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Schedule for the Conference
Friday, August 3rd, 2018
Creativity Conference - Day 1
7:45am Check-in begins
Parking info map of parking click here, you can also find a map of campus click here).
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
9:00am - 9:50am Conference Kickoff
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
Speakers: Creativity Conference Co-Executive Director, Dan DeNeui, President Linda Schott, Creativity Co-Excutive Director, Mark Runco
Map of Stevenson Union (SU) found here.
Speakers: Creativity Conference Co-Executive Director, Dan DeNeui, President Linda Schott, Creativity Co-Excutive Director, Mark Runco
Map of Stevenson Union (SU) found here.
10:00 - 10:50am Concurrent sessions
The Universal Dynamic Creativity Process
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Giovanni Emanuele Corazza; University of Bologna - Marconi Institute for Creativity
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Starting from the dynamic definition of creativity, descending from a pragmatist approach to creativity studies (Corazza, 2016), the talk will dwell upon the interconnection of creativity episodes to form a dynamic universal creative process. The ultimate implications of this view are then projected onto an extended evolutionary perspective of our cosmos, encompassing rising levels of complexity from physical to biological, psychological, and social levels. Considering the exponential rise of artificial intelligence in the future post-information society, the talk is concluded with an urgent call for all creativity researchers to join forces in the diffusion of a discipline of creativity, with relevant educational programs.
Recent Developments in the Study of Team Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Roni Reiter-Palmon; University of Nebraska at Omaha
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Interest in team creativity and innovation has increased significantly in the last decade. As globalization increases, technological changes increase in pace, and knowledge becomes more critical than ever, organizations have come to realize that creativity and innovation are important to organizational survival and success. In addition, organizations have realized that teams provide important performance benefits that are not available to any single individual. It is therefore not surprising that team creativity has become an important focus of organizational researchers. In this presentation, I will review the current state of science on team creativity and discuss how it can be applied to organizations.
Developments in the neuroscience of creative thinking and reasoning: augmenting creative state, electrical brain stimulation, and network dynamics
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Adam Green, Georgetown University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: The capacity of the human brain for creative thinking represents perhaps the highest cognitive reach of 3.8 billion years of evolution. While many of the smartest things brains do are now done – or soon will be done – far better by artificial intelligence, creativity is the great exception, and human creative reasoning is perhaps the most valuable driver of innovation in science and technology. Thus, understanding how human creativity works, and how humans can maximize their creative potential are important research targets now ant into the future. Creativity neuroscience is making advances, not only in understanding the biological mechanisms by which brains think creatively, but in beginning to leverage these mechanisms to augment creative performance. Here, focusing especially on the most recent work, I will review research from my lab and elsewhere that has identified brain systems and networks that underlie creativity, and emerging efforts to bolster creative cognition through the targeted application of electrical neurostimulation. The talk will emphasize research on creative reasoning, and address research on creativity as a dynamic state rather than a fixed trait.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Giovanni Emanuele Corazza; University of Bologna - Marconi Institute for Creativity
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Starting from the dynamic definition of creativity, descending from a pragmatist approach to creativity studies (Corazza, 2016), the talk will dwell upon the interconnection of creativity episodes to form a dynamic universal creative process. The ultimate implications of this view are then projected onto an extended evolutionary perspective of our cosmos, encompassing rising levels of complexity from physical to biological, psychological, and social levels. Considering the exponential rise of artificial intelligence in the future post-information society, the talk is concluded with an urgent call for all creativity researchers to join forces in the diffusion of a discipline of creativity, with relevant educational programs.
Recent Developments in the Study of Team Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Roni Reiter-Palmon; University of Nebraska at Omaha
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Interest in team creativity and innovation has increased significantly in the last decade. As globalization increases, technological changes increase in pace, and knowledge becomes more critical than ever, organizations have come to realize that creativity and innovation are important to organizational survival and success. In addition, organizations have realized that teams provide important performance benefits that are not available to any single individual. It is therefore not surprising that team creativity has become an important focus of organizational researchers. In this presentation, I will review the current state of science on team creativity and discuss how it can be applied to organizations.
Developments in the neuroscience of creative thinking and reasoning: augmenting creative state, electrical brain stimulation, and network dynamics
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Adam Green, Georgetown University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: The capacity of the human brain for creative thinking represents perhaps the highest cognitive reach of 3.8 billion years of evolution. While many of the smartest things brains do are now done – or soon will be done – far better by artificial intelligence, creativity is the great exception, and human creative reasoning is perhaps the most valuable driver of innovation in science and technology. Thus, understanding how human creativity works, and how humans can maximize their creative potential are important research targets now ant into the future. Creativity neuroscience is making advances, not only in understanding the biological mechanisms by which brains think creatively, but in beginning to leverage these mechanisms to augment creative performance. Here, focusing especially on the most recent work, I will review research from my lab and elsewhere that has identified brain systems and networks that underlie creativity, and emerging efforts to bolster creative cognition through the targeted application of electrical neurostimulation. The talk will emphasize research on creative reasoning, and address research on creativity as a dynamic state rather than a fixed trait.
11:00am - 11:50am invited address &Concurrent sessions
Creative Thinking Processes: The Importance of Strategies and Expertise
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Mumford, University of Oklahoma
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Creativity is not simply a matter of generating ideas. Instead, creativity is defined as the production of high quality, original, and elegant solutions to complex, novel, ill-defined problems. Thus creativity can be viewed as special form of problem solving. In this talk we will discuss the key processes that people must execute to generate creative problem solutions. The types of knowledge people employ in these problem solving efforts will be considered. In addition characteristics of problems that all or call for creative problem solving will be discussed.
Creative Guiding Structures
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jonathan Feinsein, SUNY Buffalo State
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: I present evidence and a model describing the role of conceptual guiding structures in the creative process. Guiding structures are high level conceptual structures that help individuals navigate in rich, complex environments. Examples include guiding principles and imaginative conceptions. The richness of the environment in which creative individuals function‚ vast creative possibilities‚ has not been fully appreciated or developed in creativity studies. The environment can be modeled as a knowledge structure with elements arrayed in a lattice-like hierarchy. In this context a guiding structure is a set of elements, mainly higher level, that generates (and may constrain) creative possibilities. In the model I develop individuals intuit a high value guiding structure in a first stage. Then they explore possibilities developed from their guiding structure, experimenting with a sequence of projects; in addition, their thinking may branch out to related elements, fitting the notion of creativity as expanding activation. Examples of individuals whose creative processes fit the model that I discuss include Virginia Woolf, biochemist Hans Krebs, Piet Mondrian, and Lynn Conway (co-founder of VLSI nomenclature). I have also begun a creativity experiment focusing on the role of guiding structures in supporting creativity. We are soliciting novice writers and artistic photographers on the web. The experimental group is asked to formulate guiding structures, while the control group is not (there are additional prompts to create a balanced experimental environment). We then gather data over several months to test whether having been asked to develop a guiding structure influences creative outcomes.
Measuring Industry Relevance
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Tim Weir, Melbourne Polytechnic
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Industry relevance is an essential element of all educational delivery. In some teaching areas, relevance (or currency) is determined by professional accreditation or industry groups. However, in the Creative Industries, no such measures are in place. As a result, assessing industry relevance is a subjective task and open to dispute. This research endeavoured to create an object model that was both transparent and fair and could be adapted to any discipline. For the purpose of this research, “industry currency” was defined as: "Industry currency requires an awareness and understanding of industry-related skills and knowledge, innovations, organisational culture, people, structures and networks. Industry currency refers to keeping up-to-date in an industry and/or discipline areas. It focuses on retaining, updating, and if necessary, broadening the competence required to deliver and assess in vocational education and training". This definition builds on the work of Moy (2001), Guthrie (2010), and Callan (2006). The model that was developed has undergone early testing and has been shown to inform not only managers but also teaching staff. The model has guided professional development and creative output by showing which activities are more valued by peers and colleagues across the discipline.
Mathematics For The Creative Mind
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rachel McAnallen, McAnallen Consulting
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Many learners of all ages have memorized mathematical procedures (know how) without the conceptual understanding (know why) that underlies the algorithms. Consequently, they equate mathematics with computational memorization and believe that math is dull, boring, and even scary. This presentation will demonstrate how conceptual mathematics can be creative, exciting, and downright beautiful. It will also help teachers and parents motivate their students and children to fall in love with mathematics without the use of multiple worksheets. It is important that those attending this presentation bring their sense of humor and be prepared to laugh.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Mumford, University of Oklahoma
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Creativity is not simply a matter of generating ideas. Instead, creativity is defined as the production of high quality, original, and elegant solutions to complex, novel, ill-defined problems. Thus creativity can be viewed as special form of problem solving. In this talk we will discuss the key processes that people must execute to generate creative problem solutions. The types of knowledge people employ in these problem solving efforts will be considered. In addition characteristics of problems that all or call for creative problem solving will be discussed.
Creative Guiding Structures
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jonathan Feinsein, SUNY Buffalo State
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: I present evidence and a model describing the role of conceptual guiding structures in the creative process. Guiding structures are high level conceptual structures that help individuals navigate in rich, complex environments. Examples include guiding principles and imaginative conceptions. The richness of the environment in which creative individuals function‚ vast creative possibilities‚ has not been fully appreciated or developed in creativity studies. The environment can be modeled as a knowledge structure with elements arrayed in a lattice-like hierarchy. In this context a guiding structure is a set of elements, mainly higher level, that generates (and may constrain) creative possibilities. In the model I develop individuals intuit a high value guiding structure in a first stage. Then they explore possibilities developed from their guiding structure, experimenting with a sequence of projects; in addition, their thinking may branch out to related elements, fitting the notion of creativity as expanding activation. Examples of individuals whose creative processes fit the model that I discuss include Virginia Woolf, biochemist Hans Krebs, Piet Mondrian, and Lynn Conway (co-founder of VLSI nomenclature). I have also begun a creativity experiment focusing on the role of guiding structures in supporting creativity. We are soliciting novice writers and artistic photographers on the web. The experimental group is asked to formulate guiding structures, while the control group is not (there are additional prompts to create a balanced experimental environment). We then gather data over several months to test whether having been asked to develop a guiding structure influences creative outcomes.
Measuring Industry Relevance
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Tim Weir, Melbourne Polytechnic
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Industry relevance is an essential element of all educational delivery. In some teaching areas, relevance (or currency) is determined by professional accreditation or industry groups. However, in the Creative Industries, no such measures are in place. As a result, assessing industry relevance is a subjective task and open to dispute. This research endeavoured to create an object model that was both transparent and fair and could be adapted to any discipline. For the purpose of this research, “industry currency” was defined as: "Industry currency requires an awareness and understanding of industry-related skills and knowledge, innovations, organisational culture, people, structures and networks. Industry currency refers to keeping up-to-date in an industry and/or discipline areas. It focuses on retaining, updating, and if necessary, broadening the competence required to deliver and assess in vocational education and training". This definition builds on the work of Moy (2001), Guthrie (2010), and Callan (2006). The model that was developed has undergone early testing and has been shown to inform not only managers but also teaching staff. The model has guided professional development and creative output by showing which activities are more valued by peers and colleagues across the discipline.
Mathematics For The Creative Mind
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rachel McAnallen, McAnallen Consulting
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Many learners of all ages have memorized mathematical procedures (know how) without the conceptual understanding (know why) that underlies the algorithms. Consequently, they equate mathematics with computational memorization and believe that math is dull, boring, and even scary. This presentation will demonstrate how conceptual mathematics can be creative, exciting, and downright beautiful. It will also help teachers and parents motivate their students and children to fall in love with mathematics without the use of multiple worksheets. It is important that those attending this presentation bring their sense of humor and be prepared to laugh.
12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch
Recommendations for lunch options can be found here.
1:15pm - 2:15pm Panels
Designing assessment of student creativity in visual art and design
Panelists: Jonathan Fisher & Diana Gregory, Kennesaw State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Summatively driven assessment practices and criteria that only focus on what is known, but do not recognize learning processes or how people come to know or recognize emergent unanticipated learning outcomes, will smother creativity (Jackson, 2003). This presentation will chronicle the development of horizontal and vertical "constructive alignment" (Angelo, 2013) for six foundation level courses leading to portfolio review in a school of art and design. Faculty motivation for this research emerged following external feedback indicating student work lack creativity and conceptual inventiveness by the national accreditation agency. Our journey began with the question: What will my students learn and is it worth learning? (O'Brien, 2008) In this presentation, panelists will:
* Map our ten-year process of scholarship re: assessing creativity and conceptual inventiveness and the development of faculty consensus re: concepts and implementation
*Share the development of our assessment process – an ongoing longitudinal mixed-methods research project
*Present current concerns re: student learning outcomes in a landscape of constant growth/change/new program development and need for innovation to meet accreditation standards and best practices in teaching and learning.
During the discussion part of the panel, questions embedded in the presentation will be examined. Participants are invited to share their experience in assessing creativity in art and design programs and the future of creativity teaching and learning in the visual arts.
International creativities research in economic, education and trade policy
Panelists: Anne Harris, Leon de Bruin, RMIT University, Australia; Pamela Burnard, University of Cambridge UK; Tatiana Chemi, Aalborg University, Denmark
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: This panel brings a multinational lens to examining changes and current trends in creativities education and creative industries policy in our respective countries. Drawing on emerging theoretical and empirical work from Denmark, the UK, and the Asia Pacific region, the panelists track a current global ‘creative turn’ that alternately includes and elides arts practices in education and workplace contexts. The commodification of creativity discourses and its increasing centrality in workforce policy debate is not always reflected in education practices or policy. These panelists weave current research on intercultural creativities across the Asia Pacific and its role in regional trade; gendered participation in diverse creativities across education sectors and creative industries in the UK; and Danish government school reform, all of which look at how creativity policies engage (or not) schools, cultural institutions and artists.
The Arts, Creativity, Cognition, and Learning: A National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab
Panelists: Novak-Leonard, Northwestern University; Gwen Rugg, University of Chicago
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Understanding how to foster creativity is an imperative that cuts across many dimensions of social policy, including education, workforce, the economy, and urban and community development. How do self-perceptions of arts-based and other domains of creativity intersect with self-perceptions of agency, which is a fundamental component underlying multiple areas of social policy. To explore and test relationships between arts-based creativity and broader types of creativity, this inaugural National Endowment for the Arts’ Research Lab is conducting a survey with a probability-based panel representative of the U.S. population survey to examine the relationships between arts participation and other forms and “domains” of creativity, measured by habits of behavior and self-perception, and stratified by socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This presentation will report on the survey’s methods, results, and reactions to this translational research.
The Creative System in Action applied through Communication and Media Research and Teaching
Panelists: Phillip McIntyre, Susan Kerrigan, Janet Fulton & Michael Meany, University of Newcastle, Australia
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: The Creative Systems Model, developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1988, 1997), has been applied to a number of research and teaching contexts at the University of Newcastle. The model is comprised of three main systems – person, field and domain which ‘affects the others and is affected by them in turn’ (Csikszentmihalyi 1988, p.329) indicating its essential non-linearity. This model presents a helpful language and set of descriptors that have been used to explain creativity to media students at the University who, in turn, use it to understand the phenomena of creativity and to help explain their own creative practices (McIntyre, Fulton, Paton, Kerrigan & Meany forthcoming). As well as this teaching focus this same creative system in action (McIntyre, Fulton & Paton 2016) has been used to research professional media practices (e.g. Kerrigan 2013) as well as underpinning research that investigate innovation within a regional creative industries' workforce. This latter work has been funded by the Australian Research Council. The four panel members will take aspects of the above and explore the application of the creative system in that context. A/Prof Phillip McIntyre will then sum up the program of research that he has lead for the last twenty years and reinforce the idea that creativity is an emergent property of the interaction of an interconnected system at work.
A new systems model for organizational innovation
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Markus Bensenes, Tinkr
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Tinkr has developed a systems model in collaboration with our network of creativity researchers, in alignment with the upcoming ISO standard on innovation management. We offer an introduction to the model; its rationale, development, and application. Our presentation will show: How we have developed a generic structure, based on research and best practice, that offers great flexibility and is relevant in most all contexts. How we have developed a structured approach, integrating the elements of an innovation management system with applicability, value generating solutions, and relevant research. Why we focus on creativity, individuals and processes, and consider other elements only in relevant relation to these. The main focus of the presentation will how the model can be used to: Map innovation systems and creative processes. Identify relevant quantitative and qualitative tests and present complex results. Determine and justify the most relevant interventions for increased creative and innovative potential. Identify and categorize potential areas for research relevant for our practical work with clients. Finally, we will present real world cases demonstrating the value of using the system, including: Unexpected negative effect of interventions: Trying to put innovation on the agenda leads to more confusion, less engagement, negative norms, and less output. Using an innovation fund as a platform for the development of capabilities for systemic innovation. Why the existence of an innovation department weakens creative climate and culture for innovation by monopolizing the term Defining KPIs and focus areas for relevant assessments of the various elements and dynamics between them.
Panelists: Jonathan Fisher & Diana Gregory, Kennesaw State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Summatively driven assessment practices and criteria that only focus on what is known, but do not recognize learning processes or how people come to know or recognize emergent unanticipated learning outcomes, will smother creativity (Jackson, 2003). This presentation will chronicle the development of horizontal and vertical "constructive alignment" (Angelo, 2013) for six foundation level courses leading to portfolio review in a school of art and design. Faculty motivation for this research emerged following external feedback indicating student work lack creativity and conceptual inventiveness by the national accreditation agency. Our journey began with the question: What will my students learn and is it worth learning? (O'Brien, 2008) In this presentation, panelists will:
* Map our ten-year process of scholarship re: assessing creativity and conceptual inventiveness and the development of faculty consensus re: concepts and implementation
*Share the development of our assessment process – an ongoing longitudinal mixed-methods research project
*Present current concerns re: student learning outcomes in a landscape of constant growth/change/new program development and need for innovation to meet accreditation standards and best practices in teaching and learning.
During the discussion part of the panel, questions embedded in the presentation will be examined. Participants are invited to share their experience in assessing creativity in art and design programs and the future of creativity teaching and learning in the visual arts.
International creativities research in economic, education and trade policy
Panelists: Anne Harris, Leon de Bruin, RMIT University, Australia; Pamela Burnard, University of Cambridge UK; Tatiana Chemi, Aalborg University, Denmark
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: This panel brings a multinational lens to examining changes and current trends in creativities education and creative industries policy in our respective countries. Drawing on emerging theoretical and empirical work from Denmark, the UK, and the Asia Pacific region, the panelists track a current global ‘creative turn’ that alternately includes and elides arts practices in education and workplace contexts. The commodification of creativity discourses and its increasing centrality in workforce policy debate is not always reflected in education practices or policy. These panelists weave current research on intercultural creativities across the Asia Pacific and its role in regional trade; gendered participation in diverse creativities across education sectors and creative industries in the UK; and Danish government school reform, all of which look at how creativity policies engage (or not) schools, cultural institutions and artists.
