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Page created 21 March 2012 Maz

=Creativity and Imagination in Education in the 21st Century (Maz 21/3/12)= = = Creativity and imagination are not the same but are intimately related. Imagination is the mental image or picture we create in our minds while creativity necessarily implies action __//**(Robinson,K., (2006).**//__ Thomas and Brown (2011) have a slightly different view as they believe imagination is the "literal building of a world around an idea" while creativity is the taking of something familiar and remaking it into something new or as they say "strange" __//**(Thomas, D and Brown J.S.,(2011) Cultivating the**// //**Imagination: Building Learning Environments for Innovation, Teachers college Record para.6 and 9)**//__. I think that we need to embrace both these views as vital to the nurturing of the growth of creativity and imagination in education in the 21st century.

Our rapidly changing world has created questions about every aspect of our lives and especially about the way we are educating our young people. Research shows that these questions are being driven by several factors: globalization (including the controversial topic of neo-liberalism and its influence on young people (Balkan, J. 2011, Childhood Under Siege: How Big business Ruthlessly Targets Children,The Bodley Head, London); Demographics (population changes); Technology (digital revolution) and changing values and attitudes __//**(Daggett, W.R. 2005,**// //**Preparing Students for their Future International Center for Leadership in Education [online]**//__). Taking all these factors into consideration it is clear that in the 21st century education is about learners who are active participants in the process of what, when, how and why they learn. This means we need education systems where creativity and imagination are the focus of teaching and learning. In their article: __//**The Creative Classroom: The Role of Space and Place Towards Facilitating Creativity, Warner and Myers (2009/10)**//__ the authors cite creativity as crucial to life in the conceptual age and that students need to be taught how to use creativity now. They talk about the shift away from the industrial model of education where learners are passive recipients of knowledge and which is based upon an ideology of a single intelligence which can be measured using a single assessment, to a model which includes learners as active, and where knowledge is discovered, where there are multiple intelligences and technology is omnipresent.

As Ken Robinson states in his book //__**The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Penguin Group, NY, 2011,**__// we live in a world that is changing at such a rapid rate we need to create environments where each child is inspired to grow creatively (Introduction p.xiii). Robinson goes on in his book to explain that this will come about not through a reform of our education systems but rather through a transformation whereby creativity and imagination are integral elements in education systems that genuinely value each child and his or her diverse, dynamic and distinct intelligence (Robinson 2011 pp50-51). Finally,in a model of education for the 21st century that embraces creativity and imagination there is still an emphasis on excellence but the ways of achieving it are built around preparing students to become "global citizens" who have the necessary skills and qualities in their characters to be not only successful in more than one possible career or job but that can keep the best of their unique cultural identity intact. "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Daggett, W.R., (2005). __Preparing Students for their Future__: International Center for Leadership in Education [online] Retrieved from: Endnotes: www.all4ed.org/filesECAG.pdf Robinson, K., (2006). __Do Schools kill Creativity?__ Retrieved from http:// www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html Robinson, K. (2011). __The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything,__ Penguin Group NY Thomas,D., and Brown J.S. (2011) __Cultivating the Imagination: Building Learning Environments for Innovation,__ Teachers College Record Warner,S., & Myers, K. (2010) __The Creative Classroom: The Role of Space and Place Toward Facilitating Creativity.__ The Technology Teacher, 69(4), 28-34

=**Creativity, Imagination and Assessment**. (Jan)=

Firstly I think we should look at //why// we should assess creativity and imagination. Regarding creativity**,** Rogers & Fasciato (2005) ask “Is it best nurtured but not measured?” I believe we need to do both. Everyone is innately creative and we as teachers need to use the right tools to enhance individuals’ creativity, by teaching creatively. We also need to be able to be accountable for what we teach - therefore we need to evaluate the outcome so that everyone (the student, the teacher and the parent) can see progress and benefits. Before we assess children’s outcomes we should assess our teaching practices**.** The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education [NACCCE], 1999) states that “young people’s creative abilities are most likely to be developed in an atmosphere in which the teacher’s creative abilities are properly engaged”. By looking at our teaching methods we can assess if we are teaching creatively to enhance the learners’ creativity or, in other words, whether we are teaching creatively //for// creativity. We should observe what is already happening in the classroom and reflect whether it could be improved. For example, in the Creativity Wheel, when evaluating their own teaching processes, teachers asked themselves questions such as- Have I seen the creative process take place? How? Could it be enhanced? Is there room to make homework more creative? From asking these questions and others, teachers can evaluate where they need to improve and how they could incorporate creativity across the curriculum. Schon (as cited in Ellis & Lawrence, 2009) describes this as “an opportunity to find out what children know and can do as a way of developing a deeper understanding of individual approaches to learning”. Teachers can then observe their own classroom and evaluate how the children as a whole and individually are learning.Teaching style can then be tailored towards children’s learning practices to promote optimum learning experiences in the classroom. So, by teaching creatively we open up the learning process to become more creative. If children reflect on their learning they can become aware of how they learn and can be self critical. If this is an ongoing process where children discuss and note their outcomes they can improve on them. This can be implemented across any subject in the curriculum at any age level. Each student’s reflections will be unique to them and the assessment will come full circle - from teacher, to learner, to outcome.

Ellis, S., & Lawrence, B. (2009). The influence of the Creative Learning Assessment (CLA) on children’s learning and teachers’ teaching. //Literacy//, 43(1), 3-10. National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education. (1999). //All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education.// Retrieved from http://www.cypni.org.uk/downloads/alloutfutures.pdf Rogers, M., & Fasciato, M. (2005). Can //Creativity Be Assessed?// Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Glamorgan. Retrieved from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/150029.htm The Creativity Wheel. Creative Partnerships. (Sefton-Green, 2008). Retrieved from http://www.creative-partnerships.com/area-delivery-organisations/durham-sunderland/resources/the-creativity-wheel-resource-for-teachers,217,ART.html