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Teaching and Assessing Creativity

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Adobe_Creativity_and_Education_Why_It_Matters_infographic.jpg (900×2071) 30 Things You Can Do To Promote Creativity in Your Classroom - InformED : On assessing for creativity: yes you can, and yes you should. I tweeted yesterday an interesting news item in Erik Robelen’s blog in Education Week that a few states (Oklahoma, California, Massachusetts) are seriously looking into some sort of assessment of creative thinking as part of the whole 21st century skills/entrepreneurship movement.

I think it is a great idea, with a lot of potential for leveraging change. Now, of course, the naysayers are quick to say that you cannot measure creative thinking. This is silly: here is a rubric for doing so: Creative. We can and do measure anything: critical and creative thinking, wine quality, doctors, meals, athletic potential, etc. In Bloom’s Taxonomy – designed to categorize and guide the design of measures – Synthesis was the level of thinking for such creativity, as Bloom makes clear in defining it: Synthesis is here defined as the putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole. Ditto and underscored for student oral presentations.

Like this: Like Loading... Tools | Creative Confidence by Tom & David Kelley. Mindsets, methods, case studies and more — Design Kit is IDEO.org‘s platform to learn human-centered design, a creative approach to solving the world’s most difficult problems. A directory of schools and programs that use design thinking in the curriculum for K12 students — a resource created by IDEO and the K12 Lab Network at Stanford’s d.school. In this segment of 60 Minutes, Charlie Rose visits IDEO and interviews co-founder David Kelley.

Rose also discusses the future of design thinking, delves deeper into human-centered design with David in his home, and learns about creative confidence. More footage from 60 Minutes’ time at IDEO here. Want a sneak peek at the book? Download the preface and introduction to Creative Confidence here, then order the book today! A creative process that helps you design meaningful solutions in the classroom, at your school, and in your community. “A 90-minute video-led cruise through our methodology.” “Most people are born creative. Is It Possible to Measure Creativity? Big Ideas Culture Teaching Strategies Jeremy Rusnock/Courtesy Imagination Stage By Elizabeth Blair, NPR Let’s start with a question from a standardized test: “How would the world be different if we all had a third eye in the back of our heads?”

It’s not a typical standardized question, but as part of the Next Generation Creativity Survey, it’s used to help measure creativity a bit like an IQ test measures intelligence. So why bother measuring creativity? He says, “Measuring is an important aspect of knowing where our investments pay off.” Troublemaker Or Misunderstood Creative Genius? In the late 1950s, a man named E. “They were high-energy kids with ideas,” she says, “and those don’t always fit into a very structured school situation. Torrance set out to change that, or at least to prove that creativity was as important as intelligence, not just in the arts, but in every field. Rewarding The ‘More Elaborate Route’ “One little boy created a cave out of it,” Stanford remembers. Related. The Creative Thinking Course - Home. Syallabus for my Creative Thinking Course. Creativity - Creative Thinking and Becoming More Inventrous.

Lesson plans and activities for teaching about inventions by increasing creativity and creative thinking. The lesson plans are adaptable for grades K-12 and were designed to be done in sequence. Teaching Creativity & Creative Thinking Skills When a student is asked to "invent" a solution to a problem, the student must draw upon previous knowledge, skills, creativity, and experience. The student also recognizes areas where new learnings must be acquired in order to understand or address the problem. This information must then be applied, analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated. Through critical and creative thinking and problem-solving, ideas become reality as children create inventive solutions, illustrate their ideas, and make models of their inventions. Models of Creative Thinking Skills The models demonstrate how creative thinking lesson plans could provide an opportunity for students to "experience" most of the elements described in the models.

Creative Thinking - List of Activities. Reinventing Education To Teach Creativity And Entrepreneurship. As you read this, students all over the country are sitting for state standardized exams. Schools spend up to 40% of the year on test prep, so that, shall we say, no child is left behind. Schools’ futures and funding depend on the number of students who fall into performance bands like "Advanced," "Proficient," and "Approaching Basic" based on bubble sheets and number two pencils. But this is not the rant you think it is. Let’s get one thing straight from the beginning: As a former high school teacher, I’m not opposed to standardized testing. Common assessments are a critical way of maintaining high expectations for all kids. Great teachers want benchmarks to measure progress and ensure that they are closing the gap between students in their classroom and the kids across town.

Schools used to be gatekeepers of knowledge, and memorization was key to success. Yet there is an inherent bias in the promise of these new platforms that favors extraordinarily self-directed learners. Fluency21. Teaching Creativity - Professional Development for Teachers. A few weeks ago fellow Voices blogger Shelley Wright wrote a provocative blog on flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy and beginning the learning experience with Creativity.

As the person most directly responsible for our school’s Professional Development I have been wondering what professional development looks like when you turn Bloom’s on its head. Teachers young and old are comfortable with the old model and path. Even if they have never heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy (it happens in independent schools where some young teachers have never taken an education course), teachers are inherently comfortable with the approach the taxonomy lays out. Remembering and Understanding are sooo easy to assess—give a quiz; find out what you student doesn’t know. Applying and Analyzing are practiced at each level of a teacher’s own education and eventually applied as an educator—analyzing new texts, applying new techniques. Encouraging teachers to teach creativity requires a different approach.

Image: Creative Commons. Teaching for the 21st Century:Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson. Yes, You Can Teach and Assess Creativity! A recent blog by Grant Wiggins affirmed what I have long believed about creativity: it is a 21st-century skill we can teach and assess. Creativity fosters deeper learning, builds confidence and creates a student ready for college and career. However, many teachers don't know how to implement the teaching and assessment of creativity in their classrooms. While we may have the tools to teach and assess content, creativity is another matter, especially if we want to be intentional about teaching it as a 21st-century skill. In a PBL project, some teachers focus on just one skill, while others focus on many. Quality Indicators If you and your students don't unpack and understand what creativity looks like, then teaching and assessing it will be very difficult.

Synthesize ideas in original and surprising ways.Ask new questions to build upon an idea.Brainstorm multiple ideas and solutions to problems.Communicate ideas in new and innovative ways. Activities Targeted to Quality Indicators.