The Arts, Creativity, Cognition, and Learning: A National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab
Panelists: Novak-Leonard, Northwestern University; Gwen Rugg, University of Chicago
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Understanding how to foster creativity is an imperative that cuts across many dimensions of social policy, including education, workforce, the economy, and urban and community development. How do self-perceptions of arts-based and other domains of creativity intersect with self-perceptions of agency, which is a fundamental component underlying multiple areas of social policy. To explore and test relationships between arts-based creativity and broader types of creativity, this inaugural National Endowment for the Arts’ Research Lab is conducting a survey with a probability-based panel representative of the U.S. population survey to examine the relationships between arts participation and other forms and “domains” of creativity, measured by habits of behavior and self-perception, and stratified by socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This presentation will report on the survey’s methods, results, and reactions to this translational research.
The Creative System in Action applied through Communication and Media Research and Teaching
Panelists: Phillip McIntyre, Susan Kerrigan, Janet Fulton & Michael Meany, University of Newcastle, Australia
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: The Creative Systems Model, developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1988, 1997), has been applied to a number of research and teaching contexts at the University of Newcastle. The model is comprised of three main systems – person, field and domain which ‘affects the others and is affected by them in turn’ (Csikszentmihalyi 1988, p.329) indicating its essential non-linearity. This model presents a helpful language and set of descriptors that have been used to explain creativity to media students at the University who, in turn, use it to understand the phenomena of creativity and to help explain their own creative practices (McIntyre, Fulton, Paton, Kerrigan & Meany forthcoming). As well as this teaching focus this same creative system in action (McIntyre, Fulton & Paton 2016) has been used to research professional media practices (e.g. Kerrigan 2013) as well as underpinning research that investigate innovation within a regional creative industries' workforce. This latter work has been funded by the Australian Research Council. The four panel members will take aspects of the above and explore the application of the creative system in that context. A/Prof Phillip McIntyre will then sum up the program of research that he has lead for the last twenty years and reinforce the idea that creativity is an emergent property of the interaction of an interconnected system at work.
A new systems model for organizational innovation
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Markus Bensenes, Tinkr
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Tinkr has developed a systems model in collaboration with our network of creativity researchers, in alignment with the upcoming ISO standard on innovation management. We offer an introduction to the model; its rationale, development, and application. Our presentation will show: How we have developed a generic structure, based on research and best practice, that offers great flexibility and is relevant in most all contexts. How we have developed a structured approach, integrating the elements of an innovation management system with applicability, value generating solutions, and relevant research. Why we focus on creativity, individuals and processes, and consider other elements only in relevant relation to these. The main focus of the presentation will how the model can be used to: Map innovation systems and creative processes. Identify relevant quantitative and qualitative tests and present complex results. Determine and justify the most relevant interventions for increased creative and innovative potential. Identify and categorize potential areas for research relevant for our practical work with clients. Finally, we will present real world cases demonstrating the value of using the system, including: Unexpected negative effect of interventions: Trying to put innovation on the agenda leads to more confusion, less engagement, negative norms, and less output. Using an innovation fund as a platform for the development of capabilities for systemic innovation. Why the existence of an innovation department weakens creative climate and culture for innovation by monopolizing the term Defining KPIs and focus areas for relevant assessments of the various elements and dynamics between them.
2:30pm - 3:10pm Invited address & concurrent sessions
, Creative Polymathy – A Presentation in Two Parts
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: We propose that polymathy is an important key to creating. We define creating as “the invention, recognition, or reformulation of a problem or challenge in such a way that makes it amenable to resolution in a new and effective manner.” Creating necessitates bringing knowledge, skills and problems together in novel ways or perceiving challenges from unusual perspectives that redefine their possibilities. Such achievement requires 1) sufficient breadth of experience to combine previously disparate ideas or processes and 2) sufficient depth of understanding to recognize the opportunities posed by combination. It follows from the nature of creating effective novelties that the people most likely to do so successfully are those with unusual backgrounds and diversified training who can link together their varied interests through fundamental principles and processes. Thus, we argue, the process of creating favors polymaths, those trained in more than one discipline and often capable of succeeding in more than one profession. We look to our current study of Nobel Prizewinners to characterize interest patterns of the six laureate groups: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Economics, Literature and Peace. These interest patterns describe number of activities within and across domains, vocational/avocational profile differences, and the apparent benefits—emotional, intellectual, aesthetic—that Nobel laureates have expressly drawn with regard to their polymathy. (A)vocational networks of interest among Nobel Prize winners, along with imaginary world invention among MacArthur Fellows, suggests that “serious play” both inspires and fires the engines of creative polymathy. There are, additionally, multiple paths to creative polymathy. Some polymaths start out broad and sequentially narrow their foci; others begin narrow and progressively diverge; some are serial polymaths; some concurrent. Different profiles and paths prepare individuals for different types of creative success. For example, art-science polymathy of multiple kinds has been especially fruitful in terms of creative outcome. Scientists are highly likely to engage in the arts, often at the level of concurrent or secondary careers, at times innovating new artistic forms. Artists are similarly likely to pursue scientific avocations, and to make significant contributions to science. We conclude by considering the implications of polymathy for formal and informal education dedicated to the development of creative potential and talent.
Constructing design guidelines for creation-focused contemporary dance educational program for non-dance majors
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yuko Nakano & Takeshi Okada, University of Tokyo
Location: Stevenson Union 306-Ms. Nakano will be presenting via video from Japan
Abstract: How can we activate and facilitate non-art majors' artistic creativity? The purpose of this study was to construct design guidelines for contemporary dance educational program focusing on creation for non-dance majors, based on Design-Based Research approach. To achieve this goal, we conducted four studies. Study 1 investigated the creation process of an expert choreographer. Based on this finding, we developed a design guideline for educational content for a dance course. Using this guideline, we iterated three educational practices in collaboration with professional choreographers (study2, 3, 4) and developed design guideline for teacher's role in the classroom. The results showed that, in order to activate non-dance majors' dance creation, it is important to combine the following aspects of the design guideline for educational content, 'Perception and Reflection' (Being conscious of one's body, one's internal representations, others, and one's surroundings), 'Action and Expression' (Preparing one's body, Action with or without planning, and Conveying to audience) and 'Interaction and Communication' (Responding to others using their feedback, Collaborating with others, and Being inspired by one's surroundings). On the other hand, as the design guideline for teacher's role in the classroom, we found that teachers should change structure of relationship with learners dynamically through facing with them both 'As an educator' (Accepting students, Demonstrating examples, and Encouraging students) and 'As an artist' (Being inspired by one's students, Expressing oneself, and Interacting with students through artistic expression). These findings contribute for designing educational practice of creativity, particularly, creativity in artistic expression in higher education.
Malevolent Creativity in Violent Ideological Groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Gina Scott Ligon, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Applying measurement techniques for creative products, we present a unique way to quantify the malevolent innovation of terrorist organizations’ attacks and cyber capabilities. Using a combination of subject matter expert coding and custom automated web classifiers, we have analyzed 30,000 attacks from significant terrorist organizations on their novelty, relevance, and elegance. In addition, we have assessed the online cyber presence of fifteen of the most lethal terrorist organizations as designated by the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list to better understand the website innovation used to reach their potential recruits. Findings reveal that expertise, particularly about the group’s targets, is predicted to their capacity for malevolent innovation across multiple performance indicators. Implications for how we can use creativity research to understand terrorist behavior will be discussed.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: We propose that polymathy is an important key to creating. We define creating as “the invention, recognition, or reformulation of a problem or challenge in such a way that makes it amenable to resolution in a new and effective manner.” Creating necessitates bringing knowledge, skills and problems together in novel ways or perceiving challenges from unusual perspectives that redefine their possibilities. Such achievement requires 1) sufficient breadth of experience to combine previously disparate ideas or processes and 2) sufficient depth of understanding to recognize the opportunities posed by combination. It follows from the nature of creating effective novelties that the people most likely to do so successfully are those with unusual backgrounds and diversified training who can link together their varied interests through fundamental principles and processes. Thus, we argue, the process of creating favors polymaths, those trained in more than one discipline and often capable of succeeding in more than one profession. We look to our current study of Nobel Prizewinners to characterize interest patterns of the six laureate groups: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Economics, Literature and Peace. These interest patterns describe number of activities within and across domains, vocational/avocational profile differences, and the apparent benefits—emotional, intellectual, aesthetic—that Nobel laureates have expressly drawn with regard to their polymathy. (A)vocational networks of interest among Nobel Prize winners, along with imaginary world invention among MacArthur Fellows, suggests that “serious play” both inspires and fires the engines of creative polymathy. There are, additionally, multiple paths to creative polymathy. Some polymaths start out broad and sequentially narrow their foci; others begin narrow and progressively diverge; some are serial polymaths; some concurrent. Different profiles and paths prepare individuals for different types of creative success. For example, art-science polymathy of multiple kinds has been especially fruitful in terms of creative outcome. Scientists are highly likely to engage in the arts, often at the level of concurrent or secondary careers, at times innovating new artistic forms. Artists are similarly likely to pursue scientific avocations, and to make significant contributions to science. We conclude by considering the implications of polymathy for formal and informal education dedicated to the development of creative potential and talent.
Constructing design guidelines for creation-focused contemporary dance educational program for non-dance majors
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yuko Nakano & Takeshi Okada, University of Tokyo
Location: Stevenson Union 306-Ms. Nakano will be presenting via video from Japan
Abstract: How can we activate and facilitate non-art majors' artistic creativity? The purpose of this study was to construct design guidelines for contemporary dance educational program focusing on creation for non-dance majors, based on Design-Based Research approach. To achieve this goal, we conducted four studies. Study 1 investigated the creation process of an expert choreographer. Based on this finding, we developed a design guideline for educational content for a dance course. Using this guideline, we iterated three educational practices in collaboration with professional choreographers (study2, 3, 4) and developed design guideline for teacher's role in the classroom. The results showed that, in order to activate non-dance majors' dance creation, it is important to combine the following aspects of the design guideline for educational content, 'Perception and Reflection' (Being conscious of one's body, one's internal representations, others, and one's surroundings), 'Action and Expression' (Preparing one's body, Action with or without planning, and Conveying to audience) and 'Interaction and Communication' (Responding to others using their feedback, Collaborating with others, and Being inspired by one's surroundings). On the other hand, as the design guideline for teacher's role in the classroom, we found that teachers should change structure of relationship with learners dynamically through facing with them both 'As an educator' (Accepting students, Demonstrating examples, and Encouraging students) and 'As an artist' (Being inspired by one's students, Expressing oneself, and Interacting with students through artistic expression). These findings contribute for designing educational practice of creativity, particularly, creativity in artistic expression in higher education.
Malevolent Creativity in Violent Ideological Groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Gina Scott Ligon, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Applying measurement techniques for creative products, we present a unique way to quantify the malevolent innovation of terrorist organizations’ attacks and cyber capabilities. Using a combination of subject matter expert coding and custom automated web classifiers, we have analyzed 30,000 attacks from significant terrorist organizations on their novelty, relevance, and elegance. In addition, we have assessed the online cyber presence of fifteen of the most lethal terrorist organizations as designated by the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list to better understand the website innovation used to reach their potential recruits. Findings reveal that expertise, particularly about the group’s targets, is predicted to their capacity for malevolent innovation across multiple performance indicators. Implications for how we can use creativity research to understand terrorist behavior will be discussed.
3:20PM - 4:00PM INVITED ADDRESS & CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Creative Polymathy – A Presentation in Two Parts
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: We propose that polymathy is an important key to creating. We define creating as “the invention, recognition, or reformulation of a problem or challenge in such a way that makes it amenable to resolution in a new and effective manner.” Creating necessitates bringing knowledge, skills and problems together in novel ways or perceiving challenges from unusual perspectives that redefine their possibilities. Such achievement requires 1) sufficient breadth of experience to combine previously disparate ideas or processes and 2) sufficient depth of understanding to recognize the opportunities posed by combination. It follows from the nature of creating effective novelties that the people most likely to do so successfully are those with unusual backgrounds and diversified training who can link together their varied interests through fundamental principles and processes. Thus, we argue, the process of creating favors polymaths, those trained in more than one discipline and often capable of succeeding in more than one profession. We look to our current study of Nobel Prizewinners to characterize interest patterns of the six laureate groups: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Economics, Literature and Peace. These interest patterns describe number of activities within and across domains, vocational/avocational profile differences, and the apparent benefits—emotional, intellectual, aesthetic—that Nobel laureates have expressly drawn with regard to their polymathy. (A)vocational networks of interest among Nobel Prize winners, along with imaginary world invention among MacArthur Fellows, suggests that “serious play” both inspires and fires the engines of creative polymathy. There are, additionally, multiple paths to creative polymathy. Some polymaths start out broad and sequentially narrow their foci; others begin narrow and progressively diverge; some are serial polymaths; some concurrent. Different profiles and paths prepare individuals for different types of creative success. For example, art-science polymathy of multiple kinds has been especially fruitful in terms of creative outcome. Scientists are highly likely to engage in the arts, often at the level of concurrent or secondary careers, at times innovating new artistic forms. Artists are similarly likely to pursue scientific avocations, and to make significant contributions to science. We conclude by considering the implications of polymathy for formal and informal education dedicated to the development of creative potential and talent.
The Liminal Teacher: Designing the Creative Classroom
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: L. Johnson Davis, San Diego State University & Dennis Doyle, Collaborations: Teachers and Artists
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creative learning environments are often chaotic, messy, and noisy spaces that run counter to the typical standardized and managed classroom. As classroom spaces work toward becoming increasingly more creative and innovative by adopting maker, project-based and personalized learning methods, educators will need to become more comfortable in the liminal, “betwixt and between,” spaces that these learning environments present. Additionally, administrators who are tasked to encourage divergent thinking in the classroom to align with innovation and creativity outcomes threaded through Common Core and 21st Century Learning standards will need to develop a deeper understanding of the professional development needs and supports for nurturing the creative “liminal” teacher that provides for flexibility in the classroom and within curriculum. Informed from the researcher’s work in a project-based learning school and findings from a three-year longitudinal study of creativity of an elementary-arts organization collaboration, this presentation presents a framework for designing the creative classroom which includes 1) Entering the Void‚ understanding a teacher’s personal level of creativity; 2) Working through the Mess‚ becoming comfortable in the creative space; and 3) Practicing Curiosity‚ the heart of the collaborative creative space.
Post-disaster Creative Idea Enactment: Who's Ready?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Trudi Cameron, Lincoln University, New Zealand
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Those who enact creative ideas in a post-disaster setting may fit into one of two groups: seasoned opportunists or those who find themselves suddenly ‘at home’ in a de-stabilized community. It is the second group that is of particular interest. This exploratory, qualitative study of the influences and impacts on creative idea enactment in post-earthquakes Christchurch, New Zealand found that some personality traits, like extraversion, considered valuable in the enterprise activation process in ‘normal’ contexts, may not be essential post-disaster. This could be because ‘Mother Nature’ has already done much of the groundwork in establishing a need for new approaches and ideas. In contrast, qualities associated with the trait of agreeableness, while contributing to motivation, can ultimately be a hindrance to longer term enactment of creative ideas.
After a disaster, some individuals seem almost instantly able to enact ideas that will benefit the affected community. In a post-shock setting, unique ideas‚ that might be feared or shunned in a more routine setting‚ seem to be readily accepted. Perhaps, creative individuals, those with a less conventional mind set or lifestyle, who may have felt like an ‘outsider’, thrive after a disaster. Perhaps they are pre-adapted to instability and therefore ready to act in a post-disaster environment when others are not. Findings from the interview data of 45 participants involved in enacting creative ideas in the Christchurch setting, have revealed there may be much to learn from investigating the personalities and influences of those who choose to act creatively after a disaster.
Neuro Hacking Creativity, 21 Days to a more Creative You: How to Understand, Increase and Implement the 7 Steps of the Creative Process.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Raphael Diluzio, University of Southern Maine
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: This talk will deliver concepts, tools and process to "neuro hack" creativity in 21 days. The focus is on the Creative Thinking Process (CTP) and delivers modalities and tools for innovation and creative problem solving through enhancing (hacking) divergent, lateral and design thinking and how to understand, identify and overcome functional fixedness. Participants will be given the 21 day "neuro-hack to a more creative you" exercises as well as additional tools and materials to help internalize these concepts and continue to explore CTP. Drawing from ideas reaching back to Plato's Theaetetus, the creative process is divided into seven discrete stages. Although many scientists invoke the creative process in their work regularly, the assertion is that learning the creative process and practicing creative-process thinking can help STEM and non-art faculty, students and individuals to invoke this process more fluidly, expediently, and effectively. Initial feedback from my research indicates that those who have participated in the workshops, class and/or practice the 21 day neuro hacks, report an increase in, creativity, understanding of the creative thinking process and increased comfort level with incorporating associated concepts tools and processes into their work, disciplines and classes, among other things. Again this talk will present concepts, tools and processes that if practiced 30 minutes a day or less will markedly improve and individuals Creative Thinking Process.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: We propose that polymathy is an important key to creating. We define creating as “the invention, recognition, or reformulation of a problem or challenge in such a way that makes it amenable to resolution in a new and effective manner.” Creating necessitates bringing knowledge, skills and problems together in novel ways or perceiving challenges from unusual perspectives that redefine their possibilities. Such achievement requires 1) sufficient breadth of experience to combine previously disparate ideas or processes and 2) sufficient depth of understanding to recognize the opportunities posed by combination. It follows from the nature of creating effective novelties that the people most likely to do so successfully are those with unusual backgrounds and diversified training who can link together their varied interests through fundamental principles and processes. Thus, we argue, the process of creating favors polymaths, those trained in more than one discipline and often capable of succeeding in more than one profession. We look to our current study of Nobel Prizewinners to characterize interest patterns of the six laureate groups: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Economics, Literature and Peace. These interest patterns describe number of activities within and across domains, vocational/avocational profile differences, and the apparent benefits—emotional, intellectual, aesthetic—that Nobel laureates have expressly drawn with regard to their polymathy. (A)vocational networks of interest among Nobel Prize winners, along with imaginary world invention among MacArthur Fellows, suggests that “serious play” both inspires and fires the engines of creative polymathy. There are, additionally, multiple paths to creative polymathy. Some polymaths start out broad and sequentially narrow their foci; others begin narrow and progressively diverge; some are serial polymaths; some concurrent. Different profiles and paths prepare individuals for different types of creative success. For example, art-science polymathy of multiple kinds has been especially fruitful in terms of creative outcome. Scientists are highly likely to engage in the arts, often at the level of concurrent or secondary careers, at times innovating new artistic forms. Artists are similarly likely to pursue scientific avocations, and to make significant contributions to science. We conclude by considering the implications of polymathy for formal and informal education dedicated to the development of creative potential and talent.
