EDUC 5510 Understanding and Enhancing Creativity

DRAFT EDUC 5510 Understanding and Enhancing Creativity COURSE OUTLINE Faculty of Education, University of Lethbridge ROOM: TBA Instructor: Dr. Jim Henry Office: TH318 Phone: 329-2271 Secretary: Margaret Beintema Office: TH321 Phone: 329-2732 Email: jim.henry@uleth.ca Office Hours: By appointment Please email to arrange. Schedule: Wed. 6:00-9:00 p.m. 07-Sep-2011-09-Dec-2011 COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this course we will explore the fascinating world of creativity its definitions and its far-reaching importance. We will also explore the ways in which creativity might be enhanced in ourselves, our students and in society in general. The impact of creativity on the modern world is nothing short of astounding. If such a claim was ever an overstatement, it certainly no longer is. Consider that in recent years a new class within our society the Creative Class those who are paid to do creative work, has been identified and that the human creative faculty may actually have replaced land, labour and capital as our most valuable economic resource (Florida, 2002). While the term creativity is commonly associated with the arts areas such as painting, writing and music it is by no means limited to these areas. Creativity exists in, and is essential to, all areas of human life and study: Literature and the arts most certainly, but education, science, technology, invention and business just to name a few as well. For over sixty years educational psychologists have emphasized the importance of creativity in the education system. As well as having a direct impact on the process of learning, creativity contributes to our experience of fulfillment, quality of life and even our mental health. It is vital to our success as we face the challenges and problems of both our personal and professional lives and is crucial as we face world problems and issues of survival. As Csikszentmihalyi (1996) proposed, most of the things that are interesting, important and human are the results of creativity. In exploring these areas we will seek a balance of the theoretical and the applied. We will review aspects of the existing literature and apply this knowledge in practical ways. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 1

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Identify a working definition of creativity that reflects both the existing research and a sense of practical fit ; 2. Describe the importance of creativity in all domains; 3. Discuss creativity as a field of study including the research regarding creativity enhancement; 4. Describe the essential elements involved in creativity: What factors are necessary for creativity to occur? 5. Demonstrate an understanding of creativity enhancement principles and the ability to apply these principles in practical ways; 6. Contribute positively and significantly to the enhancement of creativity in themselves and others. REQUIRED READINGS: All articles provided in class (both paper copies and links to full text versions) are required reading. RECOMMENDED READINGS: Books: Amabile, T. M. (1989). Growing up creative: Nurturing a lifetime of creativity. Buffalo, New York: C. E. F. Press. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: HarperCollins. Florida, R. (2002). The rise of the creative class. New York: Basic Books. Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity seen through the lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi. New York: Basic Books. Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Chichester: Capstone Publishing Ltd. Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1995). Defying the crowd: Cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press. Journal Articles: Nickerson, R. S. (1999). Enhancing Creativity. In Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.) Handbook of Creativity (pp. 392-430). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sternberg, R. J. (1999). (Ed.) Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 2

Sternberg, R. J. & Williams, W. M. (1996). How to develop student creativity. Alexandria, VA. : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Torrance, E. P. (1970). Encouraging Creativity in the Classroom. Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Company. Torrance, E. P. (1995). Why Fly? A philosophy of creativity. New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation. COURSE EVALUATION: The course evaluation will consist of: 1. Personal plan for creativity enhancement: 10 points 2. Critical analysis of major contributions to the field: 15 points 3. Creativity in the classroom: Group presentation: 20 points 4. Reflective Journal 20 points 5. Final project: 35 points 1. PERSONAL PLAN FOR CREATIVITY ENHANCEMENT: (10 points) Each student will complete a personal plan for enhancing his or her own creative ability. The plan will involve a detailed self-assessment (using tools provided in class), structured self-reflection and the setting of specific, measurable goals. The aim is to bring effective, personally meaningful strategies together with important self-knowledge for the purpose of enhancing creative ability as an educator. Students will: 1. Complete a detailed self-assessment (details provided in class); 2. Create a profile of themselves at their creative best ; 3. Identify and describe barriers that must be overcome and challenges that must be faced if they to become their creative best ; 4. Articulate a clearly detailed plan for enhancing and fine tuning their creative ability (as detailed in step 2) with particular attention paid to aspects of the plan that are attainable during the course; 5. Outline progress made during the course. Further details and resources will be provided in class. 2. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: (15 points) In this assignment students will have the opportunity to explore some of the existing literature in the world of creativity research and to provide a critical analysis of the work of a selected author. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 3

