Syllabus

Purpose

This course provides teachers with the knowledge and skills to nurture creativity in their students. Creativity is one of the most essential of human talents. Our daily lives are enriched by the products of creative individuals. It can be argued that creativity is the driving engine of civilized societies. Among students in our classrooms, creativity varies over a wide range - visual, mechanical, verbal, artistic, linguistic, athletic, mathematical, and analytical. Each student is a living composite of innate characteristics associated with creative behavior. These innate characteristics can be enhanced by teachers who are aware and knowledgeable of proven and effective ways to teach creative behavior.

Course Description

Part I defines creativity and describes behaviors most often associated with creative behavior. In addition, a model is systematically developed that teachers may use to develop creative lessons. The model includes four components:

• Catalyst to Action
• Incubation
• Process(es)
• Outcomes

Part II elaborates each part of the model by adding and covering topics that range from finding problems to critical thinking. Each topic is functionally related to model components. Part III emphasizes the application of the model to lesson development and teaching creatively.

Objectives

• Complete a historical review of creativity.
• Develop a definition of creativity and name creative attributes.
• Develop and apply a four-part model for teaching creativity.
• Relate the role of thinking in the process of creativity.
• Name and assess "Nine Creative Intelligences."
• Match and apply creative and critical thinking to problems.
• List and describe domain structures and their impact on creativity.
• Analyze and use ways to assess creativity.
• Use the four-part model to develop creative lessons.
• Complete a review and analysis of a case study of creative problem solving.
• Name and organize the essential elements in a congenial environment that nurtures creativity among students.

Curriculum Design

Teaching Creativity, Creatively is an online forty-five hour, three credit graduate course. The basic methodology is experiential through work on prescribed topics, issues, and "real" problems. Participants will, using a prescribed model, develop a lesson, field-test the lesson, and report outcomes. For those participants not currently teaching, they will either tailor the activity to their specific job situation or complete a research report.

Time Requirements

This course is offered over a period of 15 weeks. Modules are completed over the 15-week period pending length of assignments per week.

Skill and Hardware Requirements

Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows 2000 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing skills and have Internet access as well as an active email account. Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how to use a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, etc.

Course Materials

Each participant is provided a student manual that includes problems, readings, bibliography, exercises, and case studies. In addition, each participant receives a copy of Creativity in Education & Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Educators, written by Arthur J. Cropley, and published by Stylus Publishing. In addition, online readings and Web site reviews (including journal articles and best practices from the body of educational research) will be assigned during the course to enhance learning. These readings will be presented as annotated Web sites within the course content.

Course Outline

Module One: Creativity Orientation

Contents:

• Course orientation
• Ten definitions of creativity
• The Creators' Patterns
• Essential terms and definitions
• Three examples of teaching creativity creatively
• A case for teaching students creative attributes

Module Two: A Model for Classroom Application

Contents:

• Catalyst to action: problems, needs, challenge, curiosity
• Irrational element(s): dreams, fantasy, etc.
• Generative processes (rational elements)
• Discovery, judgements, and justification
• A model to facilitate creativity in the classroom

Module Three: The Role of Thinking in Creativity

Contents:

• The role of cognitive structures
• Proven paths of creative exploration
• Problem solving through creative behavior
• The relationship of intelligence and creativity
• How to think creatively

Module Four: Nine Creative Intelligences

Contents:

• Create yourself
• You and you - personal intelligence
• You and them - social intelligence
• Heaven knows! - spiritual intelligence
• Body talk - physical intelligence
• Making sense of your senses
• Count on yourself - numerical intelligence
• Mind the gap!
• The power of words

Module Five: The Screw-Worm Caper: A Case Study in Creativity

Contents:

• The setting
• The problem
• The creative process

Module Six: Creativity and Critical Thinking

Contents:

• What is critical thinking?
• The role of logic in critical thinking
• Phases of decision making
• Critical thinking and objectivity
• The role of transfer
• Inductive/deductive reasoning
• Applying structured knowledge to unstructured problems

Module Seven: Domains and Creativity

Contents:

• Distinct bodies of knowledge and modes of inquiry
• Thinking process across disciplines
• Fields of human beings that make judgments
• Creativity and domain structure
• A case study

Module Eight: Assessing Creativity

Contents:

• Domain criteria, traditional and out-of-the-box thinking
• Conditions for novelty in context
• Effectiveness as a function of usefulness and practicality
• Teacher judgments and assessments
• Tests of creativity - commercial and teacher made
• Criteria for product assessment

Module Nine: Writing and Developing Creative Lessons for the Classroom

Contents:

• The structure of an elegant problem
• Solving real problems through the use of creative attributes
• The impractical to practical continuum
• Creative cooperation and collaboration
• Challenging but achievable problems
• Transforming, restructuring, combining, reorganizing to achieve problem resolution
• Time to reflect and integrate lessons
• Making diverse connections through problem content

Module Ten: Providing the "Congenial" Environment

Contents:

• Learning environment that promotes risk taking and living with temporary frustrations and failure
• Appropriate meshing of prescribed curriculum and creativity
• Domain impact on a congenial environment
• Accepting creative behavior by parents, administrators, and students
• Provide specific instruction in creative and critical thinking
• Course review and synthesis

Course Requirements:

Requirements	Points
Forum Participation	10
Reading, Reviews, and Projects	50
Lesson field-tested	15
Final Project	25
Total	100

Grades
100-93 - A
85-92 - B
75-84 - C

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by the Teacher Education University catalog and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Bibliography

Adams, J.L. (1986). "The Care and Feeding of Ideas: A Guide to Encouraging Creativity." Reading, MA.: Addison-Wesley.

Albert, R.S. (1990). Identity, experiences, and career choice among the exceptionally gifted and talented, in Theories of Creativity, ed M.A. Runco, pp 13-34, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

Altshuller, G.S. (1984). Creativity as an Exact Science, Gordon and Breach, New York.

Amabile, T.M. (1996). Creativity in Context, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Ayman-Nolley, S. (1992). Vygotsky's perspective on the development of imagination and creativity, Creativity Research Journal, 5, pp 101-109.

Barron, F.X. (1969). Creative Person and Creative Process, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

Barron, F.X. and Harrington, D.M. (1981). Creativity, intelligence and personality, Annual Review of Psychology, 32, pp 439-476.

Basadur, M. and Hausdorf, P.A. (1996). Measuring divergent thinking attitudes related to creative problem solving and innovation management, Creativity Research Journal, 9, pp 21-32.

Buzan, Tony. "Head First: 10 Ways to Tap into Your Natural Genius." London: Harper Collins Publishers.

Carroll, J.B. (1993). Human Cognitive Abilities, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Clapham, M.M. (1997). Ideational skills training: a key element in creativity training programs, Creativity Research Journal, 10, pp 33-44.

Cropley, Arthur J. (2001). "Creativity in Education and Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Educators." Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Cropley, A.J. (1992). More Ways than One: Fostering creativity in the classroom, Ablex, Norwood, NJ.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture and person: a system view of creativity, in The Nature of Creativity, ed R.J. Sternberg, pp325-339, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Dacey, J.S. (1989). Fundamentals of Creative Thinking, Lexington Press, Lexington, MA.

Derry, S.J. and Murphy, D.A. (1986). Designing systems that train learning ability: from theory to practice, Review of Education Research, 56, pp 1-39.
Dillon, J.T. (1982). Problem finding and solving, Journal of Creative Behavior, 16, pp 97-111.

Donald, Janet (2002). "Learning to Think: Disciplinary Perspectives." San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Donald, J.G. (1985). Knowledge structures: methods for exploring course content, Journal of Higher Education, 54 (1), pp 31-41.

Domino, G. (1994). Assessment of creativity using the ACL: a comparison of four scales, Creativity Research Journal, 7 pp 21-23.

Feldhusen, J.F. (1995). Creativity: a knowledge base, metacognitive skills, and personality factors, Journal of Creative Behavior, 29, pp 255-268.

Finke, R.A., Ward, T.B., and Smith S.M. (1992). Creative Cognition, MIT Press, Boston, MA.

