What ’ s creativity?

1. What’s creativity? • Novelty (Mumford, Reiter-Palmon, Redmond, 1994) • Useful (Gilhoodly, 1982; Amabile & Tighe, 1993)) • Original & appropriate (Perkins, 1988) • ultimately acceptable in a culture (Gardner, 1989) • Effective surprise & useful (Bruner, 1962) Key words: original / unexpected

2. What’s creativity? (Big C and little c creativity) • “little c” creativity is open to everyone but “private”, enriching one’s life but not necessarily lead to accomplishment recognized by the public • “Big C” changes the way a culture sees the world as well as a person’s life, requiring cooperation of the culture and the society • Changes in family, schools and cultural perceptions may lead from little c to Big C outcomes

3. WHY Creativity Personal • Self-actualization, intrinsic needs • Learning needs (fun in learning, increased motivation, increased memory, self-learning) • real life situation needs Societal and economic-developmental needs • maintain competitive power

4. The Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness (Renzulli, 1978) Giftedness is the interaction of: a. Above average ability b. Task Commitment c. Creativity

5. WHY Creativity • Creativity is an important asset of a society - under development squanders valuable human resources • Everyone’s Creativity Abilities, Creative Productivity and Creative Living can be elevated • Systemic training in creativity (rather than sudden fantasy) secures promising productive development of the students’ potentials (Davis, 2003)

6. There is no & not desirable to have, a fixed recipe for creativity • BUT we believe that some principles are valid and help promote creativity in students

7. Principles for development of creativity 1. Existence of a supporting environment (PLACE) 2. Recognizing one’s strength, abilities and interests to promote the development of positive attitude towards creative ideas and innovation (PERSON) 3. Facilitating one’s awareness of his/her creativity throughout the developmental process (PROCESS) 4. Recognizing and rewardingone’s’ creative ideas and products (PRODUCT)

8. Goals of creativity Training • Fostering creativity consciousness & creative attitudes • Improving understanding of creativity and creative people • Teaching creative thinking techniques • Exercising creative abilities

9. Nurturing the creativity of students Approaches: • Basic cognition & Teacher training • Supporting resource development • Practices in classroom learning

10. Basic Cognition Through seminars and workshops: • introduce the principles that facilitate the development of creativity • introduce the skills that enhance the development of creativity

11. Supporting resource development • Examples and applications of the various skills • Teacher Training Package

12. Classroom practice • KLAs specific • Generic in nature • Infusion in pull-out activities

13. Generic in nature • To trigger off the creativity of students • To provide a supporting environment to promote Creativity Consciousness and Creative Attitude • To nurture the development of open-mindedness which facilitates their regular classroom learning • Curiosity, need for competency, achievement motivation are better motivators than external rewards for little C (Lens & Rand, 2000)

14. Infusion in pull-out activities • To provide students with opportunities to display their creative minds • E.g. Leadership training camp - Fashion show - Talent/Variety show