The Liminal Teacher: Designing the Creative Classroom
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: L. Johnson Davis, San Diego State University & Dennis Doyle, Collaborations: Teachers and Artists
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creative learning environments are often chaotic, messy, and noisy spaces that run counter to the typical standardized and managed classroom. As classroom spaces work toward becoming increasingly more creative and innovative by adopting maker, project-based and personalized learning methods, educators will need to become more comfortable in the liminal, “betwixt and between,” spaces that these learning environments present. Additionally, administrators who are tasked to encourage divergent thinking in the classroom to align with innovation and creativity outcomes threaded through Common Core and 21st Century Learning standards will need to develop a deeper understanding of the professional development needs and supports for nurturing the creative “liminal” teacher that provides for flexibility in the classroom and within curriculum. Informed from the researcher’s work in a project-based learning school and findings from a three-year longitudinal study of creativity of an elementary-arts organization collaboration, this presentation presents a framework for designing the creative classroom which includes 1) Entering the Void‚ understanding a teacher’s personal level of creativity; 2) Working through the Mess‚ becoming comfortable in the creative space; and 3) Practicing Curiosity‚ the heart of the collaborative creative space.
Post-disaster Creative Idea Enactment: Who's Ready?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Trudi Cameron, Lincoln University, New Zealand
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Those who enact creative ideas in a post-disaster setting may fit into one of two groups: seasoned opportunists or those who find themselves suddenly ‘at home’ in a de-stabilized community. It is the second group that is of particular interest. This exploratory, qualitative study of the influences and impacts on creative idea enactment in post-earthquakes Christchurch, New Zealand found that some personality traits, like extraversion, considered valuable in the enterprise activation process in ‘normal’ contexts, may not be essential post-disaster. This could be because ‘Mother Nature’ has already done much of the groundwork in establishing a need for new approaches and ideas. In contrast, qualities associated with the trait of agreeableness, while contributing to motivation, can ultimately be a hindrance to longer term enactment of creative ideas.
After a disaster, some individuals seem almost instantly able to enact ideas that will benefit the affected community. In a post-shock setting, unique ideas‚ that might be feared or shunned in a more routine setting‚ seem to be readily accepted. Perhaps, creative individuals, those with a less conventional mind set or lifestyle, who may have felt like an ‘outsider’, thrive after a disaster. Perhaps they are pre-adapted to instability and therefore ready to act in a post-disaster environment when others are not. Findings from the interview data of 45 participants involved in enacting creative ideas in the Christchurch setting, have revealed there may be much to learn from investigating the personalities and influences of those who choose to act creatively after a disaster.
Neuro Hacking Creativity, 21 Days to a more Creative You: How to Understand, Increase and Implement the 7 Steps of the Creative Process.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Raphael Diluzio, University of Southern Maine
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: This talk will deliver concepts, tools and process to "neuro hack" creativity in 21 days. The focus is on the Creative Thinking Process (CTP) and delivers modalities and tools for innovation and creative problem solving through enhancing (hacking) divergent, lateral and design thinking and how to understand, identify and overcome functional fixedness. Participants will be given the 21 day "neuro-hack to a more creative you" exercises as well as additional tools and materials to help internalize these concepts and continue to explore CTP. Drawing from ideas reaching back to Plato's Theaetetus, the creative process is divided into seven discrete stages. Although many scientists invoke the creative process in their work regularly, the assertion is that learning the creative process and practicing creative-process thinking can help STEM and non-art faculty, students and individuals to invoke this process more fluidly, expediently, and effectively. Initial feedback from my research indicates that those who have participated in the workshops, class and/or practice the 21 day neuro hacks, report an increase in, creativity, understanding of the creative thinking process and increased comfort level with incorporating associated concepts tools and processes into their work, disciplines and classes, among other things. Again this talk will present concepts, tools and processes that if practiced 30 minutes a day or less will markedly improve and individuals Creative Thinking Process.
4:10PM - 5:10PM KEYNOTE ADDRESS - ROBERT STERNBERG
Save the World!: We Don’t Just Need Smarter or Even More Creative Kids—We Need Wiser Ones Too
Speaker: Robert Sternberg, Cornell University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Psychologists and educators have made a serious category mistake, first in studying intelligence and then in studying creativity in isolation. Creativity, like intelligence, can be beneficial to humankind, but it also can be enormously destructive, whether through ever more powerful physical armaments or through ever more powerful social armaments-- our own social media currently being used by authoritarian governments in a so-far partially successful attempt to destroy our democratic institutions. In a similar way, the same intelligence and creativity that have brought us cellphones also have produced a society that is ever more economically stratified, with the “haves” creating innovative and powerful structures that chronically disadvantage the have-nots. In the absence of wisdom, creativity and intelligence both can be destructive as well as constructive forces. We need to develop in our children the creativity to generate novel and useful ideas, the intelligence to ensure that they are good ideas, but most of all, the wisdom to ensure that the ideas help to produce a common good, and not just a good for the already advantaged. We need to study and develop wisdom, intelligence, and creativity, synthesized (WICS), not just any one in isolation.
Speaker: Robert Sternberg, Cornell University
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Psychologists and educators have made a serious category mistake, first in studying intelligence and then in studying creativity in isolation. Creativity, like intelligence, can be beneficial to humankind, but it also can be enormously destructive, whether through ever more powerful physical armaments or through ever more powerful social armaments-- our own social media currently being used by authoritarian governments in a so-far partially successful attempt to destroy our democratic institutions. In a similar way, the same intelligence and creativity that have brought us cellphones also have produced a society that is ever more economically stratified, with the “haves” creating innovative and powerful structures that chronically disadvantage the have-nots. In the absence of wisdom, creativity and intelligence both can be destructive as well as constructive forces. We need to develop in our children the creativity to generate novel and useful ideas, the intelligence to ensure that they are good ideas, but most of all, the wisdom to ensure that the ideas help to produce a common good, and not just a good for the already advantaged. We need to study and develop wisdom, intelligence, and creativity, synthesized (WICS), not just any one in isolation.
Saturday, August 4th, 2018
Creativity Conference - Day 2
7:00am check-in begins
Parking info map of parking click here, you can also find a map of campus click here).
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, meal information, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, meal information, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
8:00am - 9:15am Short presentations in SU 323
Divergent Thinking Underlies Logical Reasoning : Stimulating Divergent Thinking Helps Preschoolers Grasp Invalid Inferences
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Pier-Luc de Chantal & Henry Markovits, University of Quebec Montreal
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Logical reasoning is often thought to be the domain of convergent thinking because it involves finding a single correct solution to a clearly defined problem. We show that, contrary to this intuition, the ability to come up with multiple ideas and possibilities through divergent thinking promotes the emergence of logical reasoning. A total of 97 children aged between 4 and 5 years were randomly given divergent thinking exercises either with or without examples, or control exercises to rule out potentially confounding factors. We provided examples with the aim of limiting the activation of divergent thinking. Children were then given a reasoning task with simple valid and invalid inferences, which previous studies have shown to be very difficult at this age. The results revealed a clear pattern of variation. The divergent thinking exercises without examples significantly increased rates of logical responding compared to the other conditions. As predicted, the provision of examples led to less original ideas and decreased the positive impact of the exercises on reasoning. Importantly, ideational flexibility and originality were both associated with logical responding, which provides additional evidence that divergent thinking operates during reasoning. Our findings shed light on new directions for understanding and promoting children's reasoning skills. We also discuss the implications for the possible role of creativity in logical reasoning.
Scoring TTCT-Figural for Originality: Does The List of Unoriginal Ideas Still Hold Up?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Selcuk Acar, SUNY Buffalo State; Uzeyir Ogurlu, Harvard University and Mark A. Runco
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) has been the most popular measure of creativity. It is used for a variety of purposes including gifted identification, research, and creativity development. Kim (2010) reported a decline in creativity level based on TTCT scores. In this study, Kim cautioned that findings on originality might not be as reliable as other indices because originality scoring is conducted based on the list of unoriginal ideas developed in 1984 and this list was developed based on 500 participants. Similar to traditional divergent thinking tests, TTCT’s originality scoring relies on the number of infrequent ideas. The “infrequency” of an idea is defined in terms of the list of unoriginal ideas provided in the test Manual. Accordingly, an idea is original if it is not found among the unoriginal ideas. The list of unoriginal ideas did not change since 1984 for TTCT figural, however, changes in lifestyle, advances in technology, and generational differences may lead to a substantially different set of unoriginal ideas today than the past. Given the popularity and impact of TTCT and the unique role of originality in creativity assessment in general, it is crucial to score TTCTs based on an updated list of unoriginal ideas. To this end, the present investigation compares the presently used list of unoriginal ideas to those based on TTCT data from a sample of 1,000 college students. Similarities and differences between the current and updated lists will be discussed.
Obstacles to Personal Creativity Among Arab Women from GCC
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University; Mark A. Runco; Huda S. Alhindal, Arabian Gulf University; Hanadi Alsuwaidi, Ministry of Education, UAE
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This study aimed to examine personal obstacles to creativity among 297 Arab women from four countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, which assesses four main obstacles (Inhibition/Shyness, Lack of Time/Opportunity, Social Repression, and Lack of Motivation), was utilized. The results showed that the highest mean was found in Lack of Time/Opportunities (M= 4.13, SD= .70), followed by Lack of Motivation (M= 4.12, SD= .73), Inhibition/Shyness (M= 3.76, SD= .69), and Social Repression (M= 3.41, SD= .84). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicates that participants obstacles to creativity differed by major. Those in arts reported having lower levels of obstacles related to the social repression (M= 2.85, SD= .79) comparing with those in engineering, who showed the highest mean (M= 3.62, SD= .69). No significant effects were observed due to level of education, country, and income. Regarding the interaction between independent variables with the four factors, the MANOVA showed a significant interaction between education and sector, country and sector, income and major, and finally, a significant interaction was found between major and sector with the four factors consisting the Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory. The high mean found in Lack of Motivation factor deserves some attention since this is not a good indicator. An important question needs to be addressed in future studies is why those women in GCC might have a lack of motivation to be creative?
The Creative Problem Finding Hierarchy: A Suggested Model for Understanding Problem Finding Family
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University & Bonnie Cramond, University of Georgia
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This presentation proposes a new hierarchy (model), which hopefully will allow researchers in this field to differentiate between the different levels of problem finding (PF). It has been found that at least 13 different terms have been used to describe the process of finding a problem. Some of these terms have been used interchangeably in the previous research, even within the same work(s). Only a few articles distinguish between those terms. Although no clear distinction has been made among the terms in the PF literature regarding possible differences and which labels could be studied empirically, the present effort suggests that there might be important differences which could be explained by (a) how well- or ill-defined the problem is, and (b) the degree to which ideation and evaluation are required. A rubric, based on (a) and (b), will be presented and should allow distinctions to be made among the terms. The presentation concludes by suggesting that one term (i.e., “problem finding‚Äù) be used to avoid confusion. If this is not possible, for whatever reason, the term used instead should be defined with reference to (a) and (b) and the reasons for the choice of terms clearly stated.
Culture’s Impact on Scientific Creativity of Children: A Relation with Tolerance of Ambiguity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Herie (Henderika) de Vries & Todd Lubart, Université Paris Descartes
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This study aims to analyze the actual impact culture has on scientific creative cognition. Although science is guided by universal laws, cultural environments may impact scientific creativity. Do children in different cultures express differences in scientific creativity? This question is studied through Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA), which is hypothesized to be an important variable in scientific creativity. TA represents a tendency to perceive ambiguous situations as a high or low source of threat. Cultural value dimensions include tolerance of ambiguity/uncertainty as well. A study was carried out in India, Thailand, and France, using the EPoC Science test (Lubart et al., in press). Primary school students in France (n=109), India (n=118), and Thailand (n=154) answered to scientific problems. A categorization from a previous study, which is related to the level of creativity, was used to analyze children’s answers. These are: 1) ‘Surface answers’, focused on observable properties, 2) ‘Process answers’, focused on processes, and 3) Core answers’, focused on un-observable properties. Students also filled out a TA questionnaire. Results show significant differences of levels of TA between India (M=3.58, pÔĺ0.05), compared to Thailand (M= 2.76), and France (M=2,38). The TA levels are significantly related to differences of answer categories. Children in India for example used significantly more ‘surface’ answers and less ‘core’ answers than children in France and Thailand. TA levels per country, correspond with the found TA levels. Thus, we found already at primary school level, cultural differences in scientific creativity. Implications for learning and teaching are discussed.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Pier-Luc de Chantal & Henry Markovits, University of Quebec Montreal
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Logical reasoning is often thought to be the domain of convergent thinking because it involves finding a single correct solution to a clearly defined problem. We show that, contrary to this intuition, the ability to come up with multiple ideas and possibilities through divergent thinking promotes the emergence of logical reasoning. A total of 97 children aged between 4 and 5 years were randomly given divergent thinking exercises either with or without examples, or control exercises to rule out potentially confounding factors. We provided examples with the aim of limiting the activation of divergent thinking. Children were then given a reasoning task with simple valid and invalid inferences, which previous studies have shown to be very difficult at this age. The results revealed a clear pattern of variation. The divergent thinking exercises without examples significantly increased rates of logical responding compared to the other conditions. As predicted, the provision of examples led to less original ideas and decreased the positive impact of the exercises on reasoning. Importantly, ideational flexibility and originality were both associated with logical responding, which provides additional evidence that divergent thinking operates during reasoning. Our findings shed light on new directions for understanding and promoting children's reasoning skills. We also discuss the implications for the possible role of creativity in logical reasoning.
Scoring TTCT-Figural for Originality: Does The List of Unoriginal Ideas Still Hold Up?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Selcuk Acar, SUNY Buffalo State; Uzeyir Ogurlu, Harvard University and Mark A. Runco
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) has been the most popular measure of creativity. It is used for a variety of purposes including gifted identification, research, and creativity development. Kim (2010) reported a decline in creativity level based on TTCT scores. In this study, Kim cautioned that findings on originality might not be as reliable as other indices because originality scoring is conducted based on the list of unoriginal ideas developed in 1984 and this list was developed based on 500 participants. Similar to traditional divergent thinking tests, TTCT’s originality scoring relies on the number of infrequent ideas. The “infrequency” of an idea is defined in terms of the list of unoriginal ideas provided in the test Manual. Accordingly, an idea is original if it is not found among the unoriginal ideas. The list of unoriginal ideas did not change since 1984 for TTCT figural, however, changes in lifestyle, advances in technology, and generational differences may lead to a substantially different set of unoriginal ideas today than the past. Given the popularity and impact of TTCT and the unique role of originality in creativity assessment in general, it is crucial to score TTCTs based on an updated list of unoriginal ideas. To this end, the present investigation compares the presently used list of unoriginal ideas to those based on TTCT data from a sample of 1,000 college students. Similarities and differences between the current and updated lists will be discussed.
Obstacles to Personal Creativity Among Arab Women from GCC
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University; Mark A. Runco; Huda S. Alhindal, Arabian Gulf University; Hanadi Alsuwaidi, Ministry of Education, UAE
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This study aimed to examine personal obstacles to creativity among 297 Arab women from four countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. The Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory, which assesses four main obstacles (Inhibition/Shyness, Lack of Time/Opportunity, Social Repression, and Lack of Motivation), was utilized. The results showed that the highest mean was found in Lack of Time/Opportunities (M= 4.13, SD= .70), followed by Lack of Motivation (M= 4.12, SD= .73), Inhibition/Shyness (M= 3.76, SD= .69), and Social Repression (M= 3.41, SD= .84). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicates that participants obstacles to creativity differed by major. Those in arts reported having lower levels of obstacles related to the social repression (M= 2.85, SD= .79) comparing with those in engineering, who showed the highest mean (M= 3.62, SD= .69). No significant effects were observed due to level of education, country, and income. Regarding the interaction between independent variables with the four factors, the MANOVA showed a significant interaction between education and sector, country and sector, income and major, and finally, a significant interaction was found between major and sector with the four factors consisting the Obstacles to Personal Creativity Inventory. The high mean found in Lack of Motivation factor deserves some attention since this is not a good indicator. An important question needs to be addressed in future studies is why those women in GCC might have a lack of motivation to be creative?
The Creative Problem Finding Hierarchy: A Suggested Model for Understanding Problem Finding Family
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University & Bonnie Cramond, University of Georgia
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This presentation proposes a new hierarchy (model), which hopefully will allow researchers in this field to differentiate between the different levels of problem finding (PF). It has been found that at least 13 different terms have been used to describe the process of finding a problem. Some of these terms have been used interchangeably in the previous research, even within the same work(s). Only a few articles distinguish between those terms. Although no clear distinction has been made among the terms in the PF literature regarding possible differences and which labels could be studied empirically, the present effort suggests that there might be important differences which could be explained by (a) how well- or ill-defined the problem is, and (b) the degree to which ideation and evaluation are required. A rubric, based on (a) and (b), will be presented and should allow distinctions to be made among the terms. The presentation concludes by suggesting that one term (i.e., “problem finding‚Äù) be used to avoid confusion. If this is not possible, for whatever reason, the term used instead should be defined with reference to (a) and (b) and the reasons for the choice of terms clearly stated.
