Creative education

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Creative education is when students are able to use imagination and critical thinking to create new and meaningful forms of ideas where they can take risks, be independent and flexible. [1] Instead of being taught to reiterate what was learned, students learn to develop their ability to find various solutions to a problem. Coming up with various out-of-the box solutions is known as divergent thinking and there is no one way of cultivating this skill - largely due to the newness of the concept and the limited scientific information on creativity. [2]

Contents

Overview

Importance

The increasing interest in creative education is due to the need for more critical thinkers in business science, politics and every subject to be able to solve complex problems. [1] As the world becomes more interconnected, it is no longer possible to make linear decisions in business and in politics. Current leaders are looking for people who can bring about new ideas to solve pressing issues. For instance, in a 2010 IBM study, Chief Executive Officers from more than 60 countries and 33 different industries worldwide were surveyed on creativity. Those 1,500 CEOs believe that in order for the industries to keep growing in this increasingly complex world, creative strategies must be implemented in education so that these graduating students and future employees are better prepared for massive shifts in industries once they go to workplace. [3] This soft skill of creativity has been identified as a competency for a successful enterprise in the future.[ citation needed ]

When students have more say in their education, they become more engaged which helps facilitate learning. Plus, the goal of creative education is to challenge each student and encourage originality. Instead of "standardizing" how students approach a problem, different responses would be encouraged. This, in turn, allows more than one type of learner to exist within a classroom.

A growing number of colleges and universities are realizing the needs for more creative students in every field of education. Therefore, they are opening centers, such as Stanford University's d.school, Harvard University's i-lab, Oklahoma State University's Institute for Creativity and Innovation and Ball State University's Center for Creative Inquiry, to increase divergent thinking. Those centers are teaching students creative problem solving and design thinking. Creativity is a set of teachable skills and many universities are requiring students to take creativity classes as part of their undergraduate study. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Benefits of Creative Teaching

Research has found the following benefits for students using creativity in education:

Barriers to Creative Teaching

Ways to Increase Creativity in Classroom

These are few ways in which creativity in classroom can be increased:

Research

Early research viewed creativity as an intellectual ability possessed by few people. Creativity has been linked to intelligence. However, today creativity is viewed as a set of teachable skills not linked to intelligence. Some of the research that was done in early 2000, indicated that as people grow older, their creativity dampens. According to the Robinson Report, by the age of 5, a child's potential for creativity is 98%; by the age of 10, this percentage drops to 30%; at age of 15 it is 12%; and by the time we adults, our creativity is no more than 2%. [1]

After two decades, employers and universities realized the need to foster creativity in students and eventually in the workforce.

In Csikszentmihalyi's five-step process to elicit creative thinking, incubation is a necessary step. [11] Meaning, the use of unconscious thought is needed to solve complex problems. [12] A problem such as 2+2 is a linear thought process that can performed in the consciousness. Trying to solve the equation for gravity requires more complex connections in the brain which has been seen to require the unconscious thought process. In application to education, this may include requiring more recess time to facilitate the creative thought process. [13] However, there is limited research on how exactly the creative thought process works and how it can be elicited.

In relevance to education, there is research that emphasizes that students and teachers need more freedom to allow a more creative education process to take place. Students who can participate in their education show more creativity but for this type of education to work, teachers must also have more control over the curriculum. [14] This may look like the teacher determining the curriculum for the entire year or determining how much time each students needs to spend on each subject. Instead of the decision making starting from the top-down (state to schools), the decision making starts from the ground-up (teacher to schools). This isn't suggesting there shouldn't be some national guideline but the idea is to place more trust in the teachers as they are on-the-grounds, engaging with each student.

Different methods

Creative Problem Solving (CPS)

The CPS method is a more explicit form of cultivating creativity and uses divergent and convergent thinking skills. [15] Students are asked to brainstorm, plan ahead, and find solutions. Instead of changing an entire curriculum to be creative focused, this method is a more obvious way to teach students how to critically approach assignments.

