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Blocks to Creativity. Perceptual, Emotional, Intellectual, Environmental, and Culturual. Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put in the homeroom. Do Schools Kill Creativity? -Sir Ken Robinson. Do Schools Kill Creativity? -Sir Ken Robinson.
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Blocks to Creativity Perceptual, Emotional, Intellectual, Environmental, and Culturual
Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put in the homeroom.
Culture of Convergent Thinking • High stakes testing • Focus on one right answer vs. process • Need for control • Disregard for play or messing about • Need for practical applications
“It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry--for this delicate little plant aside from stimulation stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail.” • (Einstein)
MacKinnon’s research on biographical influences • Parents have respect for child and confidence in her ability to do what is appropriate. • Role models • Clear standards of conduct leading to personal code of ethics • Frequent moves • Freedom to roam and explore.
Family has cultural, artistic, and intellectual interests. Family modeled introspection Early interests in drawing recognized but not pushed; rather it was nurtured. Lack of strong pressure by parents to choose a career.
When people are inspired by their own interests and enjoyment there is a better chance that they will explore unlikely paths, take risks, and in the end produce something unique and useful (Amabile, 1986). • It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by coercion and a sense of duty (Einstein).
Factors affecting creative productivity • Expected evaluation • Surveillance • Reward • Competition • Restricted choice– “how to approach the work” • Extrinsic motivation
CREATIVITY: A MULTI FACETED CONSTRUCT • Person/ PERSONALITY TYPES • Process • Product • Press/environment
Blocks to Creativity • Perceptual • Intellectual • Cultural • Environmental • Emotional
Emotional Blocks Fear of making a mistake or of making a fool of oneself. This is particularly the case if the individual is new to the group. 2. Fear of taking a risk. In this instance the individual is seeking preservation of the status quo. (It may manifest itself as a pathological desire for security.) 3. Rigidity of thinking, or functional fixedness. Everyone possesses opinions, prejudices, and preferences for certain methods, processes, and materials. 4. Over motivated to succeed quickly. When the individual does not immediately see a solution to a problem, he may become frustrated and either give up or continue to pound his head against a stone wall. 5. Fear of authority. This may often manifest itself in the form of a fear of supervisors and a distrust for colleagues and subordinates. Often the causes of such are the result of a lack of individual self—confidence or a fear of authority. 6. Lack of drive. This may take two different forms. The individual may lack drive in carrying a problem through to completion and testing it or in putting the solution to work. 7. Reality and fantasy. The individual needs to be able to control imagination and have complete access to it. Creativity requires the manipulation and recombination of experience; otherwise it is limiting.
Overcoming blocksBarron and Eisner • Challenge assumptions • See patterns • Take advantage of chance • Seeing things in new ways • Risk taking
Re arrange these shapes to form a single shape easily described.
Tennis Tournament There are 111 entrants in a tennis tournament. It is a single knock out tournament. (You have to loose a match to be eliminated.) You have to arrange the matches. What is the minimum number of matches you would have to arrange.
Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it in 4 lines?
Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it in 3 lines?
Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it with 1 line?
How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?
How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes? Like this for instance.
How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?An infinite number of ways?
Intellectual Blocks • Limited language to conceptualize the problem • Focus on verbal explanations for problem solutions.
Now design a communications system using no words to rescue a prisoner.
Cultural and Environmental Blocks • Taboos • Habits • Overcome by negative support