Beyond Transformations: Creative Thinking in a

Standards-Based Classroom

Presented by Betsey Kennedy

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http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/

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Creativity Challenge:Creativity Challenge:

• Your Goal: Your Goal: Attach a lit candle to the bulletin board so that wax cannot drip onto the floor below.

• Your Materials:Your Materials:– A candle– A box of matches– Thumbtacks

The Elements of CreativityThe Elements of Creativity

Creativity CreaturesCreativity Creatures

Thoughts about CreativityThoughts about Creativity

• Visit each statement poster.

• Place a sticker on the scale indicating the amount to which you agree or disagree with the statement.

Children are more creative Children are more creative than adults.than adults.

• In a test developed for NASA to identify innovative scientists and engineers:– 98% of 5-year-olds tested at genius level on a

creativity scale.– 30% of 10-year-olds scored at genius level.– 12% of 15-year-olds– 2% of adults

• Conclusion: Non-creative thinking is learned.

Land & Jarman, 1992

TRUETRUE

Children with high IQ scores Children with high IQ scores are most likely to achieve are most likely to achieve

success in adulthood.success in adulthood.

• 50 year study of 400 children showed that Torrance’s creativity index predicted kids’ creative accomplishments as adults.

• The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.

Torrance & Millar

Somewhat

Somewhat FALSEFALSE

Measures of creativity show that Measures of creativity show that Americans are becoming more Americans are becoming more

creative.creative.

• While intelligence scores tend to increase by 10 points with each generation, creativity, as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, has decreased over the last 20 years in all categories.

Kim, 2010

FALSEFALSE

Countries that perform well on Countries that perform well on international standardized tests also international standardized tests also

perform well in studies of flexible perform well in studies of flexible thinking and entrepreneurship. thinking and entrepreneurship.

• Countries with the highest scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment, scored lower on measures of entrepreneurship than did countries with more modest scores.

• Conclusion: Practices that lead to high test scores do not support flexible thinking.

Zhao, 2012

FALSEFALSE

Creative jobs in America Creative jobs in America have fared better during have fared better during

the economic crisis.the economic crisis.

• The creative class lost fewer than 2% of its jobs from 2008-2010 compared to 17% of blue collar and service sector jobs.

• Creative class workers’ wages grew 4.4% while wages of blue collar workers declined by 4.6%.

R. Florida, 2012

TRUETRUE

Creative thinking is best taught Creative thinking is best taught through visual or performing arts.through visual or performing arts.

• “Researchers say that creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into the homeroom.”

Bronson & Merryman, 2010

• The jobs that the majority of our students will have as adults do not exist today. Students must have the creative thinking skills needed to match any situation.

FALSEFALSE

Competitions and rewards Competitions and rewards help to encourage creativity.help to encourage creativity.

• Creativity suffers when people are promised rewards for creative work, or when learning conditions stress competition and social comparison.

Hennessey & Amabile, 2010

• Candle Problem- Participants who were offered financial rewards for quick completion of task took longer to solve the problem.

Glucksberg, 1962

FALSEFALSE

People who practice creative People who practice creative thinking become more creative.thinking become more creative.

• People who consistently practice creative thinking are able to think more creatively. Consistent habits gradually change neurological patterns.

Jung, 2009

• Brain scans show differences between trained musicians and nonmusicians when asked to improvise a musical piece.

Anasari & Berkowitz, 2010

TRUETRUE

Making Creativity a Part of Making Creativity a Part of Life in Your ClassroomLife in Your Classroom

Hallway Game: Hallway Game: Likes and DislikesLikes and Dislikes

• Likes and Dislikes Game– Can you figure out the pattern of the

things Ms. Kennedy likes?• Ms. Kennedy likes birds, but not eggs.• Ms. Kennedy likes walls, but not windows.• Ms. Kennedy likes pears, but not apples.

Hallway Game: Hallway Game: Word AssociationsWord Associations

• Commonyms– What do these three words have in

common?Doors Pictures Eye GlassesDoors Pictures Eye Glasses

• Word Associations Game– Can you think of a fourth word that is

related to these three ? Wagon Stand AidWagon Stand Aid

Hallway Game: Hallway Game: Alternative Uses and Alternative Uses and Creative ConnectionsCreative Connections

• Alternative Uses– Choose an item in the hallway, students

list alternative uses for that item(Example: A floor tile could be used as a fan, a plate, a raft for a mouse, etc.)

