Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 How to Discourage Creative Thinking in the Classroom
- 2 Teaching for Creativity in an Era of Content Standards and Accountability
- 3 Developing Creative Productivity in Young People through the Pursuit of Ideal Acts of Learning
- 4 Creativity: A Look Outside the Box in Classrooms
- 5 Using Constraints to Develop Creativity in the Classroom
- 6 Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together
- 7 The Five Core Attitudes, Seven I's, and General Concepts of the Creative Process
- 8 Learning for Creativity
- 9 Broadening Conceptions of Creativity in the Classroom
- 10 Everyday Creativity in the Classroom: A Trip through Time with Seven Suggestions
- 11 Education Based on a Parsimonious Theory of Creativity
- 12 Roads Not Taken, New Roads to Take: Looking for Creativity in the Classroom
- 13 Creativity in Mathematics Teaching: A Chinese Perspective
- 14 Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?
- 15 When Intensity Goes to School: Overexcitabilities, Creativity, and the Gifted Child
- 16 Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity in the Classroom: Have We Come Full Circle?
- 17 Attitude Change as the Precursor to Creativity Enhancement
- 18 Creativity in College Classrooms
- 19 Teaching for Creativity
- Creativity in the Classroom Coda: Twenty Key Points and Other Insights
- Index
- References
19 - Teaching for Creativity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 How to Discourage Creative Thinking in the Classroom
- 2 Teaching for Creativity in an Era of Content Standards and Accountability
- 3 Developing Creative Productivity in Young People through the Pursuit of Ideal Acts of Learning
- 4 Creativity: A Look Outside the Box in Classrooms
- 5 Using Constraints to Develop Creativity in the Classroom
- 6 Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together
- 7 The Five Core Attitudes, Seven I's, and General Concepts of the Creative Process
- 8 Learning for Creativity
- 9 Broadening Conceptions of Creativity in the Classroom
- 10 Everyday Creativity in the Classroom: A Trip through Time with Seven Suggestions
- 11 Education Based on a Parsimonious Theory of Creativity
- 12 Roads Not Taken, New Roads to Take: Looking for Creativity in the Classroom
- 13 Creativity in Mathematics Teaching: A Chinese Perspective
- 14 Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?
- 15 When Intensity Goes to School: Overexcitabilities, Creativity, and the Gifted Child
- 16 Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity in the Classroom: Have We Come Full Circle?
- 17 Attitude Change as the Precursor to Creativity Enhancement
- 18 Creativity in College Classrooms
- 19 Teaching for Creativity
- Creativity in the Classroom Coda: Twenty Key Points and Other Insights
- Index
- References
Summary
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
Creativity is a habit (Sternberg, 2006; Tharp, 2005). The problem is that schools sometimes treat it as a bad habit. And the world of conventional standardized tests we have invented does just that (Sternberg, 1997b). If students try being creative on standardized tests, they will get slapped down just as soon as they get their score. That will teach them not to do it again.
Oddly enough, a distinguished psychometric tester, J. P. Guilford, was one of the first to try to incorporate creativity into the school curriculum, but his efforts show little fruit today (Guilford, 1950). Disciples of Guilford such as McKinnon (1962) and Torrance (1962) had some, but not a great deal more success.
It may sound paradoxical that creativity – a novel response – is a habit, a routine response. But creative people are creative in large part not as a result of any particular inborn trait but rather through an attitude toward life (Maslow, 1967; Schank, 1988): They habitually respond to problems in fresh and novel ways, rather than allowing themselves to respond mindlessly and automatically (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c).
Like any habit, creativity can either be encouraged or discouraged. The main things that promote the habit are (1) opportunities to engage in it, (2) encouragement when people avail themselves of these opportunities, and (3) rewards when people respond to such encouragement and think and behave creatively. You need all three.
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- Information
- Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom , pp. 394 - 414Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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