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 […]
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 […]
Escape with 21st Century Skills
The Push for STEM Anyone associated with education in the United States knows about the push for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities to develop students’ abilities to be innovative and competitive in an ever-changing world. This focus is one more thing to add to educators’ repertoires, but at least this one has great […]
The Possibilities of a Cardboard Box
When children receive presents for a birthday or holiday, parents often lament after spending tons of money on some newfangled toy, only to watch their child find more fascination with the box it came in. Why is this? What is so intriguing about something without any bells nor whistles? What is it about four sides […]
Honoring Student Diversity through Choice
Many kids equate school with prison. I know, it’s harsh. Their dread conjures images of rectangular torture chambers filled with rows of desks, complete with a ball and chain to hold each of them in their assigned seats. Movies like “Matilda” bring this idea to life, with the imposing, larger-than-life dictator, Mrs. Trunchbull threatening to […]
Creativity, Courage, and Curiosity in the Classroom
Growing up, I didn’t think I was creative. I wasn’t good at traditional arts, and there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me—Asian American. Moreover, in school, I’d only seen arts, crafts, and music being celebrated as creative outlets, so how could I have understood that creativity is so much more? I didn’t […]
Look at it Another Way:
How to Use a Native American Lens to Explore Empathy in the Classroom
How to Use a Native American Lens to Explore Empathy in the Classroom If you want to weave creativity into your curriculum, creativity pioneer, E. Paul Torrance proposed eighteen creativity skills to explore.The skills are specific and yet can be interpreted in many different ways. Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Julia Figliotti explored these skills in […]
Silenzio, Bruno! Building Fearless Environments to Promote Creativity in Schools
It’s August. With the start of school approaching, some teachers have started thinking about how they will organize their classrooms. Others are already going back to school. Somehow, they are all thinking about how to create a great learning environment. If they asked for my advice, I would suggest including a “Silenzio, Bruno” poster in […]
Mandatory Fun: How to Bring a Little Play Into the High School Classroom
I’m not sure where it says in the original teaching manual that you aren’t not supposed to have fun in school, especially high school. I suppose the original mission was to transform teenage students into adults who were serious and ready for the world. The fact is today’s high school students are more aware of […]
Intentional Creative Thinking at Home: Lessons from a Visual Arts Teacher
As indicated in the 2018 Future of Jobs Report, creativity continues to be a desirable skill that is emerging as necessary in the workforce worldwide. Creative thinking, defined as intentionally using our minds to solve complex problems with new solutions, is at the heart of creativity. There are identifiable and teachable creative thinking skills that […]
Supporting Creative Confidence in the Art Room
It was such a treat to share some of my thoughts about Integrating Creativity into the Art Classroom with the dynamic team at Fueling Creativity. As I expressed in the podcast, teaching for creativity in any classroom is a transformative classroom practice. It has the potential to ignite engagement and foster a collaborative learning community. […]
Asking the “Why” in the Arts
When a student is working on a math problem, we always implore them to show their work. There are many reasons why we do this: To know what they were thinking To understand the process they were going through To know how they arrived at this product And yet, when a student creates a piece […]
Copying for Creativity
We are taught from a young age not to copy…don’t copy the test answers from your neighbor…don’t copy your best friend’s homework…all valid instructions, and yet in the world of creativity, copying is a great place to start in building confidence and expanding boundaries. This is certainly true in art, but I think it can […]
Animal Crossing: The “New Horizon” in Distance Learning
What is Animal Crossing? Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed by Nintendo and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. This is an open map type game that doesn’t have an end goal. It is designed for continuous play; there is no way to “win” or “complete” it. You are a […]
A Catalyst for New Thinking: The Concert of Ideas
Thinking of Things as if They Could be Otherwise When my colleagues and I work with university faculty, business leaders, and other professionals, our goal is to help people think in new ways. Typically, they have a problem to solve or some big new idea to wrap their minds around, or maybe they’re confronting change […]
Today’s Pressing Question: What is Creativity?
The safest answer to the question above might be: “It depends on who you are talking to.” Whether we self-identify as creative or not, creativity is part of being human, and we each have personal understandings of it. I am a word lover, but even after practicing “creativity” professionally for decades, I made the assumption […]
Using the Creative Operating System (COS) for Classroom Creativity Integration
“Creativity does not have to be sacrificed to meet educational standards.” ~Frazier/ Walker The importance of helping students discover their creativity and providing them with the skills to become creative problem solvers is evident in the Future of Jobs Report presented by the World Economic Forum. The report states that in 2020, the top three […]
Creativity and the Well-Being of Educators
As we approach the tail end of the winter months, cooped up in our houses, and feeling a general sense of isolation and fatigue, our resourcefulness to maintain our well-being is key. Right now, there is really nothing more important than care for our well-being and the well-being of others, because, of course, the two […]
If You Want Creative, Independent Thinkers,
Focus on Emotional Literacy
I strongly believe that students need to feel safe at school and require a climate that enables them to be emotionally ready to learn in the classroom. This environment can only be established if we develop strong relationships built upon mutual respect and trust. Our students need to feel that teachers and key adults care […]
Go Big or Go Home:
Encouraging Risk-Taking in the Classroom
Why go big? Go big or go home is a phrase we frequently use to encourage someone to take a risk. Why is going big so important? Because the “big” is where great things happen. There are many similar sayings out there, such as “no one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe” or “great […]