Play or Academics?
Should kindergarten be more focused on play or academics? How does education in Hong Kong differ from American/Western education? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Dr. Alfredo Bautista, an Associate Professor & Associate Head of the Department of Early Childhood Education at The […]
Identifying Creative Abilities in Students
Numerous initiatives and resources are available to implement creativity within the classroom, but even less to identify students with outstanding creative abilities within the academic setting. Typically, if we consider the emergence of creativity within the classroom, we look for markers of giftedness or novel expression as markers of creative intelligence within content areas—fine arts, […]
What is Your Dream Machine? With Piet Grymonprez
What is your Dream Machine? What would your students create if they had the opportunity to build a dream machine? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Piet Grymonprez, author and Co-Founder and Managing Director of MyMachine. MyMachine is a for-purpose non-profit that has a unique […]
Three Ways to Nurture Creative Potential
To think inside the box or outside the box, that is the question… or is it? Before we can answer that question, we probably need to understand the nature of the box itself. Whether we decide to improve the box we’re in or abandon the box for something better, one thing’s certain: we’re going to […]
Extra-Curricular Competitions that Celebrate Creativity
There are several national academic extra-curricular competitions that not only encourage creativity from students—they require it. Here are five I’ve done with students that most certainly fostered creative thinking. I like to use national competitions because the challenges and infrastructures to evaluate them are already in place. 1. Destination Imagination Destination Imagination (DI) is a […]
X Amount Of Ways To Embrace Mistakes!
*Note: Any typos or mistakes are on purpose, due to the nature of this blog. 😉 Have fun reading! Introduction We’ve all heard about how: Steve Jobs had 123 versions of the iPhone before it worked. Michael Jordan was cut from his college team. Oprah was told she was “unfit” for television. Even though we […]
5 Skills University Students Gain from Design Thinking
There is a lack of interdisciplinary innovation and strategic design implementation in the classroom. In developing teaching strategies and curricula that prepare students for an increasingly globalized world, recent studies have pointed to design thinking as a potential remedy to many multifaceted problems in education. Design thinking is an iterative, hands-on practice to redefine challenges […]
Collaborate for Creativity: Tips to Encourage Kids to Work Together
Creativity is an essential skill that children can develop throughout their lives. A study by the University of Plymouth found that creativity lies in not only creativity-based skills but also intellectual expertise and intrinsic motivation. This lines up with the study’s results: older children are more creative than younger children, especially when placed in group settings. […]
Five Easy Ways to Ignite the Love of Learning
We are all born very curious—we need it for our survival. Our curiosity leads us to explore the world around us and make sense of it. This curiosity helps us learn what might be dangerous and what brings us joy. Soon after we learn how to talk, we start bombarding our parents and carers with […]
5 Book Series that Show Gifted People Being Creative
Whenever someone reads a book, they want to be drawn to characters who think, act, and look like they do. This goes for girls, this goes for black and brown people, and this goes for handicapped folks as well. It’s no different for a gifted person: they want to see people who are like them, […]
Your Final Creativity Mission: Recolor Your World
Header image created by Iris Lawson, Age 12 We have one final family-fun creative activity for you! In case you missed our first five missions, you can access them here: “Create Your Own Family Camp,” “Family Game Night With a Creative Twist,” “A Colorful Scavenger Hunt in Nature,” “Summer of Surprises,” and Going Beyond Your […]
Going Beyond Your Interest Zone
Here is our creative family fun, activity #5: Go Beyond Your Interest Zone! And if you would prefer to watch the video, click here! Your Interest Zone My family and I have a passion for the arts. On any given summer weekend, you will likely find us cheering in the front row of a theatre production, […]
Summer of Surprises! Family Activity
Surprise! How do you feel about surprises? Perhaps it depends on the type of surprise you experience. A surprise tax bill can be upsetting, but a surprise tax refund can be a cause for celebration. In this mission, we are looking to create delightful surprises for your family. What does surprise have to do with […]
A Colorful Scavenger Hunt in Nature
Activity Three: A Scavenger Hunt in Nature Our third activity centers on the skill, Visualize it Richly and Colorfully. This skill is all about identifying vivid, rich, and colorful imagery in your surroundings. It is essential to be able to use vivid, rich imagery to convey ideas in any domain- whether you’re a scientist aiming […]
Creativity Blooms Best in Summer
By the time summer rolls around, students are done learning and want nothing more than to spend the next three months doing as little learning as possible. However, when it comes to creativity, summer is actually the best time to be learning. After all, it’s the most sunny of the seasons, and sunnier days support […]
Family Game Night With A Creative Twist
The first mission “Create Your Own Family Camp”, was released last week, and today we are releasing the second mission: “Family Game Night”. Games are a wonderful way to bring people together. There is a joy to be found in playing long-standing family favorites, and also in discovering completely new games. But what if you […]
Create Your Own Summer Family Camp!
The first activity in our Summer Series is Creating Your Own Family Camp! You may choose to watch this video that outlines and shows examples of each step, or simply follow the instructions listed below! If you have any questions, feel free to comment or reach out to me directly at cyndi@creativityandeducation.com Enjoy your summer! […]
Revisit, Repurpose, Reinvent: Reenergize Your Creative Practice
Does your classroom need a creative reboot? Teachers, are you looking for ways to energize your own creative capacities? Parents, have you considered sharing creativity with your children? Find new creative energy as you unlock possibilities using everyday objects. By revisiting an ordinary object and expanding its possibilities with your imagination, you open opportunity spaces […]
A Scholarly Journey to Redefining Creativity with Dr. Marta Davidovich Ockuly
The following is one of the first interviews we had on the Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast with Dr. Marta Davovich Ockuly on Redefining Creativity. You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript below! Matthew Worwood: I wonder if you could share a little more about your personal journey that led to the […]
Infusing Creativity into Your College Course
Do you think it is important to infuse creative thinking skills into a college course? Imagine you are sitting in a college class. The professor walks in, turns on her presentation, and lectures for 90 minutes. You take copious notes, study hard, take a test to prove you know the content, and likely forget most […]
Creative Ways to Challenge Gifted Students
Usually, when people hear the word “gifted”, the first thing they think is that this person is smart. Typically this means that things come easily to them, and/or they’re particularly skilled in an academic subject area such as math or ELA. The problem with this characterization is that it often overlooks the fact that giftedness […]
Solve the Real Problem in Your Classroom
She had never been in a fight before. But as a result of her fight with another student, a fifteen-year-old, we’ll call Crystal, managed to get herself suspended from school. And not just suspended for a week. Crystal’s suspension was for two months. Enter Kelly Heinze, an eighth-grade teaching assistant at Crystal’s school. Kelly’s job […]
Using a Disciplinary Lens to Expand Creativity
Viewing creativity as a trait that all humans share is a cornerstone of both current research and of the Creativity and Education vision. It is not simply an inherent characteristic manifested by a few talented artists and performers. Rather, it is a marvelous and endlessly rich packet of possibilities that is embedded within every human […]
Translation of the Creative Thinking Skills Handout
April 21st is World Creativity and Innovation Day (#WCID)! The United Nations sanctioned this day to encourage creative thinking to help us achieve the sustainable future we want. The theme for this year is collaboration. When speaking with my creative contributors, I asked them what we might do to collaborate and celebrate our creativity. Lucy […]