Starting Point: My initial thoughts on creativity.

Welcome to my reflective journal for the Creative Learning Elective. I thought that the best place for me to start is by mind mapping my initial thoughts about creativity. Later on in the elective, I hope to revisit this mind map to see how my thoughts and opinions have changed and hopefully grown. 

What is creativity?

Creativity is open to wide interpretation and seems to have no precise and universally accepted definition. It can mean different things to different people from: artistic talent, being imaginative or inventive, taking risks, challenging convention, coming up with original and valued ideas to daring to be different.

I wanted to gain a better understanding of creativity and its relevance in education so I found some definitions from a variety of sources.

“to create – to bring into existence”

Oxford Engish Dictionary (1982)

“Creativity means connecting the previously unconnected in ways that are new and meaningful to the individual concerned.”

Duffy (1998: p18)

“Creativity is a thinking and responding process that involves connecting with our previous experience, responding to stimuli (objects, symbols, ideas, people, situations) and generating at least one unique combination.”

Parnes (1963: p5)

“creativity is a powerful capacity of human intelligence, rather than a subject or an event. It is relevant to everyone and to everyday life and embraces both individual and collaborative activities.”

Prentice (200: p156)

“The creating mind develops new ideas, practices and procedures, solves complex problems and is innovative. Like the disciplined mind, the creative mind does not rest once something has been created, but is constantly motivated to risk failure and continue to develop and create.”

Johnston and Nahmad-williams (2009: p120)

Creativity can mean different things in different contexts. One thing I have realised is that it is no longer considered to be exclusively the preserve of the arts and is possible in any activity that engages our intelligence. We can be creative in anything we do!

Through my reading I am now starting to see that creativity is important on a national and global level for economic growth and development, but on a more personal level it is important for self-esteem and motivation.

 LTS Creativity (2010), states that:

 “Pupils who are encouraged to think creatively:

·         become more interested in discovering things for themselves

·         are more open to new ideas and challenges

·         are more able to solve problems

·         can work well with others

·         become more effective learners

·         have greater ownership over their learning.”

This supports Curriculum for Excellence and in my opinion is what teaching and learning should be about.

Children are naturally creative and if we want to educate people for the future, I believe that we must nourish and help to develop creativity in our young learners. The LTS creativity portal(2010) is a new resource which aims to inspire creativity in learning and teaching.

References

Duffy, B. (1998) Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years. Buckingham, Philadelphia: Open University Press.

Johnston, J. and Nahmad-Williams, L. (2009). Early Childhood Studies. Essex: Pearson education Limited.

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010). Creativity. Available:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/learningteachingandassessment/approaches/creativity/index.asp

[Accessed 21/09/2011]

Parnes, S. (1963) Development of Individual Creative Talent, in Taylor, C.W & Barrons, F. (eds.)Scientific Creativity: its Recognition and Development. New York: Wiley.

Prentice, R. (2002) Creativity- a reaffirmation of its place in early childhood education. The Curriculum Journal, Vol 11 No 2. Summer 2000.

Scottish Government.  (2009). Curriculum for Excellence. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

Storyline

Storyline is the first subject area that we will be learning about during this elective. It is due to span over five inputs where the class will work through a Storyline to gain insight into what it is and how to do it. For me this is a good way to learn about a new subject as I will be involved in the making of it instead of hearing about someone else’s experiences. Storyline was new to me, so I thought I should do background reading to gain a clearer idea of what it is. 

What is Storyline?

In Scotland in the mid 1960’s the Primary Memorandum recommended a curriculum that included integrated areas of study. In 1967 in Glasgow an inservice staff tutor team was formed to help teachers experiment with topic studies as a form of integration. It is here that Storyline was created by Steven Bell, Sallie Harkness and Fred Rendell. It fell out of fashion in the 1980’s when the Scottish curriculum changed to a more subject-based design where integration was not encouraged. Despite the lack of popularity of Storyline in Scotland at this time, it was kept alive in many other countries and now has a growing international reputation in countries such as Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, USA and Thailand. Now Scotland has a new ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ which once again encompasses the storyline philosophy of holistic and thematic approaches to learning and teaching.

