Loubna
8:39AM
hello from Morocco
I hope you're doing well
I would be gratefull if we could have a chat about creativity in the educational context whenever you're free
doing well
Alan
finished the latest version of my current book
beginning to reach out to past contacts to market for new work and programs.
I am free now.
Loubna
good news
congratulations for the book
is it about creativity as well?
Alan
about my 4+ weeks behind bars in Abu Dhabi in 2014.
Loubna
that must have been a tough experience but an inspiring one I guess
Alan
My Angels & My Demons
Is the title.
It was scary and actually fun at times because of the prisoners and a few of the guards.
Loubna
great then,looking forward to reading it
I like the way you handled broken crayons
creativity is dealt with there in an operational way
sth you could take and put into practice e
Alan
I am happy and proud about Broken Crayons.
One goal of writing MY ANGELS & MY DEMONS has been to
ACTUALLY COMPLETE IT
and PUBLISH IT.
So many book projects have never been finished.
ALL MY CLIENT WORK whether for FEE or FREE has been completed
But not all projects just for me have been.
so back to your question about chatting about creativity in an educational context.
yes
things first things.
Loubna - your question
if we are to integrate the teaching of creativity in the educational context we need a consensus onits definition first don't we?
Alan
creativity
what is it?
One of the first things Dr. Torrance drove into my brain, heart and soul
was....
to study anything you must
first define it.
Define it universally.
Unfortunately the word creativity means different things to different people.
He chose to focus his 50+ years of work on the term
Creative thinking
not the vague word creativity
Creative thinking he used this definition
generation or discover of new ideas or new combinations of old ideas
"If you can not define it
you can not measure it
you can not teach it."
next?
Loubna
if we restrict creativity to creative thinking aren't we neglectig the product and the motivation
Alan
I do not think so.
Creative thinking represent many forms of thinking that will produce new, novel, unique ideas.
Such Creative Thinking can exist in all subject matters, all occupations, all professions......ALL ASPECTS of Life.
btw
by focusing on creative thinking we are focusing on teachable skills
not restricting creativity at all.
Loubna
how can creative thinking be put in practice
Alan
looking for possible answers
possible solutions when working on a problem or searching for information or knowledge.
Instead asking specific questions
ask open ended questions.
Instead of asking WHAT IS?
ask
WHAT MIGHT IT BE?
Loubna
what do you think about education systems who opt for teaching the personal creative characteristics to foster creativity?
Alan
I have been doing that and promoting that for 40 years.
this I think you wrote Loubna...
I am using creativity to mean creative thinking to be clear
i.e. (for example)
While chatting with you at this time I am also having my breakfast at 9;19 am.
Instead of asking
what will I have for breakfast
or
what is it that I will eat for breakfast
i ask
what MIGHT I have for breakfast
the results will be much broader and provide me opportunity to use my creative thinking skills to produce a creative result or creativity.
Loubna
I see open questions encourage divergent thinking
Alan
you might call this
OPTIONAL THINKING
instead of
CREATIVE THINKING
yes open ended questions do help encourage DIVERGENT or ALTERNATIVE or OPTIONAL Thinking instead of CONVERGENT or RESTRICTIVE THINKING.
Loubna
don't you think that divergent thinking alone is not enough
convergent thinking is needed too
if we are to teach creative thinking
divergent thinking permits quantity and convergent decides about quality
Alan
we benefit from many forms of thinking.
divergent and convergent work together
you are using only two versions of
...GENT thinking.
you are using polarized thinking
linear thinking, either or thinking
I strive to encourage people to use
Poly-thinking, Telos Thinking, Universe thinking, Multi-dimensional rather than
linear thinking.
Loubna
can you explain the difference between the types you've mentioned
Alan
linear thinking consists of two opposing things
positive on one end
negative on the other end
the universe is poly dimensional,
infinite or unlimited possibly
by using only linear thinking approaches you do not consider so many others that are possible
Loubna
which type of thinking fits best in a classroom context*
Alan
many
most school is about memorizing
facts, answers, formulas, equations, systems that some one has decided are THE CORRECT ONES ONLY.
Are you familiar with Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning or Intelligence?
Loubna
yes
don't you think that after a long break up between creativity and schools it is very demanding to integrate all these types of thinking at once
Alan
perhaps....
good to great teachers
honor, support, encourage
and help develop
various aspects or types of creative thinking
Loubna
what is the implication of memory in creative thinking
Alan (I missed this question originally)
memory is helpful and also detrimental in creative thinking
Alan
Here is one graphic version of Bloom's Taxonomy
lowest and largest (using a pyramid metaphor) is
REMEMBERING
students good at remembering usually get good grades and graduate
UNDERSTANDING is shown as the second and physically/visually less important.
unfortunately many students pass and graduate without truly UNDERSTANDING....my daughter in elementary and high school was an example. She could pass the tests, get the right answers but seldom did she truly understand how.
