math and science anymore.
It’s about creativity, imagination, and, above all innovation. ‘
• Most analysts studying the new global economy agree that the
growing creative and innovative economy represents America’s
salvation.”
• Eger, John M. (2008) The Arts in Contemporary Education, The
School Administrator, March, 2008
• Robert Root-Bernstein, a biochemist and MacArther prize
winner, studied 150 eminent scientists from Pasteur to Einstein.
His findings were startling to those educators lobbying for more
emphasis on the sciences for he discovered that nearly all of the
great inventors and scientists were also musicians, artists,
writers or poet.”
• Root-Berstein and his wife Michelle co-authored the book
Sparks of Genius which examines the minds of inventive people
and shows that creativity is something that both artists and
scientists learn. More important, the authors show that the
seemingly disparate disciplines of art and science, music and
math complement and enhance one another.
• Eger, John M. (2008) The Arts in Contemporary Education, The
School Administrator, March, 2008
• “Sadly, with the way we currently approach schooling in
America, we are destined to become a third-rate economy and a
Third World Power. We are forfeiting our greatest edge by
walking away from what we do best. America should compete at
what it has always done best: being the innovative engine that
drives the world economy.
• Houston, Paul D. (2006) Barking Up the Right Tree,
Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 88 NO 1, September, 2006
The Creative
Process
Steps of the Creative
Process
Ask the Question Define the
Problem
?
?
Saturation: gather information;
do research.
Incubation: time to think;
Let ideas “cook”.
“A-ha!” – a solution emerges!
Verification: test out the idea to
see if it works. If the idea
doesn't work--repeat the process!
Creativity
Choice
Change
Hulbert, Ann, (2007) Re-education – Can China re-educate Its
Education System?, The New York Times Magazine, April 1 2007,
Section 6
“Even as Americans seek to emulate China’s test centered and math
focused pedagogy, Chinese educators are trying to promote a
Western emphasis on critical thinking at home. . “.. some prominent
government officials have grown concerned that too many students
have become the sort of stresses-out, test-acing drone who fails to
acquire the skills – creativity, flexibility, initiativ e leadership - said to
be necessary in the global marketplace.”
• “Sadly, with the way we currently approach
schooling in America, we are destined to
become a third-rate economy and a Third
World Power. We are forfeiting our greatest
edge by walking away from what we do best.
America should compete at what it has
always done best: being the innovative
engine that drives the world economy.
• “
• Houston, Paul D. (2006) Barking Up the Right
Tree, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 88 NO 1,
September, 2006
• “The dominance of the “left-brained-driven”
world, where everything is sequential and
logical is giving way to a more “right-brained”
endeavor that focuses on the creative, holistic
skills.”
• Pink, Daniel, A Whole new Mind, ( 2005)
Riverhead Books, New York
• Creativity is a habit. The problem is that
schools sometimes treat it as a bad habit.
And the world of conventional standardized
tests we have invented does just that. Try
being creative on a standardized test, and
you will get slapped down just as soon as you
get your score. That will teach you not to do
it again.
• Sternberg, Robert J. (2006) Creativity Is a
Habit, Education Week Vol. 25 NO 24,
February 22, 2006
• Like any habit, creativity can either be
encouraged or discouraged. The main things
that promote the habit are (a) opportunities to
engage in it, (b) encouragement when people
avail themselves of these opportunities, and
(c) rewards when people respond to such
encouragement and think and behave
creatively. You need all three.
• Sternberg, Robert J. (2006) Creativity Is a
Habit, Education Week Vol. 25 NO 24,
February 22, 2006
•
Why is creativity even important? It is important because the world is
changing at a far greater pace than it ever has before, and people
need constantly to cope with new and unusual kinds of tasks and
situations. Learning in this era must be lifelong, and people
constantly need to be thinking in new ways. The problems we
confront, whether in our families, communities, or nations, are novel
and difficult, and we need to think creatively and divergently to solve
these problems.
Sternberg, Robert J. (2006) Creativity Is a Habit, Education Week
Vol. 25 NO 24, February 22, 2006
If we want to encourage creativity, we need to promote the creativity
habit. That means we have to stop treating it as a bad habit. We
have to resist efforts to promote a conception for accountability that
encourages children to accumulate inert knowledge, with which they
learn to think neither creatively nor critically. Rather, we should
promote the kind of accountability in which students must show they
have mastered subject matter, but also can think analytically,
creatively, and practically with it.
Sternberg, Robert J. (2006) Creativity Is a Habit, Education Week
Vol. 2 5 NO 24, February 22, 2006
• Now evidence is emerging that arts education can
have powerful effects on student achievement, and
that these effects may be most profound for
struggling students. Gains associated with high arts
participation were greatest for students in the lowest
SES quartile, those most at risk of academic failure.
Low-performing students in these programs
consistently defied teachers’ expectations as they
found pathways to success through the arts that
eluded them in conventional classrooms. Many
changed from withdrawn or disruptive elements to
active and productive class members1.
• “Obama Arts Policy Committee Briefing Paper,
Arts Education and School Improvement.”
• Quality arts education is a priority for ALL students because:
• a. Equity ALL students have a right to equitable access to arts
and culture. Not only the privileged, not only the exceptionally
talented, but ALL learners. In a democracy, the arts belong to
EVERYONE.
• b. 21st Century Work Skills: Quality arts education is an
essential part of 21st century learning needed by young people
to succeed in an information economy, where the nature of work
is constantly changing, and today’s students must develop the
flexibility and creativity necessary to adapt to the jobs of
tomorrow. The skills developed by the arts (collaboration,
expression, imagining options) are no longer a luxury for the
few, but basic skills needed by all.
• “Obama Arts Policy Committee Briefing Paper, Arts
Education and School Improvement.”
Got Creativity?