Storyline is a teaching methodology comprising of a partnership between the teacher and the learners. “Storyline provides a cross curricular, topic based method of teaching that uses the structure of a story to enable the teacher and pupils to co-construct the curriculum,” Bell and Harkness (2006, p.2). The story itself is used as a context for learning in which the teacher plans the line, or chapters, which contain the learning intentions and the learners create the story and take it further, providing them with ownership. The ownership of the learners is important as I believe this will motivate them as they become emotionally and intellectually involved. The line is designed in the form of key questions which encourage the learners to create the characters, setting and events. Various educators believe that learning in this way is more likely to result in deep learning, which is one of the principles of Curriculum for Excellence.

Storyline sounds good in theory, but I am not sure all teachers are able to carry it out effectively. To promote a creative classroom does not just happen overnight. For some children this will be a wonderful and exciting opportunity, but for the small group of children who feel they lack the ability to be creative, this could seem like their worst nightmare. I was one of these children, but through my experiences and reading I realise that everyone has the natural ability to be creative it just gets lost somewhere along the way and they lack the confidence to lose their inhibitions and let their creativity flow. This said I still do not feel very creative, but the difference is that I know it is in there somewhere. I believe that for teachers to make this work the most important thing is to provide the right atmosphere for children, to feel safe, secure and understand that by making mistakes is how we learn. Robinson advocates that, “if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original” (TEDtalksdirector, 2007). I think that this is the key, to provide children with the type of environment that promotes this and in turn will help them to have the confidence to open up and be creative.

References

Bell, S. and Harkness, S. (2006) Storyline - Promoting Language Accross the Curriculum. Hertfordshire: UKL.

TEDtalksdirector (2007) Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY (Accessed: 9 October 2011).

Setting the scene and creating characters.

For our first input we were briefly told about Storyline as Fi wanted us to experience it for ourselves. This left me feeling quite uneasy as I like to know exactly what we are doing. If I were doing this with a class I do not think I would explain Storyline to them as I think it is unnecessary, but I would give them an itinerary of the types of things we would be doing. I think that it is important for children to know exactly where they are going and feel that this could still be done without giving too much away. I also think that by knowing what direction you are heading in allows you to start thinking about it.

Our first task was to choose our setting. We were given the option of a number of pictures of different schools. We voted as a class and the picture which gained the most votes was small rural school set on the edge of a loch: very idyllic.

In a class situation I would spend longer on setting the scene. The children could make their own designs, a debate could be held to help decide which designs would be best, different designs could be merged before making a final vote. Bell and Harkness (2006, p.9) state that “it is worthwhile spending time on these early episodes; investment in the setting and characters of a storyline topic pay dividends later”. I believe that the longer children spend on this section the more attached and involved they become in the whole process giving them a sense of ownership which in turn will keep them motivated.  

Our next task was to choose a name and badge for our school. We went about this in a similar manner. In the groups we sat in we came up with a name and badge then as a class voted for the best. Before deciding we discussed what would make a good badge, such as bright colours, simple design, text... We even talked about costing for embroidering it onto school jumpers. I feel this could be taken much further with a class enabling deep, relevant learning. We were alreading becoming attached to our new school and I can see how well this would work in the classroom when spending a longer period of time on it. Our new school was named Lochside Primary School and here is our badge.

The final part to this input was for us to work on our own to create our characters. Each of us had to create a teacher for the school. This terrified me as I was not expecting it and we did not have long to do it, but maybe it was just what I need to be able to let go and get on with? I managed the task and created my character. When doing this in a class situation, again it would be done over a much longer period of time allowing all the children to really think about their choices. I believe when children create strong characters they adopt specific and strong views which can add to the Storyline later on. 

References

Bell, S. and Harkness, S. (2006) Storyline - Promoting Language Accross the Curriculum. Hertfordshire: UKL.

School aims, school song

When I entered the room for this input I could see our character creations on the wall. It was exciting to see and this only emphasises the importance of having children's work up on the wall. It can promote a sense of achievement boosting self esteem, which in turn can help to establish the right atmosphere for the children to be creative. 

The first task of the day was to create a vision statement and our school aims. We did this in groups then voted to select the final outcome. This was more difficult than our previous votes as there was not the time to justify the choices or to combine all the ideas into one. 

Vision statement: 

To prepare the children of our community for their future and provide them with the knowledge and skills to strive in today’s society.