Culture’s Impact on Scientific Creativity of Children: A Relation with Tolerance of Ambiguity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Herie (Henderika) de Vries & Todd Lubart, Université Paris Descartes
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This study aims to analyze the actual impact culture has on scientific creative cognition. Although science is guided by universal laws, cultural environments may impact scientific creativity. Do children in different cultures express differences in scientific creativity? This question is studied through Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA), which is hypothesized to be an important variable in scientific creativity. TA represents a tendency to perceive ambiguous situations as a high or low source of threat. Cultural value dimensions include tolerance of ambiguity/uncertainty as well. A study was carried out in India, Thailand, and France, using the EPoC Science test (Lubart et al., in press). Primary school students in France (n=109), India (n=118), and Thailand (n=154) answered to scientific problems. A categorization from a previous study, which is related to the level of creativity, was used to analyze children’s answers. These are: 1) ‘Surface answers’, focused on observable properties, 2) ‘Process answers’, focused on processes, and 3) Core answers’, focused on un-observable properties. Students also filled out a TA questionnaire. Results show significant differences of levels of TA between India (M=3.58, pÔĺ0.05), compared to Thailand (M= 2.76), and France (M=2,38). The TA levels are significantly related to differences of answer categories. Children in India for example used significantly more ‘surface’ answers and less ‘core’ answers than children in France and Thailand. TA levels per country, correspond with the found TA levels. Thus, we found already at primary school level, cultural differences in scientific creativity. Implications for learning and teaching are discussed.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 319
Creating the Future through Innovation
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rodney Hill, Texas A&M University
Abstract: Each student must sign a nondisclosure agreement to be in the class. Every other week each student creates an innovation that is patent searched. The in between weeks, the students are in interdisciplinary and mixed gender teams and they also create an innovation that is patent searched. At mid-term, each individual files for a provisional patent with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. The groups enter international competitions. The groups also create a video that uses gender reversal-they use a male to sell a female product to females and their last project is to find a system, service or product that exists in the world and create another one that makes it obsolete. Extra credit is given to any group that can start their own business during the semester and make at least $500 or license one of their innovations to a business. The final is a group presentation on how each one of their majors might morph or even exist by 2050 or change through the Singularity.
Drama Pedagogy Training (DPT)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Macarena-Paz Celume, Université Paris Descartes
Abstract: Drama Pedagogy Training (DPT) is a drama-game based methodology focused on creative, social and emotional development. Studies have shown positive effects of drama-games on cognitive and socio-emotional competences (e.g. Barnes, 2013; Celume et al., 2017; Hammond, 2015; Moore & Russ, 2008), nevertheless, they have never been studied in French school contexts. In order to corroborate these results, we created a DPT pilot based on “Programa Juego” (Garaigordobil, 2003) adding some activities from other programs (e.g. Garcia-Huidobro, 2004; Boal, 1989). Participants were 159 school-aged children recruited in priority, public, and private schools (mean age = 9.7; SD=0.7). Children were randomly assigned to experimental (DPT) or control group. Creativity was measured before and after intervention through abstract figurative tests from EPoC (Evaluation du Potentiel Cr√©atif, Lubart, et al., 2011). We postulated that after the intervention, DPT scores in both creativity tasks, would be significantly higher than the control group. Results corroborated in part our hypothesis, showing a significant increase of DPT group scores over the control group on divergent creativity task (t= 6,5 p<0,00) but no statistical difference between groups on convergent creativity task (t= -0.5 p<0,60). Four months after the DPT intervention, 39 children (mean age = 9.9; SD=0.2) were re-measured on both creativity tasks as a follow-up study. Results continued to be statistically different on divergent creativity task, with higher scores for DPT group (t= 3,1 p<0,00). Other results will be presented and discussed.
A psychobiographical investigation into the creativity of the writer Paulo Coelho
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Claude Mayer, Rhodes University
Abstract: This presentation focuses on the creativity of the world-known writer Paulo Coelho across the life span. It uses a psychobiographical single case study approach to explore creative spurts in one of the best known international contemporary writers. Throughout his life, Coelho has shown a huge amount of artistic creativity, referring to a form of mental activity within the individual's thinking and socio-cultural context. This study uses a systemic approach and takes the person, process, product and environment into account to investigate creativity across the life span. Methodologically this single psychobiographical case study is based on Dilthey's modern hermeneutics, aiming at developing an in-depth understanding of creativity throughout the life. First- and third-person data were collected and analysed through content analysis. Findings show the development of creativity in terms of mini-c, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity throughout Paulo Coelho's life span. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for theory and practice are given.
Navigating contact zones: Autoethnographic descriptions on creative identity development in transcultural spaces
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Claude Mayer, Rhodes University; Lolo Jacques Mayer, Institute for Intercultural Practice and Conflict Management, Göttingen, Germany
Abstract: Internationally, schools are increasingly characterised by a diverse, cultural complex student population. Educational concepts in Germany and South Africa aim at implementing inclusive concepts to cater for a diverse student body. However, students with alternative (bi- or transcultural) stories to the mainstream, often challenge the attempt of educational policies and practices to homogenese and assimilate diverse student bodies to provide social justice and equity. According to Pratt (1981), global societies are "contact zones" in which cultural exchange takes place dynamically due to increasing transculturality and super-diversity. These are often experienced as challenging and unsafe, since all information within are heterogenously comprehended and interpreted. Accordingly, "safe moments" are needed to cope with the cultural complexity on the one hand and the urge for homogenisation on the other. The authors present selected autoethnographic descriptions of alternative stories of a bi-cultural and bilingual boy to foster creative identity development within German and South African school contexts. Data were gathered (field notes, observations) over a period of 5 years within the two contact zones. The authors use an autoethnographic, narrative approach to present, reflect, interpret, and discuss the experiences. They use themselves as research tools and explore the creativity within the alternative stories of the individual to create safe moments. Findings present the creative narrations, stories, expressions and illustrations of the boy used for creating safe moments and meaning-making. They show the creativity of the alternative stories for personal growth and identity development. Conclusions how to develop open, transcultural spaces in schools to foster safe transcultural identities in super-diverse contact zones are presented.
RE-DEFINING CREATIVITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY Starts with Dancing with the Elephant in the Room
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marta Ockuly, Saybrook University
Abstract: This study explores reimagining the way human creativity is defined, inspired, and developed at this point in the 21st century. The current standard definition of creativity is operational and implies creativity is a product to be measured rather than an experience to be practiced. The question guiding this research asks: “How can the lived experience of creativity be defined in a way that inspires imagination, creative action, and increased self-identification with personal creativity?" At this time in history it is important to differentiate human from computational creativity. Machines and robots can generate novel and useful ideas and process data beyond human capabilities, but humans outdo machines when it comes to imagination, intuition, curiosity, asking questions, empathy, and the ability to inspire others. A new phenomenon-based conceptual definition of creativity is introduced.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rodney Hill, Texas A&M University
Abstract: Each student must sign a nondisclosure agreement to be in the class. Every other week each student creates an innovation that is patent searched. The in between weeks, the students are in interdisciplinary and mixed gender teams and they also create an innovation that is patent searched. At mid-term, each individual files for a provisional patent with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. The groups enter international competitions. The groups also create a video that uses gender reversal-they use a male to sell a female product to females and their last project is to find a system, service or product that exists in the world and create another one that makes it obsolete. Extra credit is given to any group that can start their own business during the semester and make at least $500 or license one of their innovations to a business. The final is a group presentation on how each one of their majors might morph or even exist by 2050 or change through the Singularity.
Drama Pedagogy Training (DPT)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Macarena-Paz Celume, Université Paris Descartes
Abstract: Drama Pedagogy Training (DPT) is a drama-game based methodology focused on creative, social and emotional development. Studies have shown positive effects of drama-games on cognitive and socio-emotional competences (e.g. Barnes, 2013; Celume et al., 2017; Hammond, 2015; Moore & Russ, 2008), nevertheless, they have never been studied in French school contexts. In order to corroborate these results, we created a DPT pilot based on “Programa Juego” (Garaigordobil, 2003) adding some activities from other programs (e.g. Garcia-Huidobro, 2004; Boal, 1989). Participants were 159 school-aged children recruited in priority, public, and private schools (mean age = 9.7; SD=0.7). Children were randomly assigned to experimental (DPT) or control group. Creativity was measured before and after intervention through abstract figurative tests from EPoC (Evaluation du Potentiel Cr√©atif, Lubart, et al., 2011). We postulated that after the intervention, DPT scores in both creativity tasks, would be significantly higher than the control group. Results corroborated in part our hypothesis, showing a significant increase of DPT group scores over the control group on divergent creativity task (t= 6,5 p<0,00) but no statistical difference between groups on convergent creativity task (t= -0.5 p<0,60). Four months after the DPT intervention, 39 children (mean age = 9.9; SD=0.2) were re-measured on both creativity tasks as a follow-up study. Results continued to be statistically different on divergent creativity task, with higher scores for DPT group (t= 3,1 p<0,00). Other results will be presented and discussed.
A psychobiographical investigation into the creativity of the writer Paulo Coelho
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Claude Mayer, Rhodes University
Abstract: This presentation focuses on the creativity of the world-known writer Paulo Coelho across the life span. It uses a psychobiographical single case study approach to explore creative spurts in one of the best known international contemporary writers. Throughout his life, Coelho has shown a huge amount of artistic creativity, referring to a form of mental activity within the individual's thinking and socio-cultural context. This study uses a systemic approach and takes the person, process, product and environment into account to investigate creativity across the life span. Methodologically this single psychobiographical case study is based on Dilthey's modern hermeneutics, aiming at developing an in-depth understanding of creativity throughout the life. First- and third-person data were collected and analysed through content analysis. Findings show the development of creativity in terms of mini-c, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity throughout Paulo Coelho's life span. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for theory and practice are given.
Navigating contact zones: Autoethnographic descriptions on creative identity development in transcultural spaces
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Claude Mayer, Rhodes University; Lolo Jacques Mayer, Institute for Intercultural Practice and Conflict Management, Göttingen, Germany
Abstract: Internationally, schools are increasingly characterised by a diverse, cultural complex student population. Educational concepts in Germany and South Africa aim at implementing inclusive concepts to cater for a diverse student body. However, students with alternative (bi- or transcultural) stories to the mainstream, often challenge the attempt of educational policies and practices to homogenese and assimilate diverse student bodies to provide social justice and equity. According to Pratt (1981), global societies are "contact zones" in which cultural exchange takes place dynamically due to increasing transculturality and super-diversity. These are often experienced as challenging and unsafe, since all information within are heterogenously comprehended and interpreted. Accordingly, "safe moments" are needed to cope with the cultural complexity on the one hand and the urge for homogenisation on the other. The authors present selected autoethnographic descriptions of alternative stories of a bi-cultural and bilingual boy to foster creative identity development within German and South African school contexts. Data were gathered (field notes, observations) over a period of 5 years within the two contact zones. The authors use an autoethnographic, narrative approach to present, reflect, interpret, and discuss the experiences. They use themselves as research tools and explore the creativity within the alternative stories of the individual to create safe moments. Findings present the creative narrations, stories, expressions and illustrations of the boy used for creating safe moments and meaning-making. They show the creativity of the alternative stories for personal growth and identity development. Conclusions how to develop open, transcultural spaces in schools to foster safe transcultural identities in super-diverse contact zones are presented.
RE-DEFINING CREATIVITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY Starts with Dancing with the Elephant in the Room
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marta Ockuly, Saybrook University
Abstract: This study explores reimagining the way human creativity is defined, inspired, and developed at this point in the 21st century. The current standard definition of creativity is operational and implies creativity is a product to be measured rather than an experience to be practiced. The question guiding this research asks: “How can the lived experience of creativity be defined in a way that inspires imagination, creative action, and increased self-identification with personal creativity?" At this time in history it is important to differentiate human from computational creativity. Machines and robots can generate novel and useful ideas and process data beyond human capabilities, but humans outdo machines when it comes to imagination, intuition, curiosity, asking questions, empathy, and the ability to inspire others. A new phenomenon-based conceptual definition of creativity is introduced.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 313
What conditions do students identify as stimulating creative problem solving (CPS) in a collaborative peer feedback and critique-driven learning studio environment?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yvonne Koert, OU University Heerlen and Avans University Den Bosch , The Netherlands & Els (HPA) Boshuizen Ou University Heerlen; Jo Boon Lecturer OU University Heerlen
Abstract: We conducted an exploratory mixed-method study in two cohorts of approximately 50 students each within a 6-month full-time undergraduate program of a Dutch university of applied sciences, where multidisciplinary students in a studio-based environment are given 5 authentic business problems to solve, for which they must deliver physical prototypes. Our study set out to explore: (1) what students thought about CPS; (2) the conditions of the learning environment and educational design which supported its development; and (3) the role of peer learning and feedback in their learning experience. Qualitative data were collected about students’ and faculty views on CBS, learning environment, peer learning and the intersection of these three areas. Quantitative data were collected on students’ progress and products as assessed by faculty and commissioning clients. Findings include students self-reported; (1) a gradual shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, (2) increased self-regulation, and (3) increased sense of social responsibility (4) the role of assessment in feeling secure enough to experiment. Important implications unfolded for learning design and student guidance. This study highlighted the aspects of a studio-based learning environments that seem to positively influence CPS, peer-learning, self-regulation and intrinsic motivation in students of diverse educational backgrounds.
Creative Coursework Exposure: Enhancing College Student Engagement Across Disciplines
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Angie Miller, Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract: Previous research suggests that creativity training can be effective in academic settings and that teachers, in particular, can have an impact on creativity (Scott et al., 2004). Furthermore, incorporating creativity into classroom activities and assignments can encourage student engagement in the educational process (Halpern, 2010). This study extends research on creativity and student engagement in higher education, using data from the “Senior Transitions” topical module of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Responses from over 61,000 seniors at 266 different U.S colleges and universities were used to explore how exposure to creative coursework can predict student engagement in a variety of areas. NSSE’s measure of creative coursework includes items on generating new ideas, taking risks without fear of penalty, evaluating multiple approaches to problems, and inventing new methods. Ordinary least squares regression models were conducted to determine the effect of creative coursework exposure on NSSE’s established measures of student engagement: reflective and integrative learning, higher-order learning, use of learning strategies, collaborative learning, diverse discussions, student-faculty interaction, effective teaching practices, quality of interactions, and supportive environment. The results suggest that creative coursework is a significant positive predictor of student engagement, even after controlling for sex, transfer status, enrollment status, first-generation status, age, SAT/ACT, race/ethnicity, major, grades, percentage of online courses, control (private/public) and size. Potential reasons for these patterns of results will be discussed. These findings can help to inform curricular and programming enhancements for college students across all major fields, enriching their educational experiences through exposure to creative coursework.
Creative Achievements and Political Attitudes
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Harun Tadik, University of Georgia
Abstract: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in political issues across the country. In such an unusual political and social climate, the relations between creativity and political orientation require a special attention. In general, conservatism as a political orientation and creativity are seen contradictory since conservatism are associated with traditional values and conventional thinking. Do creative people have certain political orientations? Do they care about political and moral issues? How do people with different political orientations differ regarding their creative personality and achievements in different domains? The present study provides an overview of these questions based on a study examining the relations between political orientation and creativity achievement in a sample of 110 undergraduate and graduate students at a southeastern university. The participants completed the measures Creative Activity and Accomplishment Checklist (CAAC), How would You Describe Yourself (HWYDY), Quick Test of Divergent Thinking (QTDT), Creative Attitudes and Values, Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), and a Divergent Thinking Alternative Uses Task. Participants’ political orientations were assessed based on their vote in the 2016 presidential election and self-reported political views. The results of the study supported the hypothesis that creativity thinking is more associated with liberal political view, and liberals are more likely to have creative achievements in a variety of domains. The results of the study with respect to possible theoretical implications were discussed.
The paradox of duality in social construction of creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Martyna Gliniecka, University of Wroclaw
Abstract: The initial objective of this study was to investigate socially established construct of creativity. As a basis of reconstruction of the collectively constituted and conveyed idea of creativity, such parts of cognitive definition of creativity were examined: creativity as a concept, as a lifestyle, as a personal feature and as an adjective to describe phenomena or objects. To support the assumption of stability of the construct, two qualitative surveys were conducted: one in March 2014 and another in January 2018, among 100 participants each, using open-ended online questionnaire. The course of the study shifted, when the results outlined more important than anticipated insight for creativity research over half of respondents describe creativity by using dualistic and polarized concepts. Therefore, creativity in many cases involves opposition, to things that already exist (“new"), to things that are not original (“different than most") or to things that are predictable (“surprising"). As a conclusion, this realization will be discussed as a paradox if the idea of dualism dominates the thought about creativity, then it also becomes a limitation, allowing only two options. With this, there is not much room left for proposing alternative than dichotomous solutions, when the core of creativity lays in multiplicity.
Assessing creativity in non-music major students ’compositions: The application of Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) and Higuchi’s Idea Marathon (IM)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Taichi Akutsa, Seisa University/ Shujitsu University & Takeo Higuchi, Idea Marathon Research Institute, Japan Shoes Saegusa, Shujitsu University, Japan
Abstract: Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) is widely used to assess creative output worldwide. Although there is data available on the reliability and construct validity to assess children’s composition and improvisation, very little is known about the application to assess musical products of composition by Japanese university students. The participants (N=96) of non-music major university students, by employing Higuchi’s Idea Marathon (IM) to maximize creativity by writing down and record innovative ideas daily, spent 6 months composing as a daily exercise. In Japan, there is a vast array of simple musical works such as traditional nursery songs called warabeuta, children's song, and J-pop. Moreover, Japanese students are familiar with high technology including Launch Pad, software for composition and iPhone for recording enable anyone to compose and record the work. After the 6 months, Amabile’s CAT was applied to assess their works by group of students themselves, by music teachers, and composers. Analysis of internal consistency, reliability measures including test-retest and inter-rater correlation, and criterion validity were conducted. In addition, pre-post survey and weekly journals by participants were narratively analyzed. The results indicate the IM enables everyone to compose creatively with various different methods. There was a negative correlation among the compositions of styles or method of the composition; however, significant correlations were found among judges of amateurs and professionals.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yvonne Koert, OU University Heerlen and Avans University Den Bosch , The Netherlands & Els (HPA) Boshuizen Ou University Heerlen; Jo Boon Lecturer OU University Heerlen
Abstract: We conducted an exploratory mixed-method study in two cohorts of approximately 50 students each within a 6-month full-time undergraduate program of a Dutch university of applied sciences, where multidisciplinary students in a studio-based environment are given 5 authentic business problems to solve, for which they must deliver physical prototypes. Our study set out to explore: (1) what students thought about CPS; (2) the conditions of the learning environment and educational design which supported its development; and (3) the role of peer learning and feedback in their learning experience. Qualitative data were collected about students’ and faculty views on CBS, learning environment, peer learning and the intersection of these three areas. Quantitative data were collected on students’ progress and products as assessed by faculty and commissioning clients. Findings include students self-reported; (1) a gradual shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, (2) increased self-regulation, and (3) increased sense of social responsibility (4) the role of assessment in feeling secure enough to experiment. Important implications unfolded for learning design and student guidance. This study highlighted the aspects of a studio-based learning environments that seem to positively influence CPS, peer-learning, self-regulation and intrinsic motivation in students of diverse educational backgrounds.