• Creative Connections– Choose any two items, students explain

how one item is like the other

Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:SynecticsSynectics

1. Select a word or phrase that your class has been studying (examples: heat, vibration, current)

2. Select a seemingly unrelated word or object.Random Word Generator: http://creativitygames.net/random-word-generator

3. Students list similarities between the two words.

Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:SynecticsSynectics

Sample from Lisa Rogers, King Springs Elementary

Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:Useful JunkUseful Junk

• Choose a random object and ask students to develop a list of ways this object could have been used by historical figures (or book characters).– How might Paul Revere have used this

piece of wrapping paper?

– How might Lewis and Clark have used this piece of twine?

– How might a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail have used this paper clip?

Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:Useful JunkUseful Junk

• Working on building students’ originality? Try playing Scratch with “Useful Junk” questions.

– Students are given a few minutes to list as many uses for the object as possible. At the end of the available time, students share their list with their tablemates. Any idea that appears on more than one list gets “scratched.” Ideas that no one else listed are considered original. (The rules of this game are very similar to Scattergories.)

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :In the Past / In the FutureIn the Past / In the Future

• Students are given a picture and asked to use their scientific knowledge to explain what probably happened in the recent or distant past or will happen in the future.

1. Show an image of an unknown object. Allow students to examine it and ask questions about it.

2. Answer some questions, and provide new clues about the object every few days until students have determined what the object is.

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Object MysteriesObject Mysteries

Clue 1: This object can be opened and closed.

Clue 2: This object would most likely have been found in a kitchen.

Clue 3: Sugar used to be sold in a cone shape like this.

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Object MysteriesObject Mysteries

Good place to find odd objects: http://jas-townsend.com/index.php?cPath=7

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :SCAMPERSCAMPER

•help people to think differently about a problem area and enhances creativity

•use this technique to solve a problem, create something new, or improve something that is existing

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :SCAMPERSCAMPER

S Substitute What or who can be used instead? What other ingredients, place, or time? Other material? Other Process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other sounds?

C Combine What materials, features, processes, people, products, or components can be combined?

A Adapt Is there anything that can be changed? What else is like this? What could be copied?

M Modify, Magnify, or Minify

Can you change the meaning, color, motion, sound, smell, form, or shape? Can you distort it?

P Put to Other Uses

Are there new ways to use or reuse it? Is there another market?

E Eliminate Can you reduce time, effort, or cost? Can you remove part of it?

R Rearrange Can you interchange components or patterns? Can you change the pace or schedule? Can it be reversed?

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :SCAMPERSCAMPER

• SCAMPER-like picture books:– Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root

– If I Built a Car and If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen

– A New Improved Santa by Patricia Rae Wolff

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :SCAMPERSCAMPER

Examples:•3rd Grade- SCAMPER the school’s recycling program

•4th Grade- SCAMPER the Conestoga Wagon

•5th Grade- SCAMPER a beach house to stand up to weathering and erosion

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving

• method for approaching a problem or a challenge in an imaginative and innovative way

• includes divergent and convergent thinking

• extensive research backing this method has been done

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving

1. Objective (Mess) Finding: Select a problem.

2. Fact Finding: List what you know.

3. Problem Finding:What is the real problem?

4. Idea Finding:Brainstorm ideas.

5. Solution Finding:How will you evaluate your ideas? Which is best?

6. Acceptance Finding:Find ways to put ideas into action.

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving

• You have just moved into a new house, and you love it! Unfortunately, the house gets extremely hot in the summer, and your air conditioning is causing the electrical bill to go through the roof! What should you do?

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving

• You have a big assignment due today, but right before you leave for school you see that your little sister dropped it in the fish tank, and it’s soaked! You used the last of the printer ink last night and you only have 5 minutes before you have to leave for school! What should you do?

Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving

• During the Cold War, the Soviet Union attempted to take control of Berlin by creating a blockade that prevented needed supplies from getting to people living in parts of Berlin controlled by the United States, France, and England. What should the United States do?

All materials from All materials from this presentation this presentation can be found at: can be found at:

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/

creativity7