Our Diocesan Reporting Committee is reviewing our current student report to parents. Under learning behaviours, the disposition ‘Creativity’ has been put forward a number of times. Each time the listing of it causes conjecture. Why is this? Where does it come from? Should it be there at all? And how do we assess creativity? Creativity has for many years now has been one of the ‘C’s in twenty-first century or contemporary learning skills. Just Google ‘twenty-first century skills’ and go to images. Creativity is in practically every image. As a twenty-first century skill, together with most common ‘C’s of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, we are saying that creativity is an important skill that our children need to navigate the ever-changing world that is here and now! Creativity is one of the ‘Six Global Competencies’ in Fullan et al’s Deep Learning. Fullan describes creativity as “having an entrepreneurship eye for economic and social opportunities, asking the right questions, pursuing and expressing novel ideas and solutions, and leadership to turn ideas into action.” (2018, p17) The six Global Competencies (6Cs) describe “the skills and attributes needed for learners to flourish as citizens of the world. They provide clarity on what it means to be a deep learner. When students focus on the 6Cs, they learn more—much more—and this learning contributes to their own futures and often to the betterment of their communities and beyond.” Creative thinking is one of the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities. “Creative thinking involves students learning to generate and apply new ideas in specific contexts, seeing existing situations in a new way, identifying alternative explanations, and seeing or making new links that generate a positive outcome. This includes combining parts to form something original, sifting and refining ideas to discover possibilities, constructing theories and objects, and acting on intuition. The products of creative endeavour can involve complex representations and images, investigations and performances, digital and computer-generated output, or occur as virtual reality.” https://www.bloomstaxonomy.net/ In Bloom’s revised taxonomy (2001), the verb ‘create’ is placed at the highest level of thinking and includes such endeavours as ‘design, assemble, construct, conjecture, develop, formulate, author and investigate’. As a hierarchy of learning tasks, Bloom is challenging teachers to embed creativity in children's learning journeys as the ultimate goal of learning. Creativity is certainly becoming a more valued learning disposition in recent years. An OECD Education Working paper from 2013, co-authored by Guy Claxton, describes the disposition of creativity as “generating ideas, digging deeper into ideas, openness and courage to explore ideas, and listening to one’s inner voice.” It goes on to say that research into the disposition of creativity “reveals clear evidence to suggest that the embedding of creative dispositions into lessons actually raises achievement, with attempts to enhance creativity and develop more powerful learners leading to increases in measured test results.” In a Culture of Thinking ‘opportunities’ is one of the cultural forces that enable a learning culture to build whereby creativity is given space in a classroom. “Such opportunities provide students with the chance to apply their skills in novel contexts.” (Ritchhart, 2015, p.9). Creativity “is not necessarily a direct act but a compilation of activities and associated thinking” (Ritchhart, 2011, p.8). Creativity is not a ‘one off event’, but something that should permeate our classrooms and the children’s learning. Thinking routines are another cultural force. Thinking routines are a set of questions or a brief sequence of steps used to scaffold and support student thinking.They can enable children to see creativity in others as well developing their own creativity. Examples of thinking routines that promote creative thinking are Creative Hunt, Creative Questions, Option Explosion, What Can Be, and Imagine If. More can be found in Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox. Lynn Sharrat’s Parameter 11 calls for classrooms to be places of collaborative inquiry. She extols the virtues of Problem Based Learning, Project Based Learning, Integrative Thinking and Knowledge Building. All four pedagogies call for a “culture of innovation” (2019, p. 200). Integrative Thinking encourages children to explore possibilities: “Students move from understanding...to imagining several new, integrative possibilities…They leverage the tools of design thinking, such as prototyping and ideation.” (2019, p. 207) Trevor Mackenzie in Inquiry Mindset says, “taking on a new challenge can be extremely empowering for learners. Our goal...is to encourage our learners to design, problem solve, and create.” (Mackenzie 2019 p.77) He also encourages children to create an ‘authentic piece’ as they present their inquiry. Is it creativity we should be assessing, or creative thinking? Traditionally we see creativity as the ability to demonstrate one's creativity as an art work, sculpture, or piece of creative writing. But creative thinking is so much more. I see creative thinking as the ability to imagine new ways, of seeing new perspectives, coming up with new solutions. The most important word here is ‘new’. Creative thinking is about innovation! If it wasn't for our love of alliteration and obsession with ‘The Six Cs’ we might call it innovation! So can we teach creative thinking and can we assess it? I believe we can and already are, but we haven't thought of it as ‘creative thinking’. When we plan learning tasks that ask children to design a new game, invent a new toy, design a new playground, make up a new ending to a story, plan a celebration, write a song, create a new flag, develop a new way to conserve water, or code a new video game, we are teaching creative thinking. As Einstein said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun!” The important thing is that we give children the opportunities to demonstrate their creativity and creative thinking. So how do we assess creativity? The same way we assess any other classroom endeavour....success criteria and rubrics. Grant Wiggins in his 2012 blog says it should be done carefully. Teachers need to know the purpose of their learning task when creativity is being asked for. John Larma concurs: “First, let me be clear that I don't think students should be given a grade for how creative they are. But they can and should be assessed and given feedback on how well they follow a process for innovation. And I think it is possible to assess a product (not a student) for creativity.” The current thinking in education is certainly saying that we should assess creativity. But of course we should only assess it if we are giving our children learning opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity and creative thinking. Perhaps this is our challenge! References and Further Reading https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/ https://www.bloomstaxonomy.net/ Larmer, John. (2014) How Can We Teach and Assess Creativity and Innovation in PBL? https://www.pblworks.org/blog/how-can-we-teach-and-assess-creativity-and-innovation-pbl Lucas, B., G. Claxton and E. Spencer (2013), “Progression in Student Creativity in School: First Steps Towards New Forms of Formative Assessments”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 86, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5k4dp59msdwk-en MacKenzie, T., & Bathurst-Hunt, R. (2019). Inquiry Mindset: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonders, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners. Elevate Books Edu. Fullan, M., Quinn, J. and Mceachen, J. (2018). Deep learning: engage the world, change the world. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, A Sage Publishing Company. Ritchhart, R., Church, M. and Morrison, K. (2011). Making Thinking Visible : How To Promote Engagement, Understanding, And Independence For All Learners. San Francisco, Ca: Jossey-Bass. Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating cultures of thinking : The 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, Wiley, Sharratt, L., Harris, A. and Hattie, J. (2019). Clarity : what matters most in learning, teaching, and leading. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin ; [Ontario. Wiggins, Grant. (2012) On assessing for creativity: yes you can, and yes you should (https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/on-assessing-for-creativity-yes-you-can-and-yes-you-should/)
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AuthorGreg Cumming is a Primary Principal in the Diocese of Maitland Newcastle, NSW Australia Archives
March 2024
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