Creative Coursework Exposure: Enhancing College Student Engagement Across Disciplines
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Angie Miller, Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract: Previous research suggests that creativity training can be effective in academic settings and that teachers, in particular, can have an impact on creativity (Scott et al., 2004). Furthermore, incorporating creativity into classroom activities and assignments can encourage student engagement in the educational process (Halpern, 2010). This study extends research on creativity and student engagement in higher education, using data from the “Senior Transitions” topical module of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Responses from over 61,000 seniors at 266 different U.S colleges and universities were used to explore how exposure to creative coursework can predict student engagement in a variety of areas. NSSE’s measure of creative coursework includes items on generating new ideas, taking risks without fear of penalty, evaluating multiple approaches to problems, and inventing new methods. Ordinary least squares regression models were conducted to determine the effect of creative coursework exposure on NSSE’s established measures of student engagement: reflective and integrative learning, higher-order learning, use of learning strategies, collaborative learning, diverse discussions, student-faculty interaction, effective teaching practices, quality of interactions, and supportive environment. The results suggest that creative coursework is a significant positive predictor of student engagement, even after controlling for sex, transfer status, enrollment status, first-generation status, age, SAT/ACT, race/ethnicity, major, grades, percentage of online courses, control (private/public) and size. Potential reasons for these patterns of results will be discussed. These findings can help to inform curricular and programming enhancements for college students across all major fields, enriching their educational experiences through exposure to creative coursework.
Creative Achievements and Political Attitudes
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Harun Tadik, University of Georgia
Abstract: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in political issues across the country. In such an unusual political and social climate, the relations between creativity and political orientation require a special attention. In general, conservatism as a political orientation and creativity are seen contradictory since conservatism are associated with traditional values and conventional thinking. Do creative people have certain political orientations? Do they care about political and moral issues? How do people with different political orientations differ regarding their creative personality and achievements in different domains? The present study provides an overview of these questions based on a study examining the relations between political orientation and creativity achievement in a sample of 110 undergraduate and graduate students at a southeastern university. The participants completed the measures Creative Activity and Accomplishment Checklist (CAAC), How would You Describe Yourself (HWYDY), Quick Test of Divergent Thinking (QTDT), Creative Attitudes and Values, Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), and a Divergent Thinking Alternative Uses Task. Participants’ political orientations were assessed based on their vote in the 2016 presidential election and self-reported political views. The results of the study supported the hypothesis that creativity thinking is more associated with liberal political view, and liberals are more likely to have creative achievements in a variety of domains. The results of the study with respect to possible theoretical implications were discussed.
The paradox of duality in social construction of creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Martyna Gliniecka, University of Wroclaw
Abstract: The initial objective of this study was to investigate socially established construct of creativity. As a basis of reconstruction of the collectively constituted and conveyed idea of creativity, such parts of cognitive definition of creativity were examined: creativity as a concept, as a lifestyle, as a personal feature and as an adjective to describe phenomena or objects. To support the assumption of stability of the construct, two qualitative surveys were conducted: one in March 2014 and another in January 2018, among 100 participants each, using open-ended online questionnaire. The course of the study shifted, when the results outlined more important than anticipated insight for creativity research over half of respondents describe creativity by using dualistic and polarized concepts. Therefore, creativity in many cases involves opposition, to things that already exist (“new"), to things that are not original (“different than most") or to things that are predictable (“surprising"). As a conclusion, this realization will be discussed as a paradox if the idea of dualism dominates the thought about creativity, then it also becomes a limitation, allowing only two options. With this, there is not much room left for proposing alternative than dichotomous solutions, when the core of creativity lays in multiplicity.
Assessing creativity in non-music major students ’compositions: The application of Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) and Higuchi’s Idea Marathon (IM)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Taichi Akutsa, Seisa University/ Shujitsu University & Takeo Higuchi, Idea Marathon Research Institute, Japan Shoes Saegusa, Shujitsu University, Japan
Abstract: Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) is widely used to assess creative output worldwide. Although there is data available on the reliability and construct validity to assess children’s composition and improvisation, very little is known about the application to assess musical products of composition by Japanese university students. The participants (N=96) of non-music major university students, by employing Higuchi’s Idea Marathon (IM) to maximize creativity by writing down and record innovative ideas daily, spent 6 months composing as a daily exercise. In Japan, there is a vast array of simple musical works such as traditional nursery songs called warabeuta, children's song, and J-pop. Moreover, Japanese students are familiar with high technology including Launch Pad, software for composition and iPhone for recording enable anyone to compose and record the work. After the 6 months, Amabile’s CAT was applied to assess their works by group of students themselves, by music teachers, and composers. Analysis of internal consistency, reliability measures including test-retest and inter-rater correlation, and criterion validity were conducted. In addition, pre-post survey and weekly journals by participants were narratively analyzed. The results indicate the IM enables everyone to compose creatively with various different methods. There was a negative correlation among the compositions of styles or method of the composition; however, significant correlations were found among judges of amateurs and professionals.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in SU diversions
The Constraints Alteration Model for Creation in Performing Arts: The Case of Breakdancing
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Daichi Shimizu, University of Tokyo; Masaya Hirashima, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology; Takeshi Okada, The University of Tokyo
Abstract: In the domains of performing arts, such as dance and theater, how do people generate their novel works? This study develops a cognitive model which explains the long-term creative process in performing arts domains such as breakdancing by modifying the seminal model of the creative process, “geneplore model” (Finke et al., 1992). We conducted fieldwork over several months and experimental observations over several days to capture the creative processes of expert breakdancers. We analyzed these processes using a visualization method of the body parts on which each dancer focused and the movement data measured using a motion capture system. The results suggest that the body parts under focus and the dancers’ ideas changed drastically during the creation process. The understandings and interpretations of some specific domain knowledge and skills that also changed during the processes served as the internal constraints on the dancers’ generation of novel ideas. In addition, the embodiment of the ideas (externalizing the ideas as movements) facilitated changes to the dancers’ understandings and interpretations. We discussed the role of these internal constraints and their changes compared with the external constraints that the geneplore model suggested.
Musical evolution in the lab exhibits rhythmic universals
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Andrea Ravignani, Vrije Universiteit; Bill Thompson, Vrije Universiteit & Max Planck Institute; Thomas Grossi, University of Q2 Edinburgh; Tania Delgado, University of Q2 Edinburgh & University of California, San Diego and Simon Kirby University of Q2 Edinburgh & Vrije Universiteit
Abstract: Music exhibits some cross-cultural similarities, despite its variety across the world. Evidence from a broad range of human cultures suggests the existence of musical universals , here defined as strong regularities emerging across cultures above chance. In particular, humans demonstrate a general proclivity for rhythm , although little is known about why music is particularly rhythmic and why the same structural regularities are present in rhythms around the world. We empirically investigate the mechanisms underlying musical universals for rhythm, showing how music can evolve culturally from randomness. Human participants were asked to imitate sets of randomly generated drumming sequences and their imitation attempts became the training set for the next participants in independent transmission chains. By perceiving and imitating drumming sequences from each other, participants turned initially random sequences into rhythmically structured patterns. Drumming patterns developed into rhythms that are more structured, easier to learn, distinctive for each experimental cultural tradition and characterized by all six statistical universals found among world music; the patterns appear to be adapted to human learning, memory and cognition. We conclude that musical rhythm partially arises from the influence of human cognitive and biological biases on the process of cultural evolution.
The effects of an integrated visual art and geometry program for primary school students
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eveline Schoevers, Utrecht University Evelyn H. Kroesbergen, Radboud Unviversity & Paul P.M. Leseman, Utrecht University
Abstract: The Mathematics, Arts and Creativity in Education (MACE) program has the aim to increase students’ creative problem solving skills in geometry and visual art, to increase students’ geometrical ability, and to reach core goals of visual art education in the upper grades of primary school. To achieve these goals on a student level, a MACE teaching sequence (TS) for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students was designed in which geometry and visual art are integrated. Furthermore a MACE professional development (PD) program for teachers was designed that could help teacher stimulate students’ creative problem solving in an integrated visual art & geometry context. This study had the aim to evaluate the intended effects of the MACE TS and the MACE PD program. A quasi-experimental study was conducted, in which three groups of teachers and their classes were investigated. One group of teachers followed the PD and taught the TS (n = 36), one group of teachers only taught the TS (n = 36) , and a control group only taught regular geometry lesson from math textbooks (n = 43). On student level a geometrical ability test, a geometrical creativity test, a geometrical vocabulary test, the TCT-DP, and a visual art assignment were used in a pre- and post-measurement to test the effects. On teacher level a survey was conducted and teachers were observed with the Teaching for Creativity Observation Instrument (TCOI). Data are currently scored and analyzed with multilevel analysis. Results will be presented at the conference.
Creative metacognitive feelings as a source of information for creative self-efficacy, creativity potential, creative behavioral accuracy, and task enjoyment
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rogelio Puente-Diaz, Universidad Anahuac Mexico
Abstract: In a recent publication, creativity scholars try to untangle the commonalities and differences between creative self-beliefs: creative self-efficacy, creative self-concept, creative metacognition, and creative role identity (Beghetto & Karwowski, 2017). While this effort is already contributing significantly to creativity research, we would like to suggest that for the special case of creative metacognition, we need to go beyond the assessment of confidence beliefs and regulation and include creative metacognitive feelings and creative behavioral accuracy as two additional components of the broad concept of creative metacognition. In order to test the validity of our proposition, this study examined the influence of creative metacognitive feelings on creative self-efficacy, creative potential, behavioral accuracy (agreement between individuals’ selection of their most creative idea and two independent judges’ selection of the participants’ best ideas), and task enjoyment. To elicit creative metacognitive feelings, participants were randomly assigned to remember and write down two or six instances in their lives in which they generated novel and useful ideas that helped solve a problem or improve something. Participants then completed a questionnaire assessing creative self-efficacy, ease of recall as a proxy of metacognitive feelings, a divergent thinking task involving the generation of ideas for improving smartphones, and task enjoyment. Results showed an indirect influence of recalling fewer examples on creative self-efficacy through its influence on metacognitive feelings. Metacognitive feelings then had an indirectly influence, through creative self-efficacy, on creative potential and task enjoyment. Our results have implications for the development of the broad construct of creative metacognition, suggesting that in addition to self and contextual knowledge, metacognitive feelings and behavioral accuracy should be included.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Daichi Shimizu, University of Tokyo; Masaya Hirashima, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology; Takeshi Okada, The University of Tokyo
Abstract: In the domains of performing arts, such as dance and theater, how do people generate their novel works? This study develops a cognitive model which explains the long-term creative process in performing arts domains such as breakdancing by modifying the seminal model of the creative process, “geneplore model” (Finke et al., 1992). We conducted fieldwork over several months and experimental observations over several days to capture the creative processes of expert breakdancers. We analyzed these processes using a visualization method of the body parts on which each dancer focused and the movement data measured using a motion capture system. The results suggest that the body parts under focus and the dancers’ ideas changed drastically during the creation process. The understandings and interpretations of some specific domain knowledge and skills that also changed during the processes served as the internal constraints on the dancers’ generation of novel ideas. In addition, the embodiment of the ideas (externalizing the ideas as movements) facilitated changes to the dancers’ understandings and interpretations. We discussed the role of these internal constraints and their changes compared with the external constraints that the geneplore model suggested.
Musical evolution in the lab exhibits rhythmic universals
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Andrea Ravignani, Vrije Universiteit; Bill Thompson, Vrije Universiteit & Max Planck Institute; Thomas Grossi, University of Q2 Edinburgh; Tania Delgado, University of Q2 Edinburgh & University of California, San Diego and Simon Kirby University of Q2 Edinburgh & Vrije Universiteit
Abstract: Music exhibits some cross-cultural similarities, despite its variety across the world. Evidence from a broad range of human cultures suggests the existence of musical universals , here defined as strong regularities emerging across cultures above chance. In particular, humans demonstrate a general proclivity for rhythm , although little is known about why music is particularly rhythmic and why the same structural regularities are present in rhythms around the world. We empirically investigate the mechanisms underlying musical universals for rhythm, showing how music can evolve culturally from randomness. Human participants were asked to imitate sets of randomly generated drumming sequences and their imitation attempts became the training set for the next participants in independent transmission chains. By perceiving and imitating drumming sequences from each other, participants turned initially random sequences into rhythmically structured patterns. Drumming patterns developed into rhythms that are more structured, easier to learn, distinctive for each experimental cultural tradition and characterized by all six statistical universals found among world music; the patterns appear to be adapted to human learning, memory and cognition. We conclude that musical rhythm partially arises from the influence of human cognitive and biological biases on the process of cultural evolution.
The effects of an integrated visual art and geometry program for primary school students
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eveline Schoevers, Utrecht University Evelyn H. Kroesbergen, Radboud Unviversity & Paul P.M. Leseman, Utrecht University
Abstract: The Mathematics, Arts and Creativity in Education (MACE) program has the aim to increase students’ creative problem solving skills in geometry and visual art, to increase students’ geometrical ability, and to reach core goals of visual art education in the upper grades of primary school. To achieve these goals on a student level, a MACE teaching sequence (TS) for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students was designed in which geometry and visual art are integrated. Furthermore a MACE professional development (PD) program for teachers was designed that could help teacher stimulate students’ creative problem solving in an integrated visual art & geometry context. This study had the aim to evaluate the intended effects of the MACE TS and the MACE PD program. A quasi-experimental study was conducted, in which three groups of teachers and their classes were investigated. One group of teachers followed the PD and taught the TS (n = 36), one group of teachers only taught the TS (n = 36) , and a control group only taught regular geometry lesson from math textbooks (n = 43). On student level a geometrical ability test, a geometrical creativity test, a geometrical vocabulary test, the TCT-DP, and a visual art assignment were used in a pre- and post-measurement to test the effects. On teacher level a survey was conducted and teachers were observed with the Teaching for Creativity Observation Instrument (TCOI). Data are currently scored and analyzed with multilevel analysis. Results will be presented at the conference.
Creative metacognitive feelings as a source of information for creative self-efficacy, creativity potential, creative behavioral accuracy, and task enjoyment
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rogelio Puente-Diaz, Universidad Anahuac Mexico
Abstract: In a recent publication, creativity scholars try to untangle the commonalities and differences between creative self-beliefs: creative self-efficacy, creative self-concept, creative metacognition, and creative role identity (Beghetto & Karwowski, 2017). While this effort is already contributing significantly to creativity research, we would like to suggest that for the special case of creative metacognition, we need to go beyond the assessment of confidence beliefs and regulation and include creative metacognitive feelings and creative behavioral accuracy as two additional components of the broad concept of creative metacognition. In order to test the validity of our proposition, this study examined the influence of creative metacognitive feelings on creative self-efficacy, creative potential, behavioral accuracy (agreement between individuals’ selection of their most creative idea and two independent judges’ selection of the participants’ best ideas), and task enjoyment. To elicit creative metacognitive feelings, participants were randomly assigned to remember and write down two or six instances in their lives in which they generated novel and useful ideas that helped solve a problem or improve something. Participants then completed a questionnaire assessing creative self-efficacy, ease of recall as a proxy of metacognitive feelings, a divergent thinking task involving the generation of ideas for improving smartphones, and task enjoyment. Results showed an indirect influence of recalling fewer examples on creative self-efficacy through its influence on metacognitive feelings. Metacognitive feelings then had an indirectly influence, through creative self-efficacy, on creative potential and task enjoyment. Our results have implications for the development of the broad construct of creative metacognition, suggesting that in addition to self and contextual knowledge, metacognitive feelings and behavioral accuracy should be included.
9:30AM - 10:30AM PANELS
Identifying and Building Creative Industry Leaders
Panelists:
Ivonne Chand O'Neal, MUSE Research
Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Lawrence Leadership Advisory
Location: Stevenson Union 329
Abstract: Creative, cutting edge industries require a culture that attracts top talent. Learn to identify and build exceptional creative leaders both by drawing in unprecedented talent, and by identifying the best potential leaders from the talent pool of your own company. Creative industries carefully hire talented staff; but often don't know how to spot or assemble teams of mid-level and junior staff members who will one day serve as senior leadership, taking creative industries to the next level. Learn to find this talent and create employee experience that drives retention. This workshop based on data-driven evidence presents strategies for creative industries to identify, train, and build a highly productive and engaged workforce, drive workforce innovation in the experience economy, and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive talent environment.
Intellectual foundation by Idea-Marathon from kindergarten to graduate school
Panelists:
Takeo Higuchi, Executive Director of the Idea-Marathon System Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Shozo Saegusa, Shujitsu University
Taichi Akutsu, Seisa University, Shujitsu University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new method for creative foundation for various stages in education by Idea-Marathon System (IMS), founded by Higuchi in 1984. Three months IMS, making habits of “thinking and writing down” will not only increase students’creative confidence but experience continuity power and even cure helplessness in the class. IMS includes special “Continuation Support System” for students, advised directly by the author and professors in charge.
When Quantity is Better than Quality: Journal Grading and Creative Performance
Panelists:
Jane Machin, Radford University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: This research examines the potential for reflective journaling to help students improve their creativity skills and identifies a grading approach that minimizes faculty burden and removes grading subjectivity. Students were informed that a semester-long journal would be graded by either a traditional written rubric, a pictorial rubric or the quantity of pages completed. To examine improvement in creative performance, the Figural Torrance® Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Findings support the value of journaling, especially when the quantity, not quality, of journal writing determines the grade. Repeated measures ANOVA with grading condition as the between-subjects independent variable and the pre and post-TTCT Creativity Index (CI) scores as the within-subjects factor reveals a significant main effect (F(65,1)=38.56, p<.0001) such that the post CI scores were higher for all class sections (mpre = 113.7 (13.76); mpost = 123.91 (14.87). More importantly, the interaction between the pre-post scores and grading condition was significant (F(65,2) = 3.47, p=.037). As predicted, students in the quantity condition achieved a significantly higher pre-post TTCT CI increase compared to the other two grading conditions (F(65,1) = 4.93, p < 0.023). Mediation analyses find that the number of pages written mediates the relationship between grading condition and TTCT CI score. Grading on quantity reduces the subjectivity inherent in typical journal evaluation and encourages more frequent entries, giving students more opportunities to practice skills that support creativity. Focusing on quantity also minimizes the instructor's grading workload.
