“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss “Creativity is contagious, pass it on” – Albert Einstein Creativity is not just linked to, though is certainly found in, the creative arts [though they do have a special role to play in creativity]. We tend to think of music, art, dance, poetry, creative writing, drama etc. but actually it is found in all aspects of life and in any subject at school; yes even maths and some would rightly say, especially maths! Wasn’t Einstein a creatively mathematical and scientific critical thinker? The following are some examples of attempts to define critical thinking: ...the ability to analyze facts, generate and organize ideas, defend opinions, make comparisons, draw inferences, evaluate arguments and solve problems (Chance,1986,p.6); ...a conscious and deliberate process which is used to interpret or evaluate information and experiences with a set of reflective attitudes and abilities that guide thoughtful beliefs and actions (Mertes,1991, p.24); ...the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action (Scriven & Paul, 1992); reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis, 1992). Helgeson (1993) suggests that there are three ingredients to teaching critical and creative thinking to children through the content areas: using relevant, real world issues; providing structure to solve problems and organise information; developing a nurturing classroom environment. This thinking parallels many of the suggestions mentioned in an article on fostering creativity in the workplace. The environment must be supportive of the process. I would add that children must have regular opportunities for play and imagination; exploration and curiosity; social interaction and negotiation; using as wide a range as possible of symbolic and representational media to express their ideas in tangible and concrete ways; making connections and applying and testing what we already know with new found knowledge and information; experiencing the unexpected. Aspects of critical thinking: Critical thinking is a productive and positive activity. Critical thinking is a process, not an outcome. Manifestations of critical thinking vary according to the contexts in which it occurs. Critical thinking is triggered by positive as well as negative events. [Take heart because sometimes conflict can be a good thing – see case study below]. Critical thinking is emotive as well as rational. Components of critical thinking: Identifying and challenging assumptions is central to critical thinking. Challenging the importance of context is crucial to critical thinking. Critical thinkers try to imagine and explore alternatives. Imagining and exploring alternatives leads to reflective scepticism. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the most quoted writers on the subject of creativity and his name is often coupled with the term ‘flow’ and I will attempt to outline his nine helpful elements of ‘flow’ to help illustrate the creativity and critical thinking in an everyday situation around behaviour and conflict. Case Studies to illustrate creativity and critical thinking in action 1. Behaviour, especially the unwanted kind, can be an issue in some settings so I have chosen an incident from my own teaching experience to begin with to illustrate how conflict can be positive if we try to look at ‘incidents’ and ‘unwanted behaviour’ as learning opportunities which can support and develop not only children’s creativity and critical thinking, but our own too if we are open, honest and reflective practitioners willing to share with our colleagues. Imagine. Two 4 year old boys wrestling in the role-play area fighting over who is going to wear the Father Christmas outfit with an audience of four 4 year old girls happy to be reindeer pulling the sleigh. One girl in her effort to help, desperately calls out to them repeatedly, “If there are 4 then no more!” This is usually our rule for each area of the room so that overcrowding and under-resourcing is not too much of an issue however we waive it in the last two weeks of the Christmas term as so many play happily as elves and reindeer but of course there can only be one Father Christmas thus we have our conflict. After respectfully observing from a distance for 3 -5 minutes to see if the children can exercise their conflict resolution strategies independently without anyone getting hurt, I am forced to intervene when a fist is thrown. Fortunately I catch the fist mid air before any damage is done but tears are flowing. The first element of ‘flow’ is established with my setting ‘clear goals for every step of the way’ when I explain to the boys that first they need to explain to me in their own words what is going on, what’s the problem [information gathering] so that we can agree more goals together to solve the problem and learn from it. Secondly I provide ‘immediate feedback to their actions’ by asking them to think about how their behaviour [shouting, hitting, crying, damaging dressing up clothes etc.] is making them and others feel, describing what I saw and inviting eye witnesses [the 4 girls] to contribute truthfully. Thirdly ‘there is a balance between challenges and skills’ in my differentiated questions to them and requests for potential resolutions and ideas and their own ability to apply these with or without support afterwards. Fourthly ‘actions and awareness are merged’ as they realise and take ownership of the fact that their behaviour has caused consequences they are now aware of and that they will need to be part of the problem solving mission. Fifthly through my reassurance and friends willing to support the boys have ‘no worry about failure’ which moves us on swiftly to the sixth element ‘distractions are excluded from consciousness’ as they turn take with the use of a ten minute sand timer [their own idea and resolution agreed upon from 3 suggested]. They become engrossed in their role-play altogether and ‘self consciousness disappears’ as they play oblivious to the other 26 children in the room. Their ‘sense of time becomes distorted’ because they are so creatively engrossed in their play until I remind them the sand timer has run out and it’s time to swap. Finally the ninth element of ‘flow’ is achieved in that ‘the activity becomes