Exploring Perspectives On Creativity Theory And Research In Education

Collectively, the sixteen chapters in this book investigate the power of creativity in the classroom, many through the specific lens of limited resources as an opportunity. The chapters are divided into two sections, eight chapters comprising Section I: Theory and Research and then the eight chapters comprising Section II: Additional Perspectives and Future Directions. Within these two sections, the more than two-dozen authors that contributed to this book tackle a wide range of the possibilities for designing creative classroom-based instruction wherein limited resources are highlighted and valued, rather than avoided or lamented. The two main sections of this book are each preceded by a brief introductory summary highlighting those sections attributes and objectives, with the intention of providing helpful structure to the readerbut the book has also been designed such that each chapter stands independently and can be jumped to directly like a handbook. In its totality, this book exploring perspectives on creativity theory and research in education is designed to serve as a valuable resource for teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, parents, and education researchers, along with anyone else that is interested in optimizing our opportunities for nurturing creativity within classrooms. .

Collectively, the sixteen chapters in this book investigate the power of creativity in the classroom, many through the specific lens of limited resources as an opportunity. The chapters are divided into two sections, eight chapters comprising Section I: Theory and Research and then the eight chapters comprising Section II: Additional Perspectives and Future Directions. Within these two sections, the more than two-dozen authors that contributed to this book tackle a wide range of the possibilities for designing creative classroom-based instruction wherein limited resources are highlighted and valued, rather than avoided or lamented. The two main sections of this book are each preceded by a brief introductory summary highlighting those sections’ attributes and objectives, with the intention of providing helpful structure to the reader—but the book has also been designed such that each chapter stands independently and can be jumped to directly like a handbook. In its totality, this book exploring perspectives on creativity theory and research in education is designed to serve as a valuable resource for teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, parents, and education researchers, along with anyone else that is interested in optimizing our opportunities for nurturing creativity within classrooms.

Creativity Under Duress in Education? introduces a new framework—creativity under duress in education. Leading creativity researchers and educational scholars discuss creative theory and practice from an educational lens that is provocative. Across international contexts, this book combines insights from creativity and educational research; rich illustrations from classrooms, schools, and other professional settings, and practical ideas and strategies for how anyone invested in education can support creative teaching and learning. Readers will encounter diverse perspectives from an international cast of authors exploring cutting-edge ideas for creativity and innovation as a foremost priority for economies in the new millennium. At the same time, they consider forces of authority, control, and constraint that impact creative education and innovation within educational systems, extending to the professions. Educators and those interested in the future of education are vitally important to this conversation around research-based and practical analyses of creativity in and beyond the classroom. Addressed are these major issues: (1) creativity frameworks of theory and action in education, (2) research investigations into creativity and education, and (3) applications of creativity theory in real-world practice. Dynamic, this book presents a bridge between draconian contexts of assessment and explosive creativity in diverse places. A key contribution of the volume is its validation and promotion of creativity and innovation for students, teachers, professors, leaders, employers, policymakers, and others seeking ways to profoundly improve learning and transform education. In tackling the seemingly irreconcilable issues of creativity and accountability in K–12 institutions, higher education, and policy circles, worldwide, this work offers a message that is both cautionary and inspiring. Book editor Carol A. Mullen, PhD, is Professor of Educational Leadership at Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA. A twice-awarded Fulbright Scholar to China (2015) and Canada (2017), she was honored with the 2016 Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award from the University Council for Educational Administration. She is author of Creativity and Education in China (2017) and co-editor of Education policy perils (2016).

Current, comprehensive, and authoritative, this text gives language teachers and researchers, both a set of conceptual tools with which to think and talk about creativity in language teaching and a wealth of practical advice about principles and practices that can be applied to making their lessons more creative. Providing an overview of the nature of creativity and its role in second language education, it brings together twenty prominent language teachers and researchers with expertise in different aspects of creativity and teaching contexts to present a range of theories on both creative processes and how these processes lead to creative practices in language teaching. Unique in the field, the book takes a broader and more critical look at the notion of creativity in language learning, exploring its linguistic, cognitive, sociocultural and pedagogic dimensions. Structured in four sections— theoretical perspectives, creativity in the classroom, creativity in the curriculum, and creativity in teacher development—each chapter is supplemented by Questions for Discussion and Suggestions for Further Research. Its accessible style makes the book relevant as both a course text and a resource for practicing teachers.

Revealing Creativity: Exploration in Transnational Education Cultures explores the recovery and fostering of creativity under educational constraint. This longitudinal global study of diverse education populations in China, Canada, and Australia offers application of the 4-C Creativity Model through experiential activities and exploratory interviews within classrooms and other learning spaces. Transnational in scope, this book describes an original innovative method, process, and tool for addressing obstacles to creativity in educational environments and within the self that constitute a significant challenge to practice. Through an immersive encounter with a validated creativity model, diverse cultural groups were guided to interpret the 4-C classification system and uncover their latent potential as creators. For their own purposes, readers can adapt the dynamic model-as-method process for releasing and revealing creativity within accountability-bound competitive cultures.

This edited volume provides a venue for scholars whose work challenges the typical, static conceptions, and methods of studying creativity. More specifically, the book will serve as an effort to introduce more dynamic definitions, conceptions, and approaches for studying creativity in the context of educational practice. By doing so, it feeds the strong contemporary need for more dynamic conceptions of creativity in educational settings. This is particularly important given the fast evolution of modern society and the widespread consensus that efforts to develop creative potential should be democratized -- extending well beyond the boundaries of the gifted subset and the walls of the classroom. This work recognizes that more dynamic perspectives on creativity are necessary for understanding its complexity, value, and meaning in educational contexts.

How should we understand children’s creativity? This fascinating collection of international research offers fresh perspectives on children’s creative processes and the expression of their creative imagination through dramatic play, stories, artwork, dance, music and conversation. Drawing on a range of research evidence from innovative educational initiatives in a wide variety of countries, Exploring Children’s Creative Narratives develops new theoretical and practical insights that challenge traditional thinking about children’s creativity. The chapters, written by well-respected international contributors: offer new conceptual and interpretive frameworks for understanding children’s creativity contest conventional discourses about the origins and nature of creativity challenge the view that young children’s creativity can only be judged in terms of their creative output explore the significance children themselves attribute to their creative activity argue the need for a radical reappraisal of the influence of the sociocultural context on children’s creative expression discuss the implications of this research in relation to teacher education and curriculum design. This broad yet coherent compilation of research on creativity in childhood is essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers in early childhood as well as for Early Years professionals with a particular interest in creativity.

An international panel of distinguished experts explores the balance between creativity and wise action, and calls for educators to nurture "wise creativity" in their students.