We aim to:  

·         Provide a warm and inviting environment in which every individual is supported to succeed.

·         Always try our best

·         Treat others the way we like to be treated

·         Respect our school and community

·         Take pride in everything that we do.

I would enjoy doing this in the classroom as I feel it is something that the children could really get involved in and it could spark debate. This section would also have strong links with health and well-being as well as language. Once the different groups had chosen their visions and aims and have justified their choices to the class I would then encourage the class to make a final decision using a combination of all the groups' work. I believe this is important as it lets the children see that all their work is valued, which in turn may boost self-esteem. This would also increase their emotional involvement giving them ownership of the project which in turn should improve motivation. McLean (2005, p. 9) emphasises the impoprtance of intrinsic motivation as it "is more enjoyable, but it also helps learning and achievement."

The final task for this input was to write a school song. This was the part I had been dreading most of all. Not only did I have to try to open myself up to creativity but I also had to include music. We started by discussing different ideas within our groups, but it soon became apparent that there was not the time to go about this as we had done for previous tasks. There seemed to be some of us that were uneasy with writing a song, so we decided to work together as a class to get the job done. We threw different ideas out to the class and realised we needed to keep it simple. The song we chose was a well known classic and we pulled together to write the lyrics. We even managed some actions too. Here is the Lochside Primary School song:

It felt really good to work together as a whole class and even create a school song. I did not believe we would manage this. I feel more confident in my own abilities and believe that I might even hold the potential to become a creative person. This lesson was a turning point for me personally and I hope I can continue to grow from strength to strength. I think that within a primary classroom this turning point of self belief could happen much earlier as there is the time to focus on specific episodes of the Storyline and tease them out. I am however, happy that we are getting the opportunity to work through our own Storyline even if it is at a faster pace. 

References

McLean, A. (2005) The Motivated School. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Job offers and creating the school website

We had chosen our school, created a badge, created our characters, written the aims, created a song and it was now time for our characters to apply for their jobs. We had to write a C.V and a covering letter. I already had a C.V written so I just adapted it for this, but for those that had to start from scratch I think it was too much work. I would not do this with a primary class but it might be more suited to a secondary class. I  would use the covering letter as it provides plenty opportunity for the children to come up with all sorts of ideas about their character. For example, my character ended up with psychic powers. The applications were handed in and all we could do was wait and see what position we would be offered. 

At the start of the next input we were all excited to hear which class we would be teaching. I can see how well this would work in the primary school as the children become more deeply involved in the story. I was assigned the position of nursery teacher as it was thought my psychic powers would be best suited there. 

Creating a school website was our next task. We really only had time to sample this but I really enjoyed it. This would be a relevant chapter to do with the children, especially in this day in age where technology is so widely used. It is also a good way of linking to ICT without being contrived. This is something that the children would enjoy and they could all have a different section to work on with real results at the end. Here is the link to our attempts at a school website.

Lochside Primary School Website

Creativity and science

Creativity and science are words which are not often used together and may even be viewed as completely unrelated. Creativity is rarely discussed in the context of science which I feel may be due to common misconceptions. Bruce (2004, P.5) states that, “One of the most serious problems in relation to creativity is the widely held myth that creativity is a process in the human brain and culture which applies only to the arts”. Before I embarked on my learning journey, I too thought that creativity was exclusive to the preserve of the arts. I think that my misconception of creativity came from my school days, where most subject were all facts, formulas and equations which had to be memorised and regurgitated for exams. It was only in aesthetic subjects where you were allowed to be creative and even then it was reigned in.

I enjoyed science in school and can now see, looking back that actually, I was being creative. I was hypothesising, exploring, discovering, coming up with ideas, solving problems and thinking and responding to processes which connected to previous experiences. Had I understood then that these processes were all creative I wonder how my attitude and confidence in relation to creativity would differ?

Cecil et al cited in Duffy (1998, p.11) explains that the creative process has four levels:

·        Curiosity

·        Exploration

·        Play

·        Creativity

Rogers cited in Willan et al (2004) believes that the creative process involves imaginative activity, the ability to generate a variety of ideas, problem solving and the ability to produce an outcome of value and worth.

This theory shows that science can be a creative process. For example, young children in the nursery were curious about magnets on the interest table, exploration and play followed and the children created pictures from iron filings, which moved! On reflection, I now realise that many science activities, which I have provided or have developed from the children’s interest progress through the level with the creative process developing from new connections.