Self Reflection Through Multiple Art Mediums in Teacher Preparation
Panelists:
Erin Wilder, Southern Oregon University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: "School threatens to extinguish the interest and curiosity that the child had discovered outside its walls," (Csikszentmihalyi). Sir Ken Robinson in his acclaimed TED Talk spoke about how schools kill creativity and that in an ever-changing world it's essential teachers prepare students with the necessary skills and dispositions for a future that is unpredictable. This session will explore how I incorporated the exploration of life through the lens of art to increase students' awareness of how art represents their journeys in their lives. We teach from who we are and it was my goal to have my students identify who they are at a deeper level through exploring the art they most identified with in their daily lives. During the first quarter, students spent 8 weeks reflecting on how the art they interacted with and valued told them something about their lives and who they are. The art they explored and reflected on was film, visual, music, culinary, clothing, movement, books, and poetry. I will discuss the challenges that arose integrating art in my course starting with the fact that I'm not an artist and haven't studied it in depth. I'll also explore why I made the choice to have students start to study more challenging works of art because, "Studying the most challenging works of art, literature, and philosophy-'being forced every day to thing about the hardest things people have ever thought about' is the best training you can give yourself in how to talk and think," (Deresiewicz, 2014).
Panelists:
Ivonne Chand O'Neal, MUSE Research
Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Lawrence Leadership Advisory
Location: Stevenson Union 329
Abstract: Creative, cutting edge industries require a culture that attracts top talent. Learn to identify and build exceptional creative leaders both by drawing in unprecedented talent, and by identifying the best potential leaders from the talent pool of your own company. Creative industries carefully hire talented staff; but often don't know how to spot or assemble teams of mid-level and junior staff members who will one day serve as senior leadership, taking creative industries to the next level. Learn to find this talent and create employee experience that drives retention. This workshop based on data-driven evidence presents strategies for creative industries to identify, train, and build a highly productive and engaged workforce, drive workforce innovation in the experience economy, and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive talent environment.
Intellectual foundation by Idea-Marathon from kindergarten to graduate school
Panelists:
Takeo Higuchi, Executive Director of the Idea-Marathon System Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Shozo Saegusa, Shujitsu University
Taichi Akutsu, Seisa University, Shujitsu University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new method for creative foundation for various stages in education by Idea-Marathon System (IMS), founded by Higuchi in 1984. Three months IMS, making habits of “thinking and writing down” will not only increase students’creative confidence but experience continuity power and even cure helplessness in the class. IMS includes special “Continuation Support System” for students, advised directly by the author and professors in charge.
When Quantity is Better than Quality: Journal Grading and Creative Performance
Panelists:
Jane Machin, Radford University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: This research examines the potential for reflective journaling to help students improve their creativity skills and identifies a grading approach that minimizes faculty burden and removes grading subjectivity. Students were informed that a semester-long journal would be graded by either a traditional written rubric, a pictorial rubric or the quantity of pages completed. To examine improvement in creative performance, the Figural Torrance® Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was administered at the beginning and end of the semester. Findings support the value of journaling, especially when the quantity, not quality, of journal writing determines the grade. Repeated measures ANOVA with grading condition as the between-subjects independent variable and the pre and post-TTCT Creativity Index (CI) scores as the within-subjects factor reveals a significant main effect (F(65,1)=38.56, p<.0001) such that the post CI scores were higher for all class sections (mpre = 113.7 (13.76); mpost = 123.91 (14.87). More importantly, the interaction between the pre-post scores and grading condition was significant (F(65,2) = 3.47, p=.037). As predicted, students in the quantity condition achieved a significantly higher pre-post TTCT CI increase compared to the other two grading conditions (F(65,1) = 4.93, p < 0.023). Mediation analyses find that the number of pages written mediates the relationship between grading condition and TTCT CI score. Grading on quantity reduces the subjectivity inherent in typical journal evaluation and encourages more frequent entries, giving students more opportunities to practice skills that support creativity. Focusing on quantity also minimizes the instructor's grading workload.
Self Reflection Through Multiple Art Mediums in Teacher Preparation
Panelists:
Erin Wilder, Southern Oregon University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: "School threatens to extinguish the interest and curiosity that the child had discovered outside its walls," (Csikszentmihalyi). Sir Ken Robinson in his acclaimed TED Talk spoke about how schools kill creativity and that in an ever-changing world it's essential teachers prepare students with the necessary skills and dispositions for a future that is unpredictable. This session will explore how I incorporated the exploration of life through the lens of art to increase students' awareness of how art represents their journeys in their lives. We teach from who we are and it was my goal to have my students identify who they are at a deeper level through exploring the art they most identified with in their daily lives. During the first quarter, students spent 8 weeks reflecting on how the art they interacted with and valued told them something about their lives and who they are. The art they explored and reflected on was film, visual, music, culinary, clothing, movement, books, and poetry. I will discuss the challenges that arose integrating art in my course starting with the fact that I'm not an artist and haven't studied it in depth. I'll also explore why I made the choice to have students start to study more challenging works of art because, "Studying the most challenging works of art, literature, and philosophy-'being forced every day to thing about the hardest things people have ever thought about' is the best training you can give yourself in how to talk and think," (Deresiewicz, 2014).
10:45AM - 11:30AM CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Creative Pursuit in Small Groups: Investigating the Effects of Group Creative Dynamics on Creative Anxiety, Creative Motivation and Creative Performance
Speaker: Hung-chun Wang, National Taiwan Normal University
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Despite the mounting research interest in group creativity today, very little attention in creativity research has been paid to the issue of how group dynamics in a creative task affects an individual’s affective perceptions of the task and task outcomes. To bridge this gap, this study aimed to probe the relationships of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners’ group creative dynamics to their creative anxiety, creative motivation and performances in a creative story-writing task. The purpose of this presentation is two-fold. First, it will report on the development and validation of a team innovation inventory that assesses learners’ group dynamics in creative tasks. Second, it will delineate the methodology and results of the main study. In this part, 80 university freshmen completed the team innovation inventory, Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults, a creative anxiety survey, a creative motivation survey, and the story-writing task. Their creative stories were later evaluated by a group of university English teachers on two dimension, creativity and linguistic accuracy. The participants’ responses to the surveys and their writing scores were analyzed to address three research issues: (1) Is group creative dynamics significantly related to an individual’s creative anxiety, creative motivation and creative performance? (2) Does creative anxiety mediate the relationship between group creative dynamics and creative performance? (3) Does creative motivation mediate the relationship between group creative dynamics and creative performance? Overall, this study intends to shed new light on research into group creativity and provide pedagogical implications as to how to enhance group creative dynamics in EFL classrooms.
TITLE: Thinking Outside of the Box Like a Magician: A Magic-based Teaching Strategy to Facilitate Thinking Flexibility
Speaker: Tong Li, The University of Georgia
Location: 319 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Magicians know how to think outside of the box and turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. What if we incorporate magic into the classroom and use magic as a method to facilitate students’ thinking flexibility? This proposal presents a magic-based teaching strategy, which employs magic as a cognitive dissonance stimulus to help students develop a flexible mindset. The presenter has refined this method for two years and has implemented it into several design-based classes. He also collected quantitative data and qualitative data from students who participated in the activities. The results of Alternative Use Test showed students’ thinking flexibility has significantly increased. Additionally, the interview data also revealed the effectiveness of the method in changing students’ mindsets. In the presentation, the presenter will not only introduce the theoretical and the practical aspects of this method to the audience but also share details about how and why this method can facilitate thinking flexibility.
TITLE: Understanding Creativity in Making in STEM education
Speaker: Vivian M. Y. Cheng, Education University of Hong Kong & Anna N. N. Hui (City University of Hong Kong
Location: 313 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In recent years, STEM and the Maker initiative has received great attention in education. STEM education refers to the integrative study on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with an emphasis on creativity development in its design-make activities. Academic field know very little about “creativity in making”. “Creativity in making” is different from “creativity in design”. It refers to the possible kinds of creativity developed through, from and on the making process. This study aims at understand what creativity in making is, how creative ideas emerge in the making process, and how many kinds of creative making process existed and what they are. This study answers these questions through lesson observations, student interviews and analyses of learning reflections. This study preliminarily find that (1) creativity in making is a kind of improvisational creativity, i.e. many new ideas emerge spontaneously on the spot of making; (2) creativity in making and creativity in design are mutually enhancing and sometimes also mutually hindering; and (3) there are at least 4 levels/kinds of creativity in making.
Statistical Analysis of the Four C Model of Creativity
Speaker: William Bart & Chelsea Rowles, Vibrant Data Labs
Location: Diversions in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Kaufmann and Beghetto (2009) proposed the Four C model of creativity that posited four types of creativity ranging from modest personal creativity such as boiling rutabaga to momentous professional creativity such as the Calculus of Newton: (1) mini-c; (2) little-c; (3) pro-C: and (4) Big-C. A 48-item survey was constructed with 12 items related to each of the four types of creativity. Eight blocks of six items each were arranged randomly and were provided to participants online. Participants responded to each item by indicating whether the creative activity cited in the item is "Extremely creative", "Very creative", "Creative", "Somewhat creative", or "Not at all creative". There were two studies using the item survey. Study 1 involved 61 adult participants and Study 2 involved 83 adult participants, including students and non-students. The survey item data for each of the four 12-item categories in each of the two studies was subjected to exploratory factor analysis including Principal Axis Factoring with Varimax Rotation (PAFVR) and confirmatory factor analysis including Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis (MLFA). The Four C model would suggest that each of the four categories of 12-item would have a unifactor structure. All of the factor analyses performed provided evidence that each of the four categories of 12-items in each of the two studies has a multiple-factor structure. Both studies provided clear evidence to disconfirm the Four C model of Kaufmann and Beghetto. The proposed presentation will review the factor analyses and the educational and psychological implications of the two studies.
Worlds of experience in creating, performing and enjoying the arts
Speaker: Charlotte Doyle, Sarah Lawrence College
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Experiences of creating, performing and enjoying the arts are often deeply satisfying--even if the content is sad. How can acting in tragic plays, listening to sad music, writing about the death of a beloved character be satisfying? This presentation turns to the work of Alfred Schutz and some related research for some answers. Schutz, the phenomenologist, described experience as taking place in different provinces of meaning, each with distinctive properties with respect to sense of self, time, sociality, epoche (what is taken for granted), typical form of action, and wide-awakeness to the everyday world. The arts transport creators, performers, and enrapt audiences into various aesthetic worlds for sustained periods. We will look at how these worlds differ from the everyday world. We will also look at the structure of consciousness while in these worlds, how the everyday world is typically in the background of these aesthetic worlds and how figure and ground can reverse in an instant. We will touch on the effect, particularly of the music world as the background of everyday experiences and how, as backgrounds do in perception, can affect experience and action in the everyday world. Finally, we will inquire how the trips into aesthetic worlds affect experience once people return to the everyday world.
Speaker: Hung-chun Wang, National Taiwan Normal University
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Despite the mounting research interest in group creativity today, very little attention in creativity research has been paid to the issue of how group dynamics in a creative task affects an individual’s affective perceptions of the task and task outcomes. To bridge this gap, this study aimed to probe the relationships of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners’ group creative dynamics to their creative anxiety, creative motivation and performances in a creative story-writing task. The purpose of this presentation is two-fold. First, it will report on the development and validation of a team innovation inventory that assesses learners’ group dynamics in creative tasks. Second, it will delineate the methodology and results of the main study. In this part, 80 university freshmen completed the team innovation inventory, Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults, a creative anxiety survey, a creative motivation survey, and the story-writing task. Their creative stories were later evaluated by a group of university English teachers on two dimension, creativity and linguistic accuracy. The participants’ responses to the surveys and their writing scores were analyzed to address three research issues: (1) Is group creative dynamics significantly related to an individual’s creative anxiety, creative motivation and creative performance? (2) Does creative anxiety mediate the relationship between group creative dynamics and creative performance? (3) Does creative motivation mediate the relationship between group creative dynamics and creative performance? Overall, this study intends to shed new light on research into group creativity and provide pedagogical implications as to how to enhance group creative dynamics in EFL classrooms.
TITLE: Thinking Outside of the Box Like a Magician: A Magic-based Teaching Strategy to Facilitate Thinking Flexibility
Speaker: Tong Li, The University of Georgia
Location: 319 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Magicians know how to think outside of the box and turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. What if we incorporate magic into the classroom and use magic as a method to facilitate students’ thinking flexibility? This proposal presents a magic-based teaching strategy, which employs magic as a cognitive dissonance stimulus to help students develop a flexible mindset. The presenter has refined this method for two years and has implemented it into several design-based classes. He also collected quantitative data and qualitative data from students who participated in the activities. The results of Alternative Use Test showed students’ thinking flexibility has significantly increased. Additionally, the interview data also revealed the effectiveness of the method in changing students’ mindsets. In the presentation, the presenter will not only introduce the theoretical and the practical aspects of this method to the audience but also share details about how and why this method can facilitate thinking flexibility.
TITLE: Understanding Creativity in Making in STEM education
Speaker: Vivian M. Y. Cheng, Education University of Hong Kong & Anna N. N. Hui (City University of Hong Kong
Location: 313 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In recent years, STEM and the Maker initiative has received great attention in education. STEM education refers to the integrative study on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with an emphasis on creativity development in its design-make activities. Academic field know very little about “creativity in making”. “Creativity in making” is different from “creativity in design”. It refers to the possible kinds of creativity developed through, from and on the making process. This study aims at understand what creativity in making is, how creative ideas emerge in the making process, and how many kinds of creative making process existed and what they are. This study answers these questions through lesson observations, student interviews and analyses of learning reflections. This study preliminarily find that (1) creativity in making is a kind of improvisational creativity, i.e. many new ideas emerge spontaneously on the spot of making; (2) creativity in making and creativity in design are mutually enhancing and sometimes also mutually hindering; and (3) there are at least 4 levels/kinds of creativity in making.
Statistical Analysis of the Four C Model of Creativity
Speaker: William Bart & Chelsea Rowles, Vibrant Data Labs
Location: Diversions in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Kaufmann and Beghetto (2009) proposed the Four C model of creativity that posited four types of creativity ranging from modest personal creativity such as boiling rutabaga to momentous professional creativity such as the Calculus of Newton: (1) mini-c; (2) little-c; (3) pro-C: and (4) Big-C. A 48-item survey was constructed with 12 items related to each of the four types of creativity. Eight blocks of six items each were arranged randomly and were provided to participants online. Participants responded to each item by indicating whether the creative activity cited in the item is "Extremely creative", "Very creative", "Creative", "Somewhat creative", or "Not at all creative". There were two studies using the item survey. Study 1 involved 61 adult participants and Study 2 involved 83 adult participants, including students and non-students. The survey item data for each of the four 12-item categories in each of the two studies was subjected to exploratory factor analysis including Principal Axis Factoring with Varimax Rotation (PAFVR) and confirmatory factor analysis including Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis (MLFA). The Four C model would suggest that each of the four categories of 12-item would have a unifactor structure. All of the factor analyses performed provided evidence that each of the four categories of 12-items in each of the two studies has a multiple-factor structure. Both studies provided clear evidence to disconfirm the Four C model of Kaufmann and Beghetto. The proposed presentation will review the factor analyses and the educational and psychological implications of the two studies.
Worlds of experience in creating, performing and enjoying the arts
Speaker: Charlotte Doyle, Sarah Lawrence College
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Experiences of creating, performing and enjoying the arts are often deeply satisfying--even if the content is sad. How can acting in tragic plays, listening to sad music, writing about the death of a beloved character be satisfying? This presentation turns to the work of Alfred Schutz and some related research for some answers. Schutz, the phenomenologist, described experience as taking place in different provinces of meaning, each with distinctive properties with respect to sense of self, time, sociality, epoche (what is taken for granted), typical form of action, and wide-awakeness to the everyday world. The arts transport creators, performers, and enrapt audiences into various aesthetic worlds for sustained periods. We will look at how these worlds differ from the everyday world. We will also look at the structure of consciousness while in these worlds, how the everyday world is typically in the background of these aesthetic worlds and how figure and ground can reverse in an instant. We will touch on the effect, particularly of the music world as the background of everyday experiences and how, as backgrounds do in perception, can affect experience and action in the everyday world. Finally, we will inquire how the trips into aesthetic worlds affect experience once people return to the everyday world.
11:30AM - 1:00PM LUNCH
1:00PM - 2:15PM Panels
The evolution of creativity: perspectives from artificial intelligence and animal cognition
Panelists: Andrea Ravignani, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Tessa Verhoef, Leiden University, The Netherlands; Hollis Taylor, Macquarie University, Australia; Martin Alois Rohrmeier, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Abstract: What is human creativity? One way to address this question is to investigate creativity in non-humans. Two disciplines are particularly concerned with finding human-like traits in non-human or non-biological entities: comparative cognition and artificial intelligence. Animal research can suggest which forms of creativity exist in other animals: Human-animal similarities can be due to common ancestry or convergent evolution. Artificial intelligence can show which features of what we usually call human creativity can emerge in non-living systems, and which creative traits can only be found in humans. The aim of this panel is to show the potential of non-human research in understanding human creativity and its evolution.
Pathways from the Hero’s Journey: A Tribute to Joseph Campbell and the 30th Anniversary of His Death
Panelists:
Stephan Sonnenburg Karlshochschule International University
Clint Randles, School of Music, University of South Florida
Clive Williams, Psychologist, Brisbane
Ray Balkaran, Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University Toronto
Roberto Ranieri, Department of Theology, FTIS Milan
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Joseph Campbell is the mythographer of the last century who has congenially opened the mythological universe to both scholars and to a wide range of people searching for pathways to enlighten their lives. The hero’s journey is his gift, his “ultimate boon” for the human condition and social world. Hero’s journeys are not ordinary journeys but special quests which create meaning and lead to change and transformation. The pattern is applicable for a large variety of human problems and can manifest physically as well as emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually. Applying the conceptual lens of the hero’s journey inspires to leave and go into the realm of adventure. The hero’s journey can stimulate personal and professional creativity and commitment needed for brave action. It has the power to kindle the imagination as well as touch the heart. The mythological structure of the hero’s journey works upon people, consciously or unconsciously, as an energy-releasing, life-motivating, and directing agent. Although the hero’s journey has infiltrated into various disciplines and domains, especially popular culture, it is still a niche topic. The main objective of the panel is to explore the multi-faceted potential of the hero’s journey and shed new light on it. The panelists will take pathways to explore Campbell’s thoughts, allowing insights into the nuances and subtleties of his mythological world, and striking new ways to illuminate the Campbellian universe and the hero’s journey in the context of creativity.
SOU Virtual Reality
Panelists: Andrew Gay, Southern Oregon University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: The SOU Virtual Reality Workgroup is a collective of faculty from Communication and Emerging Media & Digital Arts working on both individual and collaborative teaching, research, and creative projects involving 360 degree video production, ambisonic audio recording, and virtual reality programming and design. The group currently includes Andrew Gay, Precious Yamaguchi, Erik Palmer, Miles Inada, Bobby Arellano, Garrick Imatani, David Bithell, Warren Hedges, and Brandon Givens. While we do not have a specific abstract to offer at this time, we would like to put together a panel that highlights some of the VR projects we've been working on at SOU and demonstrate the new creative language of virtual reality and its potential for use in education.