Frederiksen, N. (1984). Implications of cognitive theory for instruction in problem solving, Review of Educational Research, 54 (3), 363-407.

Gelb, Michael J. How to Think Like da Vinci. New York: Dell Publishing.

Ghiselin, B. (1955). The Creative Process, Mentor, New York.

Guilford, J.P. (1950). Creativity, American Psychologist, 5, pp 444-454.

Joussemet, M. and Koestner, R. (1999). Effect of expected rewards on children's creativity, Creativity Research Journal, 12, pp 231-240.

Koestler, Arthur (1977). "The Act of Creation." New York: Dell.

Kumar, V.K., Kemmler, D., and Holman, E.R. (1997). The Creativity Styles Questionnaire revised, Creativity Research Journal, 10, pp 51-58.

Moore, Edgar W., McCann, Hugh, and McCann, Janet (1985). "Creative and Critical Thinking." Boston: Mifflin Company.

Mumford, Michael D. Creative thought: structure components, and educational implications, Roper Review, v.21, no. 1, Sept. 1998, pp 14-19.

Martinson, O. (1995). Cognitive styles and experience in solving insight problems; replication and extension, Creativity Research Journal, 8, pp 291-298.

Resnick, L.B. (1987). Education and Learning to Think, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

Richards, R. et al (1988). Assessing everyday creativity: characteristics of the Lifetime Creativity Scales and validation with three large samples, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, pp 476-485.

Sternberg, R.J. (1987). The triarchic theory of human intelligence, in J.T.E. Richardson (Ed.) Student learning: research in education and cognitive psychology, pp 66-72. Bristol, PA: Open University Press, Society for Research in Higher Education.

Sternberg, R.J. (1999). A propulsion model of types of creative contribution, Review of General Psychology, 3 (2), pp 83-100.

Sternberg, R.J. (1985a). "Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence." New York: Cambridge University Press.

Torrance, E.P. (1999). Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: Norms and technical manual, Scholastic Testing Services, Bensenville, IL.

Westby, E.L. and Dawson, V.L. (1995). Creativity: Asset or burden in the classroom?, Creativity Research Journal, 8, pp 1-10.

Woolfolk, Anita E. (1993). Education Psychology 5th Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Web Sites

1. Mind Mapping (Session I)
How to make a mind map is described. The site is linked to Mind Mapping FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Creativity Web - Resources for creativity and innovation to help the individual become more creative.

2. Creativity Teaching Resources (Session 9)
Directory of free learning resources on the internet.

3. Problem Selection (Session 9)
This site offers suggestions to provoke thought and help to keep an idea from getting stale.

4. Teaching Creativity (Session 2)
Addresses the question of whether creativity can be taught.

5. Novelty (Session 8)
Example of novelty in problem solving. Also, go to "education" link for ideas.

6. Creative Problem Solving (Session 7)
This site is designed for business and industry, however, the techniques of brainstorming and storyboarding are very informative and can easily be adapted to the classroom.

7. A Comparative View of Creativity Theories: Psychoanalytic, Behavioristic, and Humanistic (Session 1)
Recommended for review along with Session 1. The content greatly expands our ability to define creativity.

8. Creativity: Method or Magic (Session 2)
Link to Cogprints, an electronic archive providing cutting edge research on creativity.

9. Design, Analogy, and Creativity (Session 2)
Expands the concept of analogical reasoning.

10. Lateral Thinking - The Generation of Novel Solutions (Session 3)

11. Broken Crayons (Session 4)
Teaches how to become more creative through the analogy of broken crayons.

12. Encyclopedia of Creativity (reference for all sessions)
Subjects include theories of creativity and techniques for enhancing creativity.

13. Creativity (Session 5)
An essay on creativity by Blake Morrison.

14. Theories of Learning (Session 7)
From the ERIC database: Teaching for Understanding and Creativity.

15. Creativity Un-Block (Session 10)
Provides a perspective on how to diagnose and resolve blocks to creative action.

16. Nine Classroom Creativity Killers (Session 10)

Teacher Education University reserves the right to adjust and adapt this syllabus as necessary.