Scientific discovery is driven by creative people who challenge and question what we know to make it better or to invent something new. I believe that children should experience the thrill of solving and understanding scientific discoveries as well as learning about local scientists and their discoveries. As a child you learn about the major discoveries in science that are used every day such as electricity, the telephone, penicillin... I cannot, however, remember ever learning about a current local scientist.

During this lecture we were asked to find a local scientist who we had to inform the rest of the class about. We were asked not to do a presentation or power point but to use a different method. At first, our group’s focus was on thinking of a creative way to convey our information. We decided to use an app for the IPad called Comic Life to create a comic strip as this was something we had not used before and thought it could easily transfer to the classroom. We then switched our focus to finding a local scientist with a current discovery. At first I thought this would be extremely difficult but actually there was a wealth of possibilities.

Here is our comic strip.

I hadn’t considered the benefits of learning about local, modern scientific discoveries, until working on the comic strip. The satisfaction of producing a relevant end product about a scientific discovery has opened my eyes to a new approach I can use with children. If this is how I felt, then children will also gain enjoyment, feel a sense of pride for the area they live in and hopefully see that these discoveries are happening all around us and are accessible.   

                                                                                           

References

Bruce, T. (2004). Cultivating Creativity in Babies, Todlers and Young Children. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Duffy, B. (1998). Supporting creativity and imagination in the early years. Oxford: Open University Press.

Willan,J., Parker-Rees, R. and Savage, J. (2004). Early Childhood Studies. Exeter: Learning Matters.



Creativity and ICT

I am starting to discover that there are many different sides and aspects to creativity than I once thought. Creativity can be a scientific thought, artistic expression, musical virtuosity or something completely different but there is an essence of it residing in every one of us. Gardener (1993) has made strong cases for at least eight different types of creative intelligence and if his theory is correct then we are not confined to just one type of expression of our imagination but can be creative in many different ways.

This week we experienced information and communication technology (ICT) as a different vehicle to express creativity. This is an area that I feel comfortable in and because of this, I have more confidence and am not scared to jump in and have a go. In the past, I would not have thought of myself as being creative, however, through my learning I can see that all the work I did in the ICT elective last year was very creative and that maybe ICT is my vehicle to express creativity?

Curriculum for Excellence Technologies: Principle and Practice (2009, p.2) states that technology and ICT can “provide frequent opportunities for active learning in creative and work-related contexts” and that creativity and innovation are skills which can be developed through the use of ICT. I think that ICT can be an ideal medium for creativity. Nothing is permanent unless you want it to be and things can be changed as many times as you have a new idea. In my opinion, this can work well for all children as they can continually update their creation, they do not have to worry about making mistakes and it can be easier for some children to create what they see in their imagination on a computer than it is with paper and pen.

Wheeler (2007, p.133) suggests, “ICT can be used to help children to think and act creatively, by tapping into their natural imagination, and transforming the learning experience”. There is a vast array of material available to encourage children’s creative thinking. This should make it an easy task to select the appropriate programme or medium to suite the learning intentions, however, I think that there is just so much out there that it can be overwhelming for teachers and without any guidance or training many of them are too scared to give it a go.

During our lesson we tried to look at as many different tools as we could in the time we had. Firstly, we looked at digital animation. In the past, I have used Digital Blue which every school should have access to but can be rather time consuming. Here is an animation I have previously created.

We looked at some apps on the Ipad and discovered two which were quicker and easier to use. The first was called I Can Animate where you took photographs using the device and it guided you by showing you the outline of the previous photograph. The second was AnimationHD where you drew your creation on the screen and again it helped you by showing the outline of the previous slide. We also found a programme called Sock Puppet where you could create your very own sock puppet movie by designing your puppet and background before adding in sound. Here is one I made.

We also looked at avatars such as Vokis and Crazy Talk and different programmes for the Interactive White Boards. There is a phenomenal amount of resources out there for all different levels and types of lessons. Teachers need guidance and encouragement in this area through CPD to explore the possibilities and potential for their learners.

References

Gerdener, H (1993). Frames of Mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligences, 2^nd edn. London:Fontana.