Since some books/authors are particularly popular (and as a result the library versions of their books are harder to track down) the due date for this assignment is scheduled later in the term. Students are encouraged, however, to begin this assignment early (for the reason mentioned above). Students can draw on the library resources (including ILL), full-text databases, articles/links provided in class, books borrowed from the instructor (when available) and their own resources. The analysis should include the following: 1. Introduction and overview: Provide an overview of this person s approach, including a definition of creativity) (1 point); 2. Most Researched Areas: What areas did this person most focus on in his or her research? Why? (1 point); 3. Relevant Findings: What has this person most contributed to our understanding of creativity? (2 points); 4. Essential Elements: In this person s view, what are the most important elements in creativity? What contributes most to someone being highly creative? (3 points); 5. Position in the Field: Briefly compare and contrast the work of this researcher with the ideas of one other. How are they similar or different? Do they have similar or different philosophies? Did they come to similar or opposing conclusions? Are their approaches to research radically different? (2 points); 6. Critique: What is your own sense of this person s work and why? Provide a critical reflection. Are these ideas sound and do they make sense to you? Why? Did you find yourself disagreeing or doubting aspects? Explain. What did you most gain from reviewing this person s work? (4 points) 7. Favourite Quotes: Include one or two favourite quotations from this person s work thoughts that struck you as particularly significant. (1 point). 8. Conclusion: End with a few brief concluding remarks. (1 point). 3. CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM: GROUP PRESENTATION: (20 points) Students will generate a collection of 5-6 high quality practical strategies for enhancing creativity in the classroom. As well as collating the material and making it available (electronically) as a resource for everyone in class, the group will also present one or two strategies to the large group. The strategies will be based on creativity theory as covered in class as well as additional research carried out by the students. Even when strategies are based on the work of others (and referenced accordingly) students are expected to use imagination to creatively organize and structure the activities. Groups will have choice regarding which element of creativity they focus on (i.e. Motivation, Uncommon commitment, Skill, Imagination and Courage) and a lottery system will be used to determine the order of choice. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 4

A few suggestions for preparing your presentation: o First, make sure that you have a clear understanding of what the element (i.e. motivation or courage, etc.) refers to; o Keep in mind that the aim of this assignment is to provide practical strategies as opposed to intellectual ideas; o Focus on clarity and simplicity: A teacher reading your handout should be able to implement your strategies; o Focus on creating a handout that is clear and easy to follow. It should be a stand-alone resource. In other words, it should be clear to someone reading your handout that the intent of the material is to enhance creativity by fostering the element (i.e. motivation or courage) that you are exploring. o Since the intent is to share these strategies with each other as electronic documents, it s a good idea to name the documents appropriately. A good name would be: creativity_courage.doc OR creativity_motivation.doc. A not so good name would be: assignment5510.doc OR finalversion.doc. Notice that the first two examples identify the contents while the latter two don t. o Make sure your names are on the handout; o If you have a particular grade level in mind, make sure to identify it; o Given the tight time frame, it is a good idea to rehearse your presentation prior to delivering it to the class, (and to ensure that any equipment you are using is functioning properly and ready to go.) Each group will have approximately 20 minutes to present; o When you present your material it s a good idea to have the group actually do one of the activities; o Make sure you reference your sources. 4. Reflective Journal: (20 points) Keeping a journal is an essential part of this course. Exploring a topic as important and far-reaching as creativity commonly results in powerful insights and personal discoveries and experiences. Journaling not only helps flush out the meaning and importance of such occurrences, it also provides an effective way to look back on those experiences in months and even years to come. Guidelines: Use your Journal to document your creative experience. Record your thoughts, insights and feelings (both positive and negative) connected to the exploration of creativity and your own creative process; Get in the habit of adding brief notes as they occur rather than waiting for a single time to sit down and write a full week s entries. Consider using a Journal that allows you to add pages to it. Or to paste in notes that were written on EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 5

another piece of paper. This will allow you to record thoughts even if you don t have your actual journal with you; Because journaling spans the entire semester a certain amount of structure and discipline is usually necessary to ensure that it doesn t get lost in the shuffle of our busy lives. Set up specific times to record your entries (ideally 2-3 times a week); Rather than waiting for insights to occur, get in the habit of setting aside time to reflect. Ask things such as: What happened? How do I feel about what happened? What did I learn? How does that affect me? When you are describing an experience be specific. Notice that statements such as I enjoyed the class or I really learned something don t share much about your actual experience. Be specific. Add the details; Be honest. Journaling without being honest is like going swimming without getting in the water. You can go through the motions all you want but unless you re getting wet you re really not doing it. When you re journaling make sure you get wet; Express, don t compose: Resist the perfectionist voice in you that pushes you to say important things, or to say them just so or in an impressive way. Resist the desire to make sure you say things that are wise or profound. Instead, seek to share your true experience, your true voice. The irony is that it is likely to be wise and profound; Aim for deeper rather than superficial. Since you are describing your genuine experience, it is a good idea to seek a deeper, honest expression rather than a superficial kind of chatter. If you get into the pattern of simply listing facts and details your journaling can quickly become tedious and boring. If you notice that you are talking mostly about trivia and details you might want to explore going a little deeper. Aim at expressing what is significant. Write about your authentic, personal experience; Jot down ideas that come to you during the day. Sometimes we have an insight, awareness or realization at a time when we re not really able to pull out our journal. It can be helpful to jot down a few words describing these experiences and then journal about them later. The brief reminder helps us remember what we wanted to write about; Also, further to the first point above, keep in mind that your journal is about your creative experiences your thoughts, feelings and insights about creativity and about your own creative process (especially relating to the activities we explore in class) as opposed to being a journal where you would include entries about more general experiences; Please note that grammar will not be considered, judged or edited in these journals. Neither will spelling or sentence structure. There will be no red marks outlining mistakes because there are no mistakes. This Journal is about exploring and recording your experiences; Journals are to be shared with the instructor at a number of points through the term. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 6