The Torrance Incubation Model (TIM)

The Torrance Incubation Model (TIM), developed by Paul E. Torrance is made up of three stages: 1) Heighten Anticipation 2) Deepen Expectations 3) Extend the Learning. [16] This model was created to allow instructors to integrate creativity into their lessons without affecting the subject material. [15] Instead of having to put aside time to teach creativity, teachers can use the TIM model to address the subject and creativity at the same time. The teaching model also aspires to help teachers teach better and to increase interest in students.

Relating Concepts

Creative education is sometimes called design education but that may be confused with education pertaining to the design industry (i.e. architecture, graphic design, interior design, etc.).

Design thinking also explains the process of creatively solving problems in all faucets of life. Though this is very similar, creative education focuses on how classes are taught to oppress or encourage creativity.

Increased prevalence across nations

Singapore

In OECD's PISA global education survey, Singapore was named for having the best education system in 2015. [17] Singapore not only uses technology heavily in their classrooms, but there is emphasis on the idea that the teacher is a facilitator of finding information not the source of information. The argument is that kids are exposed to engaging screens outside of school so expecting them to not use their phones in school makes school boring. By using technology in the classroom, the can use the interest in technology as leverage to maintain student engagement. The technology skills are also more relevant to today's time. Additionally, teachers are encouraged to continually learn and change their teaching strategy by speaking with other instructors and allowing others to weigh-in on their classes - so the teaching method is constantly improving.

Finland

Finland has also been ranked as hosting one of the top education systems in the world. [17] Not only does the country strive to have accessible education, but teachers usually stay with the same students over several years. [18] The curriculum in Finland starts from the bottom-up so teachers have more control to change the design of the curriculum. This is partly due to the shift in how tests are viewed. Tests are still used as a means of assessing progress but there is no national testing. [18] There has been several intiaitives taken across Finnish schools to bring 4C's - collaboration, creativity and communication as a part of curriculum. Education Finland program aimed to spread Finnish educational know-how outside Finland run by Finnish National Agency for Education under Ministry of Education, Finland. The key organization members of Education Finland like Council for Creative Education, Finland focuses on developing the Finnish schools centered around creativity across several countries.

United Kingdom

From the 1960s through the 80's the UK's primary schools were recognized as innovative [19] and surrounding around the child as recorded in the Plowden Report. [20] A noteworthy school in the UK is A.S.'s Summerhill School which is a democratic school where parents, teachers, and students have a say in the education and where the education is designed around the students opposed to kids adapting to a standard school system.

Compared to the European Union, the UK, especially Northern Ireland, have a more frequent usage of creativity across multiple school subjects. [19]

United States

The education system in the United States has been seen as an inhibitor of creativity. [21] The extensive state-wide tests that are required have push educators to follow strict curriculum so there is less freedom among teachers. The tests also create a cyclical pattern in under-performing, poor schools - low performance leads to less funding. [22] Essentially, money buys the quality of education in the United States.

Australia

The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in Australia has also begun to integrate more creativity within its education model in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. [23]

Advocates of creative education

Ken Robinson

Ken Robinson is an academic specializing in the need for creativity in education. [24] He works with governments and education programs to work on creating more innovative education systems. He has a Tedtalk, "Do schools kill creativity?" that gained world recognition. [25]

Council for Creative Education (CCE) Finland

Council for Creative Education (CCE) Finland is a global organization originating from Tampere, Finland with the motto of redefining education through creativity. Every year, CCE organizes the International Symposium on Creative Education, where in educators, researchers, teachers across the globe meet and contemplate over the advancements and future of creative education.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creativity</span> Forming something new and somehow valuable

Creativity is a characteristic of someone or some process that forms something new and valuable. The created item may be intangible or a physical object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential education</span> Philosophy of education

Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential learning; however experiential learning is a sub-field and operates under the methodologies of experiential education. The Association for Experiential Education regards experiential education as "a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities". Experiential education is the term for the philosophy and educational progressivism is the movement which it informed. The Journal of Experiential Education publishes peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical academic research within the field.

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (PSSM) are guidelines produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in 2000, setting forth recommendations for mathematics educators. They form a national vision for preschool through twelfth grade mathematics education in the US and Canada. It is the primary model for standards-based mathematics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge, or problem. It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based learning. PBL contrasts with paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that presents established facts or portrays a smooth path to knowledge by instead posing questions, problems, or scenarios.