The Effects of Global/National Identification on Creativity and the Perception of Creativity’s 4Cs/4Ps: A Cross-Cultural Examination in the United States and Lithuania
Panelists: Viktoria Tidikis. Nora Dunbar, Donohue, D., Petkeviciute-Barysiene, D., Rakickiene, L., & Valickas, G.;
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Cultural influences as well as global and national identification may influence people’s creativity and shape their perspective towards key factors affecting it. We tested these hypotheses in the US and Lithuania. In Study 1 participants received one of three possible manipulations: national identity prime, global identity prime, or no manipulation. They were then asked to complete measures of creativity. US participants scored higher than Lithuanian participants on measures of global orientation regardless of the condition. Lithuanian participants scored particularly low on global orientation when they were in the national identity condition. Lithuanian participants scored higher than the US participants on creativity measures. A country by condition interaction showed that participants in the US scored higher on creativity in the global condition, while Lithuanians scored higher in the national condition. In Study 2 we used 4C (Big-C, Pro-c, little-c, & mini-c) and 4P (Product, Process, Person, and Press) models of creativity to assess participants’ views. The Attitudes Towards 4Ps of Creativity scale was developed for this study. Factor analytic structure and validity of the scale was assessed and found to be fully appropriate. The US participants endorsed Big-C, Pro-c, and Person more so than Lithuanian participants, while Lithuanians provided greater endorsement for little-c, mini-c, and Press. Nationally oriented participants endorsed Big-C, Pro-c, Person, and Product more than globally oriented participants, who, on the other hand, recognized mini-c more so than nationally oriented participants. Finally, Americans, who self-identified as global citizens, rated Process as more important to creativity than did other groups.
Thinking, Doing and Being: Discovering Everyday Creativity
Panelists: Paul Nolan & Stephanie Nolan, Drexel University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: This presentation and experiential workshop will address current research on forms of creativity with greater emphasis placed upon the concept of everyday creativity. While sharing similar processes with eminent creativity (i.e., Van Gogh, Einstein, Prince) everyday creativity is evenly distributed across the population and is defined as an original contribution of some sort, and one that communicates to others and is thus meaningful, rather than being random or idiosyncratic. (Richards, 2006; Richards et al. 1988b; see also Barron, 1969). The presentation will describe characteristics of everyday creativity including related conscious and unconscious mental processes, developmental processes, neuroscience contributions, along with blocks to creativity and enhancement methods for the educator, therapist, artist and for those whom they serve. The experiential workshop includes interactive music (singing, soundmaking, ...), play, movement, and props, and is designed to access participants’ early developmental uses of imagination and related cognitive styles, integrated with their adult mind. Through immersion into this “sea of creativity” participants will become aware that their usual and often constricted ways of thinking are immediately challenged, or upended. Discovery of creative alternatives become invigorating. The presentation and experiential workshop will be followed by a question/answer period with discussion during which participants will describe the integration of the presentation material with their workshop experiences. The presenters have used this format in presentations/workshops for over 7 years with a variety of participants at professional conferences and trainings from New York City to Buenos Aires, involving academic and health care professionals, artists-in-human-services, and creative arts therapists.
Panelists: Andrea Ravignani, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium; Tessa Verhoef, Leiden University, The Netherlands; Hollis Taylor, Macquarie University, Australia; Martin Alois Rohrmeier, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Abstract: What is human creativity? One way to address this question is to investigate creativity in non-humans. Two disciplines are particularly concerned with finding human-like traits in non-human or non-biological entities: comparative cognition and artificial intelligence. Animal research can suggest which forms of creativity exist in other animals: Human-animal similarities can be due to common ancestry or convergent evolution. Artificial intelligence can show which features of what we usually call human creativity can emerge in non-living systems, and which creative traits can only be found in humans. The aim of this panel is to show the potential of non-human research in understanding human creativity and its evolution.
Pathways from the Hero’s Journey: A Tribute to Joseph Campbell and the 30th Anniversary of His Death
Panelists:
Stephan Sonnenburg Karlshochschule International University
Clint Randles, School of Music, University of South Florida
Clive Williams, Psychologist, Brisbane
Ray Balkaran, Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University Toronto
Roberto Ranieri, Department of Theology, FTIS Milan
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Joseph Campbell is the mythographer of the last century who has congenially opened the mythological universe to both scholars and to a wide range of people searching for pathways to enlighten their lives. The hero’s journey is his gift, his “ultimate boon” for the human condition and social world. Hero’s journeys are not ordinary journeys but special quests which create meaning and lead to change and transformation. The pattern is applicable for a large variety of human problems and can manifest physically as well as emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually. Applying the conceptual lens of the hero’s journey inspires to leave and go into the realm of adventure. The hero’s journey can stimulate personal and professional creativity and commitment needed for brave action. It has the power to kindle the imagination as well as touch the heart. The mythological structure of the hero’s journey works upon people, consciously or unconsciously, as an energy-releasing, life-motivating, and directing agent. Although the hero’s journey has infiltrated into various disciplines and domains, especially popular culture, it is still a niche topic. The main objective of the panel is to explore the multi-faceted potential of the hero’s journey and shed new light on it. The panelists will take pathways to explore Campbell’s thoughts, allowing insights into the nuances and subtleties of his mythological world, and striking new ways to illuminate the Campbellian universe and the hero’s journey in the context of creativity.
SOU Virtual Reality
Panelists: Andrew Gay, Southern Oregon University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: The SOU Virtual Reality Workgroup is a collective of faculty from Communication and Emerging Media & Digital Arts working on both individual and collaborative teaching, research, and creative projects involving 360 degree video production, ambisonic audio recording, and virtual reality programming and design. The group currently includes Andrew Gay, Precious Yamaguchi, Erik Palmer, Miles Inada, Bobby Arellano, Garrick Imatani, David Bithell, Warren Hedges, and Brandon Givens. While we do not have a specific abstract to offer at this time, we would like to put together a panel that highlights some of the VR projects we've been working on at SOU and demonstrate the new creative language of virtual reality and its potential for use in education.
The Effects of Global/National Identification on Creativity and the Perception of Creativity’s 4Cs/4Ps: A Cross-Cultural Examination in the United States and Lithuania
Panelists: Viktoria Tidikis. Nora Dunbar, Donohue, D., Petkeviciute-Barysiene, D., Rakickiene, L., & Valickas, G.;
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Cultural influences as well as global and national identification may influence people’s creativity and shape their perspective towards key factors affecting it. We tested these hypotheses in the US and Lithuania. In Study 1 participants received one of three possible manipulations: national identity prime, global identity prime, or no manipulation. They were then asked to complete measures of creativity. US participants scored higher than Lithuanian participants on measures of global orientation regardless of the condition. Lithuanian participants scored particularly low on global orientation when they were in the national identity condition. Lithuanian participants scored higher than the US participants on creativity measures. A country by condition interaction showed that participants in the US scored higher on creativity in the global condition, while Lithuanians scored higher in the national condition. In Study 2 we used 4C (Big-C, Pro-c, little-c, & mini-c) and 4P (Product, Process, Person, and Press) models of creativity to assess participants’ views. The Attitudes Towards 4Ps of Creativity scale was developed for this study. Factor analytic structure and validity of the scale was assessed and found to be fully appropriate. The US participants endorsed Big-C, Pro-c, and Person more so than Lithuanian participants, while Lithuanians provided greater endorsement for little-c, mini-c, and Press. Nationally oriented participants endorsed Big-C, Pro-c, Person, and Product more than globally oriented participants, who, on the other hand, recognized mini-c more so than nationally oriented participants. Finally, Americans, who self-identified as global citizens, rated Process as more important to creativity than did other groups.
Thinking, Doing and Being: Discovering Everyday Creativity
Panelists: Paul Nolan & Stephanie Nolan, Drexel University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: This presentation and experiential workshop will address current research on forms of creativity with greater emphasis placed upon the concept of everyday creativity. While sharing similar processes with eminent creativity (i.e., Van Gogh, Einstein, Prince) everyday creativity is evenly distributed across the population and is defined as an original contribution of some sort, and one that communicates to others and is thus meaningful, rather than being random or idiosyncratic. (Richards, 2006; Richards et al. 1988b; see also Barron, 1969). The presentation will describe characteristics of everyday creativity including related conscious and unconscious mental processes, developmental processes, neuroscience contributions, along with blocks to creativity and enhancement methods for the educator, therapist, artist and for those whom they serve. The experiential workshop includes interactive music (singing, soundmaking, ...), play, movement, and props, and is designed to access participants’ early developmental uses of imagination and related cognitive styles, integrated with their adult mind. Through immersion into this “sea of creativity” participants will become aware that their usual and often constricted ways of thinking are immediately challenged, or upended. Discovery of creative alternatives become invigorating. The presentation and experiential workshop will be followed by a question/answer period with discussion during which participants will describe the integration of the presentation material with their workshop experiences. The presenters have used this format in presentations/workshops for over 7 years with a variety of participants at professional conferences and trainings from New York City to Buenos Aires, involving academic and health care professionals, artists-in-human-services, and creative arts therapists.
2:30PM - 3:30PM INVITED ADDRESS AND CONCURRENT SESSIONS
The Imaginary Worlds of Middle Childhood
Speaker: Majorie Taylor, University of Oregon
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: This presentation focuses on a striking manifestation of imagination in middle childhood -- the spontaneously-created, fictional worlds known as “paracosms.” These imagined worlds are often highly elaborated and can include governments, religions, royalty, languages, customs, and many other features. Most of what is known about paracosms comes from small case studies or retrospective studies of adults reflecting on their own childhood activities. The goal of our research was to learn about paracosms from the viewpoint of the children themselves.
Best Practices in Presentation Design
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Herbert Reininger, Penn State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Have you been in a dark room, sitting in the far back, squinting and trying to read through yet another slide with 10 bullet points and small text, and you’re done reading while the ‘presenter’ is still on bullet #1? You didn’t like this experience? You thought it’s a good time check your email on your phone? You’re not alone. If you are interested to hear what TED, Nancy Duarte and Guy Kawasaki have in common, please join us to learn how to create presentations that are memorable, engaging and fun. We will look at inspiring examples, learn about dos and don’ts and leave ample time for conversation. PowerPoint was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides themselves were never meant to be the “star of the show", the star, of course, is your audience. People come to hear you and be moved or informed, or both, by you and your message. Don’t let your message and your ability to tell a story get derailed by slides that are unnecessarily complicated, busy, or full of what Edward Tufte calls “chart junk.” Nothing in your slide should be superfluous, ever.
Sociocratic Intervention Tools for Leaders
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Monika Megyesi, John Buck & Murat Aytekin, GovernanceAlive LLC
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: When people think or decide together, the processes they use can manifest “undesirables” (i.e. tension, ineffectiveness and upset) or “desires” (i.e. inspiration, creativity and innovation). These outcomes are emergent properties of the group’s context and structure, as well as of the leader’s skill in engaging individuals. This presentation looks at mechanisms that are built into Sociocratic processes, which lead groups to manifest their desires. It also touches upon the way Sociocratic leaders can shift a process that creates undesirables and transform the experience of the group in a way that allows for inspiration, creativity and innovation to emerge.
Creativity and a human dichotomy: Individual or part of a team?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Andre Walton, University of Nevada, Reno
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Creativity and innovation have finally come of age! Businesses, large and small are beginning to realize that innovation is not simply the icing on the organizational cake, it may well be the key to survival. Until now, though, there is little in the way of practical guidance regarding optimizing an organization for creative (and thus, innovative) performance. This lack of guidance stems, in part, at least, from a lack of understanding of the core processes that stimulate or undermine people’s motivation to be creative. This, in turn, may be caused by a traditional view of creativity being viewed as an attribute of ‘special’ people with little consideration for the social and environmental aspects of the structure within which innovation needs to occur. The group affiliation model of creativity presented here turns this view on its head and answers many questions that are hitherto unanswered. Many of these questions are important to organizational performance and also to our understanding of creative processes; questions such as: Why does brainstorming not live up to its originator’s expectations? Why is there a connection between creativity and mental illness? How do the skill-sets differ between creating and innovating? Why is it that although the use of teams has many important benefits to organizations, (including in the area of innovation) it seems not to benefit the generation of novel ideas? This innovative model of creative process sheds new light on possible answers to these questions.
Creativity at the Centre of the Curriculum
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Anderson, The University of Sydney
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: This presentation will report on and discuss work underway to support schools making creativity central to pedagogy, curriculum and school organisation. The presentation will first consider the development of diagnostic tools for schools. The Creative Schools Index jointly developed by a group of Australian and New Zealand universities is now being implemented in primary and secondary education settings to support an understanding of the elements of creativity and each school’s readiness for learning and teaching in creativity. The panel will discuss how these approaches are developing and their potential to deliver changes in policy, attitudes and practices in primary and secondary schooling in Australia and New Zealand and the international implications for this work. The presentation will then consider pedagogical approaches to the teaching of creativity. Drawing on recent scholarship in the pedagogy of Creativity (Jefferson and Anderson, 2017) the presentation will discuss the potential and pitfalls of developing pedagogical models of creativity and will report on the responses. Finally the presentation will discuss the potential for this work in international settings to position creativity at the centre of the curriculum.
Thinkpetizers: Small bites of Creative Thinking (Workshop)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dimitris Grammenos, Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: A fast-paced participative workshop comprising a series of activities (the Thinkpetizers) coaching many different aspects of creative thinking (e.g., imagination, open-mindedness, inventiveness, unconventionality, ignorance, nonsense). It is targeted to anyone interested in getting involved in, and learning, fun and engaging ways for triggering creative thinking and setting the mood for conducting any type of creative activity.
Each Thinkpetizer lasts 3-5 minutes and comprises a brief introduction (aiming to inspire and trigger creative thinking), a hands-on activity, and, finally, discussion and sharing of the ideas produced. All activities use commonplace and inexpensive materials, such as blank or printed sheets of paper, paper napkins, aluminum foil, spaghetti, etc. Beyond the obvious impact on cost, the use of such materials has another important effect - it makes people realize that creativity does not presuppose any special resources or conditions. It can be achieved with anything, anywhere, anytime.
Speaker: Majorie Taylor, University of Oregon
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: This presentation focuses on a striking manifestation of imagination in middle childhood -- the spontaneously-created, fictional worlds known as “paracosms.” These imagined worlds are often highly elaborated and can include governments, religions, royalty, languages, customs, and many other features. Most of what is known about paracosms comes from small case studies or retrospective studies of adults reflecting on their own childhood activities. The goal of our research was to learn about paracosms from the viewpoint of the children themselves.
Best Practices in Presentation Design
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Herbert Reininger, Penn State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Have you been in a dark room, sitting in the far back, squinting and trying to read through yet another slide with 10 bullet points and small text, and you’re done reading while the ‘presenter’ is still on bullet #1? You didn’t like this experience? You thought it’s a good time check your email on your phone? You’re not alone. If you are interested to hear what TED, Nancy Duarte and Guy Kawasaki have in common, please join us to learn how to create presentations that are memorable, engaging and fun. We will look at inspiring examples, learn about dos and don’ts and leave ample time for conversation. PowerPoint was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides themselves were never meant to be the “star of the show", the star, of course, is your audience. People come to hear you and be moved or informed, or both, by you and your message. Don’t let your message and your ability to tell a story get derailed by slides that are unnecessarily complicated, busy, or full of what Edward Tufte calls “chart junk.” Nothing in your slide should be superfluous, ever.
Sociocratic Intervention Tools for Leaders
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Monika Megyesi, John Buck & Murat Aytekin, GovernanceAlive LLC
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: When people think or decide together, the processes they use can manifest “undesirables” (i.e. tension, ineffectiveness and upset) or “desires” (i.e. inspiration, creativity and innovation). These outcomes are emergent properties of the group’s context and structure, as well as of the leader’s skill in engaging individuals. This presentation looks at mechanisms that are built into Sociocratic processes, which lead groups to manifest their desires. It also touches upon the way Sociocratic leaders can shift a process that creates undesirables and transform the experience of the group in a way that allows for inspiration, creativity and innovation to emerge.
Creativity and a human dichotomy: Individual or part of a team?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Andre Walton, University of Nevada, Reno
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Creativity and innovation have finally come of age! Businesses, large and small are beginning to realize that innovation is not simply the icing on the organizational cake, it may well be the key to survival. Until now, though, there is little in the way of practical guidance regarding optimizing an organization for creative (and thus, innovative) performance. This lack of guidance stems, in part, at least, from a lack of understanding of the core processes that stimulate or undermine people’s motivation to be creative. This, in turn, may be caused by a traditional view of creativity being viewed as an attribute of ‘special’ people with little consideration for the social and environmental aspects of the structure within which innovation needs to occur. The group affiliation model of creativity presented here turns this view on its head and answers many questions that are hitherto unanswered. Many of these questions are important to organizational performance and also to our understanding of creative processes; questions such as: Why does brainstorming not live up to its originator’s expectations? Why is there a connection between creativity and mental illness? How do the skill-sets differ between creating and innovating? Why is it that although the use of teams has many important benefits to organizations, (including in the area of innovation) it seems not to benefit the generation of novel ideas? This innovative model of creative process sheds new light on possible answers to these questions.
Creativity at the Centre of the Curriculum
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Anderson, The University of Sydney
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: This presentation will report on and discuss work underway to support schools making creativity central to pedagogy, curriculum and school organisation. The presentation will first consider the development of diagnostic tools for schools. The Creative Schools Index jointly developed by a group of Australian and New Zealand universities is now being implemented in primary and secondary education settings to support an understanding of the elements of creativity and each school’s readiness for learning and teaching in creativity. The panel will discuss how these approaches are developing and their potential to deliver changes in policy, attitudes and practices in primary and secondary schooling in Australia and New Zealand and the international implications for this work. The presentation will then consider pedagogical approaches to the teaching of creativity. Drawing on recent scholarship in the pedagogy of Creativity (Jefferson and Anderson, 2017) the presentation will discuss the potential and pitfalls of developing pedagogical models of creativity and will report on the responses. Finally the presentation will discuss the potential for this work in international settings to position creativity at the centre of the curriculum.
Thinkpetizers: Small bites of Creative Thinking (Workshop)
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dimitris Grammenos, Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: A fast-paced participative workshop comprising a series of activities (the Thinkpetizers) coaching many different aspects of creative thinking (e.g., imagination, open-mindedness, inventiveness, unconventionality, ignorance, nonsense). It is targeted to anyone interested in getting involved in, and learning, fun and engaging ways for triggering creative thinking and setting the mood for conducting any type of creative activity.
