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.
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