Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #56 1980
Module 4: The Spirit of Creativity in Holistic Education
Module description:
In relation to a working definition of the process of holistic development this module looks at the nature of, and use of, the idea of ‘creativity’ by the teacher, or other practitioner, so as to encourage learning, professional development and/or personal growth.
Creativity: Our Definition
Defining a process that covers such a wide range of activities
and personal styles is inherently difficult. Ours is a
stipulative definition, but it takes account of what we
understand about the nature of creative processes and of the
ways in which key words are used in different contexts. It is
also in a sense an indicative definition in that it points
to features of creative processes that we want to encourage
for educational purposes. Our starting point is to
recognise four characteristics of creative processes.First, they always involve thinking or behaving imaginatively.
Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is,
it is directed to achieving an objective.Third, these processes must generate something original.
Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective. We therefore define creativity as:
Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value.
UK Governemnt ‘National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education’
All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education SEE http://www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce/index1.shtml
You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. Maya Angelou
Creativity is . . .
Common definition from Webster’s – Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create–to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.
- Carl Rodgers (psychologist an writer) — The emergence of a novel, relational product, growing out of the uniqueness of the individual.
- Henry Miller ( writer) — The occurrence of a composition which is both new and valuable.
- John Haefele (CEO and entrepreneur) — The ability to make new combinations of social worth.
- Newell, Simon, & Shaw (team of logic theorists) — A special class of problem solving characterized by novelty.
- H. H. Fox (scientist) — Any thinking process in which original patterns are formed and expressed.
- E. Paul Torrance (educator, academic, creativity investigator) –Fluency , flexibility, originality, and sometimes elaboration.
- Rollo May (writer, philosopher) – Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being…
Roger von Oech – Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena.
Carnevale, Gainer, Meltzer - … the ability to use different modes of thought to generate new and dynamic ideas and solutions
Creativity is not just about the arts, or particular types of individual. We all have the capacity for creative thinking – for generating and extending ideas, suggesting hypotheses, applying imagination and looking for alternative innovative outcomes in any activity. Creativity means generating outcomes that are original and of value. Originality may be in relation to one’s previous experience, to a group or it may be uniquely original. Creative thinking is also about judgement – our ability to judge the value of ideas and outputs.
Fisher R. (in press), ‘Expanding Minds: Developing Creativity in Young Learners’, CATS: The IATEFL Young Learners SIG journal. Spring 2006
Introductory reading/s to get started:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce/index1.shtml
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/eisner.htm
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/think/creative.htm#top
NB much here is ABOUT ‘creativity’ which makes it another bean-counting activity as opposed to the development of creativity – which is primarily achieved through having people create! Have a look at ARTLEX as well RP
A sense of the field can be obtained from Roger Stack’s ‘Map’ of Holistic Education see also his blog