Scottish Government. (2009). Curriculum for Excellence technologies: principles and practice. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

Wheeler, S. (2005). Transforming Primary ICT. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Creativity and Drama

Drama has always been something I have associated with creativity. Even when reading a script the actor is creating their interpretation of what is written. I think that drama has many different levels and can have broad educational advantages. Winston and Tandy believe drama can “help children develop group sensitivity, encourage social coherence and enhance speaking and listening skills” (2001, p.1). I would agree with this as drama provides children with the opportunity to really take on the role of someone else and consider how that person may be feeling and what that might look like. The skills learned are transferrable and can be taken into real life without the children even realising.

Drama has endless opportunities to develop creativity: from warm up games, storytelling, mime to acting out plays etc. Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experience and outcomes explain that in drama learners should “have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment” (2009, p.7). For this to happen I believe that teachers must put aside any anxieties they have of their own, become extrovert and create a safe and sensitive environment where children feel secure enough to take part in activities in their own time and at their level. During the elective, there is not the time to create this environment and as a result, I often feel very anxious about performing. 

The first area we considered was storytelling. Storytelling is one of the few human traits that is truly universal and is evident throughout time. We even communicate our daily experiences to ourselves and to others in story form. This helps us to make sense of others’ behaviour, by inventing stories to explain why people act as they do and in turn help us to make sense of life.

Our task was to create a story using character, place, object and twist cards. We then had to tell our story to the rest of the class without notes. I felt uncomfortable doing this but can see the benefits of it. The prompt cards give children a starting point without dampening their own creativity. I realised that telling a story in this way encouraged the teller to connect with the audience as they could make eye contact and use their body to help tell the story. The barrier of a book was gone and it seemed to open the storytelling allowing it to become more creative. I would definitely use this activity in the classroom but would have smaller activities in the lead up, so that the children would feel comfortable and confident. I think that this would then add to the children’s experience and help them to be as creative as they can. In future I may try to tell more stories in this way as I think it would engage the listeners, who could become actively involved.

We also looked at script writing, which was a good way of thinking about the story and which medium it would be best suited. It was interesting to watch the creative process pull everything together, stage directions, scene, characters and speech.

In the final part of the class, we took a fairy story and had to think of a different way of presenting it. This was just as creative as the story but with a twist. The stories used are familiar but taken out of context, adapted and often viewed from a different perspective. The story could be used in any number of ways such as a talk show, a song, a rap, a play, a radio programme, a television advert... We chose to make a television advert for Trotter Homes using the story of The Three Little Pigs, quite far removed from the original story but it was still obvious what the original story was. I really enjoyed this as it gave us the chance to do something different but it still had a starting point. I think that if this were done with children time would need to be spent on the different ways they could use a story. The more variety of choices they have they the bigger the opportunity is for creative reign.

The different ways of telling a story were all excellent in their own rights. They all had different advantages and I felt, would inspire creativity equally. The important part is creating the right kind of environment and the stimuli for children to become immersed in the activities. If this is done well then the topic could take off, allowing children to have control of where they want to take it.

References

Scottish Government. (2009). Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experiences and outcomes. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

Winston, J. and Tandy, M. (2001). Beginning Drama 4-11 second edition. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd. 

Creativity and Music

Music is one of the expressive arts and so is easily associated with creativity. I believe that musical experiences offer children the opportunities to explore, create and represent through dynamics, musical concepts, musical technology, pitch and timer. Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experience and outcomes explain that in music learners should “have rich opportunities to be creative and to experience inspiration and enjoyment” (2009, p.9). One way this can be achieved is through creating a radio play which is what we attempted during this session.

