Cultivating Creativity

How lessons from kindergarten can help everyone develop the creative thinking skills needed to thrive in today's society. In kindergartens these days, children spend more time with math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is becoming more like the rest of school. In Lifelong Kindergarten, learning expert Mitchel Resnick argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be more like kindergarten. To thrive in today's fast-changing world, people of all ages must learn to think and act creatively—and the best way to do that is by focusing more on imagining, creating, playing, sharing, and reflecting, just as children do in traditional kindergartens. Drawing on experiences from more than thirty years at MIT's Media Lab, Resnick discusses new technologies and strategies for engaging young people in creative learning experiences. He tells stories of how children are programming their own games, stories, and inventions (for example, a diary security system, created by a twelve-year-old girl), and collaborating through remixing, crowdsourcing, and large-scale group projects (such as a Halloween-themed game called Night at Dreary Castle, produced by more than twenty kids scattered around the world). By providing young people with opportunities to work on projects, based on their passions, in collaboration with peers, in a playful spirit, we can help them prepare for a world where creative thinking is more important than ever before.

A rich and playful resource for fostering creativity in the classroom The product of over three decades of teaching design studios and creativity seminars primarily at the University of Washington, Cultivating Creativity offers firsthand, on-the-ground accounts of encouraging creative expression in the classroom. In this lively book, course instructors will find a wealth of creativity-awakening exercises and strategies that can be adapted to suit a variety of disciplines. More than a practical guide, this book uses a combination of playful design, full-color illustrations, participant reflections, and pedagogical reflection to encourage innovation. Readers can turn to the “Who, What, Where, How, and Why” chapters for guidance on developing exercises of their own, or flip to any page for a dose of inspiration before their next creative project. Today’s world is filled with nations, businesses, venture capitalists, and institutions of higher education in hot pursuit of “innovation.” Cultivating Creativity offers up new strategies for finding it and invites each reader to continue their search in a way only they can.

"Creative longevity is about what you do to prepare yourself for the ripe moment, when the potential of an idea is able to grow into something useful.... This book is for anyone who has a tendency to think visually and needs to satisfy their creative soul." --from the Introduction Discover the road to productivity and success by keeping your creative juices flowing daily. Cultivating Creativity is a book based on the idea that creativity requires ample momentum--if you stop, you'll stall. In order to get the creative inspiration you need to do your design work well, it's important to establish daily creative routines. Author Maria Fabrizio has compiled here a beautiful and inspirational guide, a companion to unlocking your creativity every day. Create every day, and you'll be able to keep creating every day--it's as simple as that.

Cultivating Your Creative Life: How to Find Balance, Beauty, and Success as an Artist is a multifaceted book where creativity and wonder intermingle to show how to live a creative and balanced life while moving toward your goals.

For many of us, the return of Zen conjures up images of rock gardens and gently flowing waterfalls. We think of mindfulness and meditation, immersion in a state of being where meaning is found through simplicity. Zen lore has been absorbed by Western practitioners and pop culture alike, yet there is a specific area of this ancient tradition that hasn’t been fully explored in the West. Now, in The Zen of Creativity, American Zen master John Daido Loori presents a book that taps the principles of the Zen arts and aesthetic as a means to unlock creativity and find freedom in the various dimensions of our existence. Loori dissolves the barriers between art and spirituality, opening up the possibility of meeting life with spontaneity, grace, and peace. Zen Buddhism is steeped in the arts. In spiritual ways, calligraphy, poetry, painting, the tea ceremony, and flower arranging can point us toward our essential, boundless nature. Brilliantly interpreting the teachings of the artless arts, Loori illuminates various elements that awaken our creativity, among them still point, the center of each moment that focuses on the tranquility within; simplicity, in which the creative process is uncluttered and unlimited, like a cloudless sky; spontaneity, a way to navigate through life without preconceptions, with a freshness in which everything becomes new; mystery, a sense of trust in the unknown; creative feedback, the systematic use of an audience to receive noncritical input about our art; art koans, exercises based on paradoxical questions that can be resolved only through artistic expression. Loori shows how these elements interpenetrate and function not only in art, but in all our endeavors. Beautifully illustrated and punctuated with poems and reflections from Loori’s own spiritual journey, The Zen of Creativity presents a multilayered, bottomless source of insight into our creativity. Appealing equally to spiritual seekers, artists, and veteran Buddhist practitioners, this book is perfect for those wishing to discover new means of self-awareness and expression—and to restore equanimity and freedom amid the vicissitudes of our lives.

Exploring the journey children take in developing their creativity, the author demonstrates the framework that can promote creativity in babies and toddlers, proving the link between theory and practice.

Creativity is a way of thinking, of looking at things, of experiencing, and operating. Although creativity may seem magical, a rare talent of a select few, creativity is, in fact, available to everyone. In Cultivating Creativity, you will learn how to unlock your creative potential and develop your creative expression. Through developing your creativity, you will become better at generating ideas and finding new perspectives. But, more importantly, with creativity, you will improve your capability to rise to the moment, to make the most of the potentials and demands of the present, and facilitate your ability to lead a full and rich life. In Cultivating Creativity, you will learn many ways to foster your creative process and expression, including: * Have Belief - When you think something is possible, it almost certainly is...especially good ideas. * Research - Explore and lay the groundwork and understanding in subject areas to provide a richer substrate for ideas to grow. * Flow - Let ideas come to you naturally around a specific topic or topics. The more you spark your creativity, the brighter it will burn. * Get out of your way - Learn how to let creativity happen. Be present, mindful, and creative. * Nurture Dreams - Using the right approach, let going to sleep and dreaming lead to a wealth of new ideas. * Be Flexible and Play - Learn to toy with and manipulate ideas and concepts, examining them from different angles and views, critical components of creative insight. * Have Conversations - Indulge in engaged and informed discussion and debate, as powerful sources of new ideas. * Relax - Let the mind generate ideas while you watch and guide the process. Or be mindless and let them come to you. * Change Things Up - If you're stuck in a rut, do something different! Recharge for new ideas. * Be Passionate - Find what most excites and motivates you about a topic or idea and see where this interest leads. * Have Internal Dialogue - If you love exciting, intellectual interplay with friends, family members, and co-workers, why not have one with yourself? * Adjust Your State of Mind - Let new thoughts and ideas emerge naturally by learning to change your consciousness, your perspective, and how you feel. Experience events in new ways. * Instigate Thought Experiments - Consciously explore new ways to look at and think about problems, concepts, and events, leading to new creative insights. * Act Ridiculous - Get out of your comfort zone and put the bounds of normalcy and convention aside to look at things in new ways. * Be Present - Being present helps fully appreciate and engage the moment and open yourself to creative possibility. Taken singly or in combination, switched or applied consistently, these approaches will help foster and develop your creativity, nurturing your ability to react to and generate many possible responses to the moment. And, with greater possibilities in each moment and more positive outcomes, comes the potential for greater rewards and a richer life. Choose creativity and begin creating!

This book presents a variety of narratives on key elements of academic work, from data analysis, writing practices and engagement with the field. The authors discuss how elements of academic work and life – usually edited out of traditional research papers – can elicit important analytical insight. The book reveals how the unplanned, accidental and even obstructive events that often occur in research life, the ‘detours’, can potentially glean important results. The authors introduce the process of ‘writing-sharing-reading-writing’ as a way to expand the playground of research and inspire a culture in which ‘accountable’ research methodologies involve adventurousness and an element of uncertainty. Written by scholars from a range of different fields, academic levels and geographic locations, this unique book will offer significant insight to those from a range of academic fields.