rewarding just for its own sake’. Don’t Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s nine elements of flow, particularly the last one, resonate with Ferre Laevers work? In his work there are two principal methods of observation. The Child Involvement Scale aims to measure the level of a child’s involvement in an activity. This child-centred approach focuses on processes rather than outcomes. He argues that children experience an intense and highly motivated learning experience when they are most involved in an activity. His theory and practice centres on mobilising strategies to deepen experience. He bases his theories on the understanding that the most productive learning occurs when children are so involved that they lose themselves in it. His five point involvement scale distinguishes between different levels of involvement ranging from the first level, ‘where a child may seem absent and display no energy, activity is simple, repetitive and passive’, to the fifth level, ‘where a child is concentrated, energetic and persistent with intense activity revealing the greatest involvement’. 2. “Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity” – Charles Mingus A little girl comes to mind from this quote about creativity, when she was waiting for her turn to make and mould a number line from 1-10 with sparkly Play-Doh. In her apparent boredom I noticed her doodling on the table before picking up a sieve and carefully sprinkling flour all over a blue table. I was just about to stop her from ‘making a mess’ when I realised that she was tracing numbers from 1-20 around the table revealing the blue of the table through the white flour as she scribed the numbers. Achieving my lessons aims and objectives but in her own unique way using the open ended resources creatively and thinking critically as she searched the room for items to place next to her numbers and practised 1 to 1 correspondence. I was quite taken aback and repeated her wonderful activity for others to enjoy for the rest of the week! 3. “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw Children’s imaginations are wonderful, mysterious and exciting things. I have taken this quote from a parent who wrote it underneath one of their children’s photos in their learning journey. When I asked them about it they explained that their little boy had been rambling on about a railway village by the sea, wanting to go on holiday there, asking when he would be able to visit this special place and had been drawing the same picture with more and more detail each time for about a month. They did not know what he was talking about and thought he must have had a nice dream or something but were amazed to see that he had re-created the exact same scene in his pictures but with even more detail one afternoon on the carpet in his classroom. For the duration of an hour and fifteen minutes he was engrossed and concentrated oblivious to anything and anyone unless they were helping him with his creation. He combined bricks, Lego, Duplo, wooden blocks, tissue papers and small world to create what he imagined in more detail than ever before. Satisfied with the result he never drew or made the same scene again but talks about it often when looking through his learning journey – so I’m very pleased I noted it as something rather special and had enough battery in the camera to take a photo that day! He had us all wishing it was a place we could go and visit for a relaxing sea-side holiday and who knows, he could be a wonderful town planner someday, I would not be surprised. As we never quite got to the bottom of his inspiration for this scene, at the end of the year I added beneath their quote, one of my own for this extraordinary little boy, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw Creativity is defined as something different from intelligence, (Michalko, 1998). “Creativity is often defined as a parallel construct to intelligence, but it differs from intelligence in that it is not restricted to cognitive or intellectual functioning or behaviour. Instead, it is Critical Thinking & Creativity concerned with a complex mix of motivational conditions, personality factors, environmental conditions, chance factors, and even products.” (Feldhusen and Goh, 1995) It is different from innovation, since “innovation is ‘ideas to action’—taking something that seems to be a good or even exceptional idea and transforming it into something that it tangible for others to use. Innovation is an active process that has a clearly defined end or goal and that produces something that others can use and indeed want! …The goal, if not drive, of creativity is to explore beyond current reality, to realize something new. On the other hand, the goal of innovation is to bring those novel ideas into a tangible form that in some way conforms to what others need in the here and now. Creativity is essentially a divergent activity, expanding beyond current experience, while innovation is essentially a convergent activity, bringing those same ideas back into people’s experience…creativity is an aspect of innovation;…the goal of creativity is exploration and invention. The goal of innovation is transformation and implementation.” (Richards, 2003) Some speak of creativity as the process of discovery. It is more than cognitive functioning. Albert (1990, as quoted in Feldhusen and Goh, 1995) proposes six guiding ideas to “grasp the essence of creativity.” 1. Creativity is expressed through decisions, not products. 2. Knowledge of self and of one’s world is the medium of creative behaviour. 3. Creative behaviour is highly intentional. 4. Creativeness and personal identity are emergent. 5. #3 and #4 are mutually dependent. 6. Creative behaviour engages individuals at the personal level of their identities and abilities. I truly believe my little boy in case study three was a budding genius. Howard Gardner began his explorations into multiple intelligences by examining the thinking of geniuses. Michalko (1998) lists the thinking patterns of geniuses as follows: 1. Geniuses look at problems in many different ways. 2. Geniuses make their thought visible. 3. Geniuses produce many ideas. 4. Geniuses make novel combinations. 5. Geniuses force relationships. 6. Geniuses think in opposites. 