APPLY is what I believe is really second in school.
Memorize numbers, dates, locations, facts and then apply them
and you will get good grades and graduate.
ANALYSIS skills are seldom really taught consciously
Just because we take science and math classes does not mean we have learned to ANALYZE anything.
SYNTHESIS is even less truly taught as a collection of skills
EVALUATE as the next is ridiculous.
First CREATE then EVALUATE
How often are students actually asked to CREATE anything?
take you time and respond
btw apparently I do not strike my letter "r" well enough and often type
the word 'You' when I mean to type "YOUR".
i am here to respond when you respond.
Loubna
I think that evaluation is done before and after creating. they are done simultaneously.For instance you can evaluate elemnts of a solution and their approptiateness to the task before actually deciding about a final one to the problem
Alan
Another model I have used for many years comes from the book INFORMATION ANXIETY by Richard Saul Wurman (one of the co-creators and co-founders of the TED Talks)
data is the lowest level
information is 2nd
knowledge is 3rd
understanding is 4th
wisdom is 5th
Richard Saul Wurman
wrote about this way of looking things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Saul_Wurman
the universe consists of data, information
when we are trying to learn something we select bits or clusters of data
those become information
when we study, examine, think about information it becomes "OUR" Knowledge
then we learn from it
with time will become wisdom.
Unfortunately school is about what others think is
KNOWLEDGE
School ought to be about learning to think, NOT learning what to think, learning how to learn also....not what to learn.
Richard Saul Wurman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Saul Wurman (born March 26, 1935) is an American architect and graphic designer. Wurman has written and designed more than 90 books, and created the TED,[1] as well as the EG conference, TEDMED and the WWW suite of gatherings.
en.wikipedia.org
Loubna this Facebook system is very limiting and clumsy for sharing thoughts.
Please email me instead
alan@cre8ng.com
alaniscre8ng@gmail.com
8:39AM
hello from Morocco
I hope you're doing well
I would be gratefull if we could have a chat about creativity in the educational context whenever you're free
doing well
Alan
finished the latest version of my current book
beginning to reach out to past contacts to market for new work and programs.
I am free now.
Loubna
good news
congratulations for the book
is it about creativity as well?
Alan
about my 4+ weeks behind bars in Abu Dhabi in 2014.
Loubna
that must have been a tough experience but an inspiring one I guess
Alan
My Angels & My Demons
Is the title.
It was scary and actually fun at times because of the prisoners and a few of the guards.
Loubna
great then,looking forward to reading it
I like the way you handled broken crayons
creativity is dealt with there in an operational way
sth you could take and put into practice e
Alan
I am happy and proud about Broken Crayons.
One goal of writing MY ANGELS & MY DEMONS has been to
ACTUALLY COMPLETE IT
and PUBLISH IT.
So many book projects have never been finished.
ALL MY CLIENT WORK whether for FEE or FREE has been completed
But not all projects just for me have been.
so back to your question about chatting about creativity in an educational context.
yes
things first things.
Loubna - your question
if we are to integrate the teaching of creativity in the educational context we need a consensus onits definition first don't we?
Alan
creativity
what is it?
One of the first things Dr. Torrance drove into my brain, heart and soul
was....
to study anything you must
first define it.
Define it universally.
Unfortunately the word creativity means different things to different people.
He chose to focus his 50+ years of work on the term
Creative thinking
not the vague word creativity
Creative thinking he used this definition
generation or discover of new ideas or new combinations of old ideas
"If you can not define it
you can not measure it
you can not teach it."
next?
Loubna
if we restrict creativity to creative thinking aren't we neglectig the product and the motivation
Alan
I do not think so.
Creative thinking represent many forms of thinking that will produce new, novel, unique ideas.
Such Creative Thinking can exist in all subject matters, all occupations, all professions......ALL ASPECTS of Life.
btw
by focusing on creative thinking we are focusing on teachable skills
not restricting creativity at all.
Loubna
how can creative thinking be put in practice
Alan
looking for possible answers
possible solutions when working on a problem or searching for information or knowledge.
Instead asking specific questions
ask open ended questions.
Instead of asking WHAT IS?
ask
WHAT MIGHT IT BE?
Loubna
what do you think about education systems who opt for teaching the personal creative characteristics to foster creativity?
