Significance of Creativity

Education in School

Significance of Creativity

Education in SchoolBy Dr. Cheng Mo Yin, Vivian

29 Oct 2004

Aim of creativity education:

Aim of creativity education:

To develop student to be a creative person

A creative person is one who frequently produce novel and useful ideas

(Sternberg & Lubart, 1996)

Creativity

Divergent Thinking

Convergent Thinking

Fluency

Flexibility

Novelty

Elaboration

Sensitivity

Logical

Analytical

Critical

Evaluative thinking

Objectivity

Accuracy

Systematic

Curiosity

Imagination

Challenge-taking

Risk-taking

Problem-solving

Inquiry

Multiple-intelligence domains

Various subject contents

Developing Creativity inDeveloping Creativity in

Daily lessons & assignments

Informal learning

(Project work, ECA, LWL, cyber)

Assessing CreativityAssessing Creativity

In public exam

In school-based assessment

– Written test

(Suggestion: 10%)

– Performance-based assessment

in class & project work

Written TestsWritten Tests

Divergent thinking tests

– Ask for many answers

Product tests

– Ask for one novel & appropriate answer

Divergent thinking Tests on Scientific QuestioningDivergent thinking Tests on Scientific Questioning

Example,

“If you can take a spaceship to travel in the outer space and go to a planet, what scientific questions do you want to research? Please list as many as you can.”

(Hu & Adey, 2002)

Performance-based AssessmentPerformance-based Assessment E.g. in creative problem-solving activities

CPS Stages Marking Criteria

Problem-finding D - A number of problems are defined

C- one of them is first chosen for further

consideration

Idea-finding D - Focusing on each problem chosen, a number of possible solutions are suggested.

Fluency, flexibility, novelty & elaboration of the answer are examined.

Solution-finding D - A number of relevant criteria are suggested for evaluating the solutions.

C - The suggested solutions are analyzed by each criterion; a few solutions are chosen for try-out.

Significance of Creativity EducationSignificance of Creativity Education

Government curriculum reform

Student benefits– Arouse great interest in learning (Cheng, 2004)

– Better memory & understanding of subject content (Conti, 1995)

– Develop creative mind & thinking skills.

– Self-actualization

Student Responses (Cheng, 2004)Student Responses (Cheng, 2004)

「很難…但很有趣。」

「幾得意，原來 Physics 可以咁玩法。」

「能更有效地連貫物理與日常生活，覺得物理比想像中實在、好玩。」

Student Responses (Con’t)Student Responses (Con’t)

“This stimulates me think more deeply in physics and in things happening in daily lives.”

“Physics is not just a subject to study, but practical and useful in daily lives.

I feel my physics knowledge is too limited.

@_@”

Student Responses (Con’t)Student Responses (Con’t)

「今日我體會到原來人的創意是隨時可以建立… . 」

「可以從一些平日不曾嘗試的角度去看待一些本認為習以為常的事，算幾新鮮。」

「和平時課堂所學到的相差甚遠。」

Significance of Creativity Education (Con’t)Significance of Creativity Education (Con’t)

World trend

– Japan: A major curriculum component, 1995

– Singapore: “Thinking Schools, Learning Nations”, 1998

– Taiwan: White paper on Creative Education - build a “Republic of Creativity” ( 創造力國度 ), 2001

– China: “Guidelines of Curriculum Reforms in Foundation Education” , 2001

– “International Trend in Curriculum Frameworks” (Le Metais, 2003)

• Creativity development is a major trend in curriculum reform of 18 countries

Significance of Teacher DevelopmentSignificance of Teacher Development

Lack of creative learning experience

Teaching for thinking– New knowledge & skills– Metacognitive development (Feldhusen, 1995)– Shift in beliefs and teaching styles

Develop teacher creativity, to be role-model of students,

Teacher training: EDB, HKIEd, HKBU, CITYU, HKU