7. Geniuses think metaphorically. 8. Geniuses prepare themselves for chance. As educators, practitioners must be aware of the barriers to participation and creativity and critical thinking if they want to provide an enabling environment that is conducive to learning and which fosters the development of creativity and critical thinking consistently. Thomas (1999) is one of the many who lists barriers to creativity. His list is based on the work of Alexander Hiam, and lists nine: 1. Failure to ask questions. 2. Failure to record ideas. 3. Failure to revisit ideas.. 4. Failure to express ideas. 5. Failure to think in new ways. 6. Failure to wish for more. 7. Failure to try being creative. 8. Failure to keep trying. 9. Failure to tolerate creative behaviour. Most authors believe removing the obstacles to creativity fosters it. “Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” [Leo Burnett]. When I read this list I immediately turned it on its head and for each point asked the positive; How do I encourage children to ask questions? Is my use of time and space sufficiently flexible? What different ways and accessible strategies do I encourage children to use to records their ideas in a variety of ways? When do I provide the time for children to revisit their ideas, discuss, reflect and evaluate during the daily/weekly/termly/yearly routine? How do I support children in expressing their ideas in a variety of ways? Do they feel safe to take risks? What provocations/questions/experiences/open-ended activities do I use that encourage/challenge children to think in new ways? Are there plenty of opportunities for children to make decisions and experience/reflect on the impact of those decisions? How do I inspire children to aim high, wish for more and set their own goals helping them to achieve above and beyond their expectations? What high quality tried and tested/new, innovative and creative resources, ideas and experiences do I use to help children continue naturally being creative as well as desiring to try being creative? How do I encourage and support children to ‘have a go’ fostering a positive attitude towards trying and not being afraid to make mistakes? How do I safeguard and protect the expression of creativity facilitating a wide variety of behaviour that helps it to flourish? Howard Gardner also made a distinction that we as practitioners must never make between the ‘Big C’ and the ‘Little c’ believing that although we all have some measure of creativity, creative geniuses have qualities which are theirs and theirs alone. He reveals this in a quote from his book Multiple Intelligences (2006), “Recent studies have yielded two major findings. On the one hand, creative individuals do not seem to have at their disposal mental operations that are theirs alone; they make use of the same cognitive processors others do, but they use them in a more efficient and flexible way and in the service of goals that are ambitious and often quite risky…..On the other hand highly creative individuals seem to lead their lives differently than most others. They are fully engaged in and are passionate about their work; they exhibit a need to do something new and a strong sense of their purpose and ultimate goals; they are extremely reflective about their activities, their use of time and the quality of their products.” We should assume all of the children in our care are capable of ‘Big C’ creativity to help facilitate the best possible environment in which to allow creativity and critical thinking to flourish and blossom unrestricted. Adults need to ensure that children have encouragement to develop diligence and exuberance, delighting in what they do as they begin to discover [through their creativity and critical thinking] what will hopefully become a happy and purpose driven life. Sometimes creativity is about exploring things from new perspectives. Edward deBono teaches what he calls Lateral Thinking Skills (de Bono 1995). One of his methods, the Six Thinking Hats, involves putting on a different “hat” to look at ideas. He helpfully colour codes his hats: White—facts figures, information, asking questions, defining information needs and gaps Red—intuition, feeling and emotions Yellow—logical positive, why it will work and offer benefits Black—logical negative, includes judgment and caution Green—creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocations, and changes Blue—overview or process control Ghandi once said about himself that he had ‘an average mind with less than average ability…’ and admitted to not being ‘sharp intellectually’ but that he did not mind because ‘There is a limit to the development of the intellect but none to that of the heart.’ Children are naturally creative and I believe that they will always think creatively and critically if they are not afraid of criticism and punishment. In conclusion I would like to end with three inspirational quotes from well known painters, each with their own distinctively recognisable creative flair in the hope they will inspire you to help foster creativity and critical thinking in the early years, producing budding geniuses for generations to come! “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it” – Salvador Dali “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” – Vincent Van Gogh References and Further Reading Edward de Bono, E. (1995). "Serious creativity." The Journal for Quality and Participation18(5): 12. Threads of Thinking by Cathy Nutbrown Sage Publications ISBN 1-4129-1084-6 Feldhusen, J. F. (2002). "Creativity: the knowledge base and children." High Ability Studies 13(2): 179-183. Feldhusen, J. F. and B. E. Goh (1995). "Assessing and accessing creativity: An integrative review of theory, research, and development." Creativity Research Journal 8(3): 231, 17p. Helgeson, L. J. (1993). "Promoting creativity & critical thinking--with science." Teaching PreK-8 23(5): 12. Michalko, M. (1998). "Thinking like a genius: Eight strategies used by the supercreative, from Aristotle and Leonardo to Einstein and Edison." The Futurist 32(4): 21. Michalko, M. (2000). "Four steps toward creative thinking." The Futurist 34(3): 18. Thomas, J. (1999). "Nine barriers to thinking creatively." Women in Business 51(1): 14.
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