This is an index of education articles.

Personalized learning, individualized instruction, personal learning environment and direct instruction all refer to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students.

Formative assessment, formative evaluation, formative feedback, or assessment for learning, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. It also helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance. It is commonly contrasted with summative assessment, which seeks to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external accountability.

Arts integration differs from traditional education by its inclusion of both the arts discipline and a traditional subject as part of learning The goal of arts integration is to increase knowledge of a general subject area while concurrently fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of the fine and performing arts. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts defines arts integration as "an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject and meets evolving objectives in both."

Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teacher presenting facts and their knowledge about the subject. Inquiry-based learning is often assisted by a facilitator rather than a lecturer. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small-scale investigations and projects, as well as research. The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking and problem-solving skills.

Floyd Grant Robinson was a teacher, education theorist and curriculum developer. He wrote many works on the topics of stimulating complex thinking and the importance of education across the entire lifespan. Robinson is most notable for his work done while at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) between 1965 and 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden-based learning</span>

Garden-based learning (GBL) encompasses programs, activities and projects in which the garden is the foundation for integrated learning, in and across disciplines, through active, engaging, real-world experiences that have personal meaning for children, youth, adults and communities in an informal outside learning setting. Garden-based learning is an instructional strategy that utilizes the garden as a teaching tool.

Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) is a UK-based international foundation dedicated to unlocking the creativity of children and young people in and out of formal education. This is done primarily through designing and implementing programmes which improve the quality and reach of cultural education, and use culture and the arts to improve the quality and impact of general education, working with partners from around the world.

Creative Pedagogy is the science and art of creative teaching. It is a sub-field of Pedagogy, opposed to Critical pedagogy. "In its essence, creative pedagogy teaches learners how to learn creatively and become creators of themselves and creators of their future."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3S Understanding</span>

3S Understanding is a curriculum structure that was created by James G. Henderson. 3S Understanding is a mixture of three components that can be diagrammed as a triangle. The three Ss are Subject Matter, Self-learning, and Social Learning.

A three-part lesson is an inquiry-based learning method used to teach mathematics in K–12 schools. The three-part lesson has been attributed to John A. Van de Walle, a mathematician at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In U.S. education, deeper learning is a set of student educational outcomes including acquisition of robust core academic content, higher-order thinking skills, and learning dispositions. Deeper learning is based on the premise that the nature of work, civic, and everyday life is changing and therefore increasingly requires that formal education provides young people with mastery of skills like analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, and teamwork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st century skills</span> Skills identified as being required for success in the 21st century

21st century skills comprise skills, abilities, and learning dispositions identified as requirements for success in 21st century society and workplaces by educators, business leaders, academics, and governmental agencies. This is part of an international movement focusing on the skills required for students to prepare for workplace success in a rapidly changing, digital society. Many of these skills are associated with deeper learning, which is based on mastering skills such as analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, and teamwork, which differ from traditional academic skills as these are not content knowledge-based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning environment</span> Term in education

The term learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to "classroom", but it typically refers to the context of educational philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy. In a societal sense, learning environment may refer to the culture of the population it serves and of their location. Learning environments are highly diverse in use, learning styles, organization, and educational institution. The culture and context of a place or organization includes such factors as a way of thinking, behaving, or working, also known as organizational culture. For a learning environment such as an educational institution, it also includes such factors as operational characteristics of the instructors, instructional group, or institution; the philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy in learning styles and pedagogies used; and the societal culture of where the learning is occurring. Although physical environments do not determine educational activities, there is evidence of a relationship between school settings and the activities that take place there.

Makers Empire 3D is a 3D modeling computer program made by Makers Empire. It is designed to introduce 4-13 year old students to Design Thinking and engage them in STEM learning via 3D design and 3D printing. The 3D app is optimized for touch screens but can be used with and without a mouse on all major platforms.

Bill Lucas is a social entrepreneur and author. He is a professor of Learning and Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning at the University of Winchester. He is the co-creator of Expansive Education Network and a founding partner of a Bill Lucas Partnership Ltd. He is also an international adviser to Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in Australia and to the OECD/CERI on creativity.

References

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