Alan
I have been doing that and promoting that for 40 years.
this I think you wrote Loubna...
I am using creativity to mean creative thinking to be clear
i.e. (for example)
While chatting with you at this time I am also having my breakfast at 9;19 am.
Instead of asking
what will I have for breakfast
or
what is it that I will eat for breakfast
i ask
what MIGHT I have for breakfast
the results will be much broader and provide me opportunity to use my creative thinking skills to produce a creative result or creativity.
Loubna
I see open questions encourage divergent thinking
Alan
you might call this
OPTIONAL THINKING
instead of
CREATIVE THINKING
yes open ended questions do help encourage DIVERGENT or ALTERNATIVE or OPTIONAL Thinking instead of CONVERGENT or RESTRICTIVE THINKING.
Loubna
don't you think that divergent thinking alone is not enough
convergent thinking is needed too
if we are to teach creative thinking
divergent thinking permits quantity and convergent decides about quality
Alan
we benefit from many forms of thinking.
divergent and convergent work together
you are using only two versions of
...GENT thinking.
you are using polarized thinking
linear thinking, either or thinking
I strive to encourage people to use
Poly-thinking, Telos Thinking, Universe thinking, Multi-dimensional rather than
linear thinking.
Loubna
can you explain the difference between the types you've mentioned
Alan
linear thinking consists of two opposing things
positive on one end
negative on the other end
the universe is poly dimensional,
infinite or unlimited possibly
by using only linear thinking approaches you do not consider so many others that are possible
Loubna
which type of thinking fits best in a classroom context*
Alan
many
most school is about memorizing
facts, answers, formulas, equations, systems that some one has decided are THE CORRECT ONES ONLY.
Are you familiar with Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning or Intelligence?
Loubna
yes
don't you think that after a long break up between creativity and schools it is very demanding to integrate all these types of thinking at once
Alan
perhaps....
good to great teachers
honor, support, encourage
and help develop
various aspects or types of creative thinking
Loubna
what is the implication of memory in creative thinking
Alan (I missed this question originally)
memory is helpful and also detrimental in creative thinking
Alan
Here is one graphic version of Bloom's Taxonomy
lowest and largest (using a pyramid metaphor) is
REMEMBERING
students good at remembering usually get good grades and graduate
UNDERSTANDING is shown as the second and physically/visually less important.
unfortunately many students pass and graduate without truly UNDERSTANDING....my daughter in elementary and high school was an example. She could pass the tests, get the right answers but seldom did she truly understand how.
APPLY is what I believe is really second in school.
Memorize numbers, dates, locations, facts and then apply them
and you will get good grades and graduate.
ANALYSIS skills are seldom really taught consciously
Just because we take science and math classes does not mean we have learned to ANALYZE anything.
SYNTHESIS is even less truly taught as a collection of skills
EVALUATE as the next is ridiculous.
First CREATE then EVALUATE
How often are students actually asked to CREATE anything?
take you time and respond
btw apparently I do not strike my letter "r" well enough and often type
the word 'You' when I mean to type "YOUR".
i am here to respond when you respond.
Loubna
I think that evaluation is done before and after creating. they are done simultaneously.For instance you can evaluate elemnts of a solution and their approptiateness to the task before actually deciding about a final one to the problem
Alan
Another model I have used for many years comes from the book INFORMATION ANXIETY by Richard Saul Wurman (one of the co-creators and co-founders of the TED Talks)
data is the lowest level
information is 2nd
knowledge is 3rd
understanding is 4th
wisdom is 5th
Richard Saul Wurman
wrote about this way of looking things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Saul_Wurman
the universe consists of data, information
when we are trying to learn something we select bits or clusters of data
those become information
when we study, examine, think about information it becomes "OUR" Knowledge
then we learn from it
with time will become wisdom.
Unfortunately school is about what others think is
KNOWLEDGE
School ought to be about learning to think, NOT learning what to think, learning how to learn also....not what to learn.
Richard Saul Wurman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Saul Wurman (born March 26, 1935) is an American architect and graphic designer. Wurman has written and designed more than 90 books, and created the TED,[1] as well as the EG conference, TEDMED and the WWW suite of gatherings.
en.wikipedia.org
Loubna this Facebook system is very limiting and clumsy for sharing thoughts.
Please email me instead
alan@cre8ng.com
alaniscre8ng@gmail.com
Loubna
ReplyDeleteHopefully this blog will help else better communicate more effectively and productively.
Alan
Hello Loubna
ReplyDeleteWe have lost contact for awhile
Alan