Creativity and Practice

From a number of research models of creativity, it is possible to devise ways of developing creativity in practice. Suggestions of methods for fostering creativity can reasonably be grouped into three categories: the abilities to be developed; the activities to be implemented; and the features of the learning materials (e. g., Jeffery et al., 2004).

Creativity can be fostered by developing certain abilities to do particular tasks. The ways of fostering creativity can be organised by referring to the requirements and the criteria for assessing creativity discussed above. This approach means providing stimulating and constructive activities to be implemented that actually make visible (Hattie, 2008) creativity

in process and the features of creativity that should be the focus of attention. For example, as Sternberg (2012) explains, assessing creativity means evaluating students as they ‘create, invent, discover, imagine if, suppose that, or predict’ (Sternberg 2012, p. 8). Sternberg (2006) also provided other activities for letting pupils evidence their creativity, which were replication, redefinition, forward incrementation, advance forward incrementation, redirection, reconstruction, reinitiation, and integration. In addition, a number of educators stress further the formation of an environment that allows pupils to think, presume, imagine, interpret, apply and talk, starting from their initial, innate curiosity (Giorgis et al., 2001).

Creativity then, can be revealed in the process of being involved in certain kinds of activities. Gardner (1988) argued (as it turned out controversially) that human beings possess multiple intelligence which include: visual-spatial, linguistic-verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and naturalistic. Regardless of the precise merits of Gardner’s taxonomy, we can sympathise with a model of human beings that cherishes multiple non-cognitive proficiencies, and it is then possible to argue that interdisciplinary activities can be one of the effective forms of learning for revealing creativity against such a psycho-social backdrop. At the same time, it of course remains meaningful to provide opportunities to develop creativity within a particular discipline that might require a certain type of ‘intelligence’. For example, Lubart et al. (1995) and Sternberg (2006) both identify certain subject-specific tasks for fostering creativity, insisting that creative performance is moderately domain specific and can be predicted by a combination of certain resources and tools within particular disciplines. Sternberg (2006) also describes some tasks for each subject that emphasise e. g., inventing, designing, and imagining. For example, in literary studies, one can imagine alternative ending to stories, or what the stories would be like if they took place in a different era. Also, students can write stories choosing from several titles that the teacher provides. Similarly, for the modern foreign language area, students can invent dialogues with people from other cultures. For science, one can design an experiment, and for mathematics, pupils can invent and think with novel number systems. It is interesting to note that Sternberg argues that as there is no one right answer to e. g., questions in History, these are not likely to appear on conventional standardized tests. Similarly, he states, the task in science is not finding right answers but coming up with right questions––another example of a fundamentally creative stance.

Various authors have devised activities that supposedly both promote and assess features of creativity––such as originality, elaboration, flexibility, and fluency. These factors were

inventoried in an influential collection of readings edited in 1999 by Gerard J. Puccio and Mary C. Murdock, Creativity Assessment, where they were also aligned with criteria for scoring the responses in a test. Fluency and flexibility were each evaluated in the test by checking the number of different responses and categories of responses produced, while originality was assessed by considering how novel and unique the responses were. Finally, elaboration was checked by seeing how detailed and developed responses were. As such, the book provides guidelines for developing creativity across different activities.

In addition, among the current research on ways of fostering creativity, it is interesting to note that many researchers emphasize the need for including collaborative and group work in students’ projects (e.g. Odena 2014; Sternberg 2006), which as we saw is also suggested in Curriculum for Excellence. Working in groups can in theory encourage everyone to participate and contribute in some way or other, and also can teach children to learn how to cooperate in order to produce outputs together that meet the learning intention of the class. As Sternberg (2006) argues, it is important in these instrumental models to provide opportunities, which encourage and reward students. Pupils need to have opportunities to discuss and debate and work more actively even in a process that culminates in a test.

Finally, a number of research initiatives focus on the features of the learning materials that can function effectively in fostering creativity in education. Odena (2014) insisted that providing students with the opportunity to develop constructive, exploratory questioning skills, as well as open-ended questions, is important for facilitating their development through problem-posing, prompting, conjecture and modelling. Hall et al. (2017) also emphasise using open-ended, performance-based activities such as art sessions in which individuals are ‘not so much about following a road map’ but developing their own skills with a stronger orientation towards intrinsic motivation (p. 114).

In order to strengthen these features, choosing sources that can be catalytic for fostering creativity is critically important. For example, Giorgis et al. (2001) describe the characteristics of picture books that can enhance readers’ creativity by simultaneously providing inspiration and raising questions for the readers through what is represented or concealed in the scene. Most of all, visual creativity emerges by use of patterns, colours, shapes, space, lines, or other elements of art and recognising how these contribute to meaning and understanding. Picture books can stimulate the young reader’s curiosity, imagination and interpretation of what they read and see, and provide emotional connectivity,

particularly through the illustrations themselves. These can also let pupils create their own stories verbally by responding to, and reflecting thoughtfully upon, the pictures. Also, in children’s creative picture books, authors tend to write in ways that can be humorous, poetic, realistic, fanciful, or informative, and the illustrator typically contributes imaginative images that extend the text by constructing or challenging meaning through art which complements or even undercuts the story line.

Hence literature provides a basis for creative inquiry by presenting new ideas or perspectives that encourage readers to do their own research and critical thinking (Arizpe et al., 2015). Text and illustration may initiate readers’ active participation, by asking questions that may or may not generate an answer or solution. In addition, there are many literatures that include characters, both real and imagined, who harbour a vision of creative ways of thinking and doing. These people or characters are generally the risk-takers of literature, fuelled by a passion for adventure, discovery and the pursuit of the new. They abound in fiction and folktale especially––though they are not confined to these genres. When characters use wit and wisdom to solve problems, they provide readers with new ways of thinking. There is, for example, creative expression, which refers to how persons or characters use their talents, or offer unique ways of presenting their individuality, interests, abilities, ideas, and personalities––very often in moments of great crisis or change. Storytelling and story reading repeatedly reveal characters who respond creatively to difficult situations, generating dilemmas for readers to explore as they inquire about their world.