5. FINAL PROJECT: (35 points) The final project involves two main components: First, the creation of the actual project itself, and second, a detailed, written description of the process involved. The choice of topics for the project is wide and varied. Of course it could involve writing an essay or research paper, but it could also involve things such as the creation of a website, a short film, a collection of stories or a novella, the development of a course, a collection of original songs, a particularly imaginative curriculum unit, a dance, a play, etc. etc. Because of the wide array of topics it is important that we include a few general guidelines. It is important that the project: 1. Include aspects of Assignment 1. In the Personal Plan for Creativity Enhancement assignment, there is a particular focus on gaining selfknowledge and building a plan for enhancing creativity. Insights and knowledge gained from that assignment should be directly incorporated into this one. (For example: If a student gains the insight that the most important element missing from his or her ongoing creative expression is courage, this project would be a perfect opportunity to push the envelope of courage); 2. Involve something that is particularly and truly important to you, that you are passionate about; 3. Be work that is completed during the semester in which the course is offered; 4. Not include work that was submitted for another class; 5. Be truly creative according to our definition of creativity; 6. Be substantial: Given that it commands 35 per cent of the grade, the final project must be a significant undertaking. Though it is difficult to compare the degree of effort required in one domain (i.e. photography or music) with that required in others (i.e. mathematics or entrepreneurship) we will still make the effort. Each project should be equivalent in scope and effort to that required in producing an 18-20 page research paper; 7. Involve the particular skill set of a given domain. This simply refers to the fact that each project involves certain skills that will be expressed in a creative manner. Skill and knowledge are essential to the creative process and each project will be created around that skill/knowledge set; 8. Be shared with the others in the class. At the end of the class we will have a celebration of the finished works. Each student will share his or her project with the group; 9. Include a detailed description of your noble mistakes (details will be provided in class). 10. Be approved by the instructor. The second component of the assignment involves a detailed write-up of the student s experience while completing the project. This segment will include an EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 7

exploration of things such as: How does this project stem from my personal plan as outlined in Assignment 1? What barriers/challenges was I addressing in completing this project and what did I experience in the process? In what ways did completing this project help foster my creative ability? What did I learn about creativity? About myself? About how I might foster creativity in my future students? COURSE CONTENT: In this course we will explore both the theoretical and the applied. We will review the sixty year history of the scientific study of creativity and look at the three major research methods (the psychometric, the experimental and the biographical approach.) As well, we will explore the four approaches to the study of creativity: the creative person, product, process and place (environment). We will also consider the work of major figures in field (i.e. Robert Sternberg, Teresa Amabile, Mihalhy Csikszentmihalyi, Paul Torrance, Howard Gardner and Abraham Maslow, and others). We will explore an array of topics including: What creativity is and why it is important; The M.U.S.I.C. Model: The five essential elements of creativity; The creative process: Is there a formula? The interplay of universal factors and personal influences; The 10 principles for understanding and enhancing creativity; The importance of motivation; The role of commitment and hard work in the creative process; Domain specific skills and knowledge; The element of imagination; The importance of courage; Creativity in the classroom; Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. Though we draw on existing theory the course will be interactive and experiential. We will seek to apply our understanding of theory in practical ways and will strive to become more creative during our time together. The scope and sequence will be provided early in the course. EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 8

Assignment dates are as follows: Class Date Assignment Due Dates 1. Sept 7 2. Sept 14 3. Sept 21 4. Sept 28 Assign 1: Personal plan for creativity enhancement 5. Oct 5 6. Oct 12 7. Oct 19 8. Oct 26 Assign 3: Creativity in the classroom: Presentations 9. Nov 2 10. Nov 9 11. Nov 16 Assign 2: Critical analysis 12. Nov 23 Assign 5: Projects 13. Nov 30 Assign 5: Projects Dec 7 No class. (Wed night classes end Nov. 30) Note: Assignment 4: Reflective Journals: Reflections and entries are to be completed each week. Journals will be collected twice during the term. GRADING: A+ 97-100% C+ 77-79% A 93-96% C 73-76% A- 90-92% C- 70-72% B+ 87-89% D+ 67-69% B 83-86% D 63-66% B- 80-82% F Less than 63% EDUC 5510: Understanding and Enhancing Creativity Dr. Jim Henry Fall 2011 9