We discussed what makes a radio play and listened to an extract so that we knew where we were going. The play we used was ‘Alice in Wonderland’ which was familiar to everyone. Starting with a story we all knew, meant that we could focus on the task of creating appropriate sound effects without having to get to grips with the story as well. The play was divided into three sections and each group focused on one of the sections. Once we had decided on parts and where we should add sounds we had to come up with the type of sounds we might like and how we could create them. This was quite time consuming but we did the best we could in the time that we had. At the end of the class we recorded the play as a whole. It was exciting to hear the finished product and interesting to see the different ways the groups had used instruments and sound effects to create their desired performance.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating the radio play and will definitely use this in the future. I can see this being used further up the school where it could be used as a sequence of music lessons or used with a cross curricular topic. I feel it would be beneficial to use with a topic as it is important for the children to have a firm grasp on the story before attempting to create a radio play. The creation of the play would come near the end of the topic so that the children have an in depth knowledge of the topic to help them. I believe it would be an exciting and rewarding way to pull a topic together. The radio play can be used in many different ways depending on the ability of the class and how much time the teacher wishes to spend on it. It can be done in only a small number of music lessons similar to what we did or it could be stretched out over a term where the children write their own play to turn into a radio version. Regardless of the depths the teacher chooses to take this time must be spent discussing radio plays so that the children know exactly what they are and what makes a good or bad one. The children will also need to be familiar with the instruments available so as to aid them in their creation. The activity can be easily differentiated as the teacher can give children free reign or give the children indications of where sounds may need to be added. Both ways provide children with the opportunity to be creative and experience inspiration which in turn leads to enjoyment.   

Here is our section of the radio play:

References

Scottish Government. (2009). Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Arts experiences and outcomes. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

Creativity and mathematics

Before this input, I was struggling to see the connection between creativity and mathematics. I thought back to my own experiences of mathematics in primary school and all I could remember were textbooks and workbooks. You were asked a question that had only one answer and one way of achieving the answer. How does creativity fit into this concept? I considered my learning of creativity so far. I knew that it involved exploration, risk taking, discussion, questioning, new ideas that have value... I thought about what creativity in mathematics might involve and came up with; active learning, problem solving, open questions which can be taken to different depths depending on the learner, success, confidence, questioning, peer working, games and discussion. These were all aspects, which I felt were important and have been trying to incorporate into my own practice but had just not associated it with creativity.

Curriculum for Excellence (2009) states that “Learning mathematics develops logical reasoning, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and the ability to think in abstract ways.” It  describes features of effective learning and teaching in mathematics to be that every child experiences success which should help develop confidence in risk taking, questioning and exploring alternative answers without fear of being wrong. These are all attributes I would associate with creativity. I can see the benefit of imbedding the creative process in mathematics as it plays an important part in everyday life equipping us with the necessary skills.

Haylock (1997) discusses two approaches to creative thinking in maths. The first, overcoming fixation, which relates to breaking the mental set which children have and bringing in a variety of maths skills and concepts to solve problems. This needs patience and can be challenging as some pupils will only focus on the numbers and therefore, not think through the problem properly. It is important to consider what we are assessing, maths or reading? The second approach is Divergent progress, which relates to maths, which is not necessarily right or wrong. This can take the form of open-ended questions that can be given to the whole class as each child can take the learning as deep as they are able to. It could also take the form of small challenges, which are a good way of focusing the mind. It is this approach which I favour as I feel that it fits in with the attribute of creativity and what Curriculum for Excellence (2009) advocates.  There are however, issues with this approach such as a lack of resources, parents tend to dislike maths being taught in this way as it is different from what they may have experienced and the mind set of some teachers would need to be changed through support and guidance.

I now believe that to enable children to develop creative skills in mathematics it is important for teachers to model creativity in their teaching. It is not something that can be taught every so often but needs to play a part in every maths lesson. Children need to feel supported to take risks, question and have time for discussion. You cannot encourage creativity in your pupils if you are not prepared to be creative yourself.

References

Haylock, D. (1997). ‘Recognising Mathematical Creativity in School children’,ZDM, Vol.29, No3, pp68-74.

Scottish Government. (2009). Curriculum for Excellence Expressive Mathematics experiences and outcomes. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

My learning so far...

 At the start of the elective, I created a mind map to illustrate my initial ideas about creativity. Now that I have come to the end of the elective, I wanted to review my learning so that I can see how my ideas have grown and developed.The blue branches show my initial thoughts about creativity where the pink branches show my new learning.

I have come to the understanding that creativity is a process of seeing new possibilities. It starts with imagination and an expression of ideas, which evolve into an outcome that cannot be predicted. At each step of the process, the idea is hypothesised and evaluated to ensure it has value. If creativity is a systematic process then it can be synthesised and taught just like a mathematical concept or story writing. For it to be taught successfully I believe that the teacher must model creativity in his or her own teaching and learning. I now feel that I too have the capability and the confidence to be creative in both life and in practice.