Each Thinkpetizer lasts 3-5 minutes and comprises a brief introduction (aiming to inspire and trigger creative thinking), a hands-on activity, and, finally, discussion and sharing of the ideas produced. All activities use commonplace and inexpensive materials, such as blank or printed sheets of paper, paper napkins, aluminum foil, spaghetti, etc. Beyond the obvious impact on cost, the use of such materials has another important effect - it makes people realize that creativity does not presuppose any special resources or conditions. It can be achieved with anything, anywhere, anytime.
3:45PM - 5:00 PM PANELS
Development and evaluation of thought ability and creativity improvement method for students with 100 new students
Panelists: Shozo Saegusa, Shujitsu University, Takeo Higuchi, Idea-Marathon Institute, Taichi Akutsu of Shujitsu University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This paper aims at designing and evaluating students' self-confidence and self-awareness, and how to raise their thinking and creativity. I am implementing active learning for university freshmen 100 students and an Idea-Marathon (IMS) that can be easily implemented in parallel.
Active learning so far has been conducted for a limited number of people and has produced many results. However, it was impossible for one teacher to carry out 100 students at a stroke, then developed the following methodology. (1) make 15 groups of 6 people, encourage group autonomy, (2) utilize collaboration between inside and outside of teachers of main subjects and IMS respectively, (3) periodically issue hints for thinking, and simultaneously encourage individually based on the number of IMS. It enabled highly effective creativity training through parallel use of class and daily IMS records.
As a result, there were no dropouts of IMS and 30% more ideas were secured than the target. Moreover, many students are aware that creativity has increased. However, because the evaluation is qualitative, more quantitative evaluation is desired. So using Runco's cCAB, we will explain the merits, effects and analysis of this new type lectures in our paper in details.
The process of artistic creativity
Panelists: Takeshi Okada, University of Tokyo, Japan, Tatiana Chemi, Aalborg University, Denmark, Marion Botella, Université Paris Descartes, France
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: People often claim that artistic creation requires no effortful process and is achieved by only talented people (‘Myth of Genius’, Weisberg, 1993). However, artistic creation occurs through dynamic process. In this panel session, we present our research focusing on the process of artistic creativity, paying special attention to a social aspect, i.e., inspiration. We claim that artistic inspiration is not caused by Muses but generated in a social process of art creation. Tatiana Chemi (Aalborg University, Denmark) will talk about the possibility of a reconceptualization of the myth of the Muses. She proposes that, rather than expressing a spiritual or religious belief, the feeling of transcendence might play, for professional artists, a fundamental role in terms of their psychological experience of artistic creation. Takeshi Okada (University of Tokyo, Japan) will talk about the process of inspiration in artistic creation based on a field study data with an expert contemporary artist and data from three psychological experiments with art-novice undergraduates. He will describe how inspiration plays a role in artists’ and students’ artistic creativity. Marion Botella (University Paris Descartes, France) will talk about macro-approach of the art students’ creative process. Using the Creative Process Report Diary (Botella, Nelson & Zenasni, 2017), she will report art students’ stages of their creative process and multivariate factors involved during 4 days of workshop in the art school. With these talks, we aim to show the possibility of study on artistic creation processes and its educational application.
Transdisciplinary Learning: Nothing if not Creative
Panelists: Bem LeHunte & Tanja Golja, University of Technology Sydney
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: In a restructuring of Bloom’s Hierarchy, creativity is described as a pinnacle of human learning. Yet it is often neglected in curriculum design, including in those fields considered ‘un-creative.’ This presentation explores cutting-edge practice in designing creative, immersive learning environments that enable emergence and creativity. Intersecting with research from the field, we describe how creative leaps can be encouraged in education across disciplines. Whilst there have been significant studies of creativity as a discipline, and within certain disciplines, little research has been done exploring the nature of creativity in a transdisciplinary context. Yet many of our future discoveries are said to emerge from between disciplines, not just within them. The case study we use is from the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation‚ an internationally award-winning, transdisciplinary degree that combines with 25 other degrees and all faculties at the University of Technology Sydney. This flagship program encourages students to explore well over 100 creative methods from across disciplines: methods for transdisciplinary discovery‚ creative thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving, future-thinking, complexity, invention, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. Being creative practitioners in our own right and bringing different disciplinary perspectives to our collaboration, we also share more general insights from the field on how to understand and design for learning as being creative and rigorous at its core. In a political climate that increasingly values innovation, that contemporary view of learning, though still controversial in Education, can account for how we address the demand for greater collaborative creativity within our workplaces.
Measuring Creative-Thinking Preferences: Recent Research into Gender Differences, Level-Style Relationships, Mental Health Implications, and Leadership
Panelists: Gerard Puccio, Selcuk Acar, Blair Miller, John Cabra, Cyndi Burnett and Pam Szalay, Buffalo State
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: FourSight theory maintains that individuals express different degrees of preference for the four main mental operations involved in the creative process. Over the last 20 years research using the FourSight self-report measures shows that these four creative-thinking preferences can be reliably measured (i.e., Clarifier, Ideator, Developer, and Implementer). The purpose of this panel presentation is to share three current research studies that help to expand FourSight theory and deepen our knowledge of the implications of these process preferences. Namely, the research team will briefly review the following studies using the FourSight measure: (1) differences in FourSight preferences across gender and organizational level; (2) a reexamination of creativity style and measures of creativity level; (3) relationships between creative-thinking preferences and mental health; and (4) relationships between FourSight and self-efficacy.
Panelists: Shozo Saegusa, Shujitsu University, Takeo Higuchi, Idea-Marathon Institute, Taichi Akutsu of Shujitsu University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: This paper aims at designing and evaluating students' self-confidence and self-awareness, and how to raise their thinking and creativity. I am implementing active learning for university freshmen 100 students and an Idea-Marathon (IMS) that can be easily implemented in parallel.
Active learning so far has been conducted for a limited number of people and has produced many results. However, it was impossible for one teacher to carry out 100 students at a stroke, then developed the following methodology. (1) make 15 groups of 6 people, encourage group autonomy, (2) utilize collaboration between inside and outside of teachers of main subjects and IMS respectively, (3) periodically issue hints for thinking, and simultaneously encourage individually based on the number of IMS. It enabled highly effective creativity training through parallel use of class and daily IMS records.
As a result, there were no dropouts of IMS and 30% more ideas were secured than the target. Moreover, many students are aware that creativity has increased. However, because the evaluation is qualitative, more quantitative evaluation is desired. So using Runco's cCAB, we will explain the merits, effects and analysis of this new type lectures in our paper in details.
The process of artistic creativity
Panelists: Takeshi Okada, University of Tokyo, Japan, Tatiana Chemi, Aalborg University, Denmark, Marion Botella, Université Paris Descartes, France
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: People often claim that artistic creation requires no effortful process and is achieved by only talented people (‘Myth of Genius’, Weisberg, 1993). However, artistic creation occurs through dynamic process. In this panel session, we present our research focusing on the process of artistic creativity, paying special attention to a social aspect, i.e., inspiration. We claim that artistic inspiration is not caused by Muses but generated in a social process of art creation. Tatiana Chemi (Aalborg University, Denmark) will talk about the possibility of a reconceptualization of the myth of the Muses. She proposes that, rather than expressing a spiritual or religious belief, the feeling of transcendence might play, for professional artists, a fundamental role in terms of their psychological experience of artistic creation. Takeshi Okada (University of Tokyo, Japan) will talk about the process of inspiration in artistic creation based on a field study data with an expert contemporary artist and data from three psychological experiments with art-novice undergraduates. He will describe how inspiration plays a role in artists’ and students’ artistic creativity. Marion Botella (University Paris Descartes, France) will talk about macro-approach of the art students’ creative process. Using the Creative Process Report Diary (Botella, Nelson & Zenasni, 2017), she will report art students’ stages of their creative process and multivariate factors involved during 4 days of workshop in the art school. With these talks, we aim to show the possibility of study on artistic creation processes and its educational application.
Transdisciplinary Learning: Nothing if not Creative
Panelists: Bem LeHunte & Tanja Golja, University of Technology Sydney
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: In a restructuring of Bloom’s Hierarchy, creativity is described as a pinnacle of human learning. Yet it is often neglected in curriculum design, including in those fields considered ‘un-creative.’ This presentation explores cutting-edge practice in designing creative, immersive learning environments that enable emergence and creativity. Intersecting with research from the field, we describe how creative leaps can be encouraged in education across disciplines. Whilst there have been significant studies of creativity as a discipline, and within certain disciplines, little research has been done exploring the nature of creativity in a transdisciplinary context. Yet many of our future discoveries are said to emerge from between disciplines, not just within them. The case study we use is from the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation‚ an internationally award-winning, transdisciplinary degree that combines with 25 other degrees and all faculties at the University of Technology Sydney. This flagship program encourages students to explore well over 100 creative methods from across disciplines: methods for transdisciplinary discovery‚ creative thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving, future-thinking, complexity, invention, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. Being creative practitioners in our own right and bringing different disciplinary perspectives to our collaboration, we also share more general insights from the field on how to understand and design for learning as being creative and rigorous at its core. In a political climate that increasingly values innovation, that contemporary view of learning, though still controversial in Education, can account for how we address the demand for greater collaborative creativity within our workplaces.
Measuring Creative-Thinking Preferences: Recent Research into Gender Differences, Level-Style Relationships, Mental Health Implications, and Leadership
Panelists: Gerard Puccio, Selcuk Acar, Blair Miller, John Cabra, Cyndi Burnett and Pam Szalay, Buffalo State
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: FourSight theory maintains that individuals express different degrees of preference for the four main mental operations involved in the creative process. Over the last 20 years research using the FourSight self-report measures shows that these four creative-thinking preferences can be reliably measured (i.e., Clarifier, Ideator, Developer, and Implementer). The purpose of this panel presentation is to share three current research studies that help to expand FourSight theory and deepen our knowledge of the implications of these process preferences. Namely, the research team will briefly review the following studies using the FourSight measure: (1) differences in FourSight preferences across gender and organizational level; (2) a reexamination of creativity style and measures of creativity level; (3) relationships between creative-thinking preferences and mental health; and (4) relationships between FourSight and self-efficacy.
5:15PM - 6:30PM SOCIAL HOUR-SCHNEIDER MUSEUM
Sunday, August 5th, 2018
Creativity Conference - Day 3
7:00am check-in begins
Parking info map of parking click here, you can also find a map of campus click here).
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, meal information, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
Check-In Process: photo ID and eTicket or printed ticket will be needed in order to check in. During check-in, you will recieve a packet containing your name tag, meal information, room information (if applicable), and other conference information.
8:00am - 9:15am short presentations in su 323
Creativity as a System in Action: Outlining a Sustained Program of Research
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Phillip McIntyre, University of Newcastle
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: In the 2010 Annual Review of Psychology on ‘Creativity’ Beth Hennessey and Teresa Amabile suggested a multidisciplinary and systems based approach to understanding creativity was now needed (2010: 569). As early as 1988 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi had suggested just such an approach (Hennessey, 2017: 342). He wrote then that a combination of psychology and sociology would help researchers “abandon the Ptolemaic view of creativity, in which the person is at the center of everything, for a more Copernican model, in which the person is part of a system of mutual influences” (in Sternberg, 1988: 336). Taking these ideas at face value, the author, also a creative practitioner, has undertaken a sustained program of research using this systems approach. He has combined the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to elucidate creativity as a system in action. As Beth Hennessey remarked “McIntyre (2013) offers a comprehensive review of research and theorizing leading to an emerging view of creativity as a system in action. At long last, psychologists are beginning to apply a sociological perspective to the study of creativity” (2017: 343). This paper outlines this multidisciplinary program of research in depth, including grants and publications focused at creativity and systems, and most importantly the efforts of former postgraduate students who have gone on to extend and carry the research work forward in collaboration with the author. The paper will also suggest further avenues of investigation using the systems approach.
No Trainspotting: Eureka moments and the timetables of creative processes
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Frank Loesche & Guido Bugmann, Plymouth University, UK
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Graham Wallas famously described the creative process as a sequence of four stages, an explanation in line with another well known metaphor: the “train of thought”. Researchers have since added and removed stages from Wallas’ model, or rerouted them in iterative Design Thinking circles, yet the “train line” remained. In this talk I invite you to leave this single track and instead think of problem solving as multi-layered processes. The validity of existing models is not questioned by this conceptually simple alteration; instead, they gain additional explanatory power for previously unaccounted observations in the creative process. I provide an argument for multi-layered models augmenting sequential creative models and Design Thinking. In this talk I support this with empirical evidence, discussing results from Dira, a novel experimental paradigm to study the generative process through Eureka moments, and from interviews with Architecture students. The presented case studies touch multidisciplinary research questions regarding theory, application, and education of creative thought.
Creativity and Learning: Toward a Dynamic Approach
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Maciej Karwowski, University of Wroclaw; Marta Czerwonka, Arkadiusz Brzeski
The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity and learning represent interrelated phenomena. Regardless of the theoretical stance one takes on learning, creativity and learning share fundamental similarities. Indeed, both creativity and learning involve change: Creativity refers to new and meaningful changes in thoughts, products, and actions. Learning represents relatively stable changes in understanding and behavior. In this talk we discuss recent operationalizations of "creative learning" understood in a dynamic and processual way. To this end, we focus on both: theoretical and empirical arguments showing how creativity and learning may relate and when and under what conditions creative ability may support the process of effective learning.
Investigating educational dialogues for promoting mathematical creativity in the primary school classroom: A case study
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eveline Schoevers & Esther. M. Slot, Utrecht University
Evelyn H. Kroesbergen, Radboud University
Paul P.M. Leseman, Utrecht University
Abstract: Although the importance of mathematical creativity in education is acknowledged, there is not much empirical research that shows which pedagogical actions contribute to students’ mathematical creativity. Therefore the aim of this case study is to create a better understanding of how mathematical creativity is promoted in educational practice. Therefore, interactions between teacher and students in three different type of math activities are investigated. A female fourth-grade teacher in the Netherlands participated in the study. An ‘open’ in-school math activity, an ‘open’ out-of-school math activity and a regular (‘closed’) math activity were video recorded and interactions were transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. Furthermore, after each lesson the teacher was interviewed regarding her experiences of the given lesson. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by using constant comparison analyses. Findings suggest that the combination of a less clearly specified learning goal and the creation of an open atmosphere in the classroom promotes mathematical creativity. Solely providing the students with a certain freedom and asking open-ended question did not always promoted mathematical creativity. Namely, if the learning goal was more specified it did not promote mathematical creativity. (Examples of) the findings will be discussed in more depth during the presentation.
Creative Style: Quantifying variation among people on how they fulfill their creative potential
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eric Berlow, Vibrant Data Labs
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Here we present the results of the first large scale study of human "Creative Styles". Countless articles in the popular press outline different versions of the "Top 10 Habits" of highly creative people. These articles implicitly assume that there is one way to be creative. While Creativity Research has demonstrated how creative performance or productivity is influenced by personality traits and environmental factors, we have very little understanding of the variation among people in their Creative Style - or the habits that help them best fulfill their creative potential. We developed a novel survey that characterizes not "how creative are you?" but rather "how do you create?" Initial results from a curated group of 500 professionally accomplished individuals suggests that a) people achieve creative success in very different ways, and b) distinct Creative Styles emerge which are un-related to discipline. A shortened version of the survey was then used to gather data from >10,000 individuals via the website www.hackingcreativity.com. This broader sample also exhibits distinct Creative Styles with a consistent split between 'Extroverted' and 'Introverted' types. Our results suggest that understanding an individual's Creative Style can help tailor the habits which may help them best fulfill their individual creative potential.
Museum-Situated Mobile Game May Increase Creative Self-Efficacy
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dana Atwood-Blaine & Audrey Rule, University of Northern Iowa;
Jordan Walker, Imaginarium; Grout Museum District
Abstract: At a hands-on science museum in the Midwest, researchers and educators wanted to create an experience that would increase children’s creative self-efficacy as a result of their visit to the museum. To this end, we designed as a situated mobile-game in which young visitors explored the museum with iPads. When players discovered a “secret code” (i.e. QR code) near an exhibit, they would scan it to receive an interactive challenge that engaged them both with the exhibit and with one or more of the 7 Components of Creativity outlined by the Center for Childhood Creativity. Players recorded their creative solution to each challenge via text, photographs, audio, and/or video. After the game, participants created an electronic poster that incorporated those self-created media. This study examined 1) change in participants’ creative self-efficacy scores; and 2) correlations between activity preferences, creative self-efficacy scores, and gender. Participants comprised of 37 youth completing grades 3-9 whose three-hour visit to the museum included a pre-survey, orientation to the game (i.e. The Creativity Project), gameplay, multimedia poster development, and post-survey. Results indicated an improvement in creative self-efficacy with a small effect size. Differences in activity preference between those scoring high in creative self-efficacy and those who scored low were also found. No gender differences in creative self-efficacy were noted, but there were gender differences in activity preferences. Results indicate that playing a creativity-focused situated mobile game, followed by the opportunity to reflect on that experience through self-created media, had a positive effect on participants’ creative self-efficacy.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Phillip McIntyre, University of Newcastle
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: In the 2010 Annual Review of Psychology on ‘Creativity’ Beth Hennessey and Teresa Amabile suggested a multidisciplinary and systems based approach to understanding creativity was now needed (2010: 569). As early as 1988 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi had suggested just such an approach (Hennessey, 2017: 342). He wrote then that a combination of psychology and sociology would help researchers “abandon the Ptolemaic view of creativity, in which the person is at the center of everything, for a more Copernican model, in which the person is part of a system of mutual influences” (in Sternberg, 1988: 336). Taking these ideas at face value, the author, also a creative practitioner, has undertaken a sustained program of research using this systems approach. He has combined the work of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to elucidate creativity as a system in action. As Beth Hennessey remarked “McIntyre (2013) offers a comprehensive review of research and theorizing leading to an emerging view of creativity as a system in action. At long last, psychologists are beginning to apply a sociological perspective to the study of creativity” (2017: 343). This paper outlines this multidisciplinary program of research in depth, including grants and publications focused at creativity and systems, and most importantly the efforts of former postgraduate students who have gone on to extend and carry the research work forward in collaboration with the author. The paper will also suggest further avenues of investigation using the systems approach.
No Trainspotting: Eureka moments and the timetables of creative processes
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Frank Loesche & Guido Bugmann, Plymouth University, UK
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Graham Wallas famously described the creative process as a sequence of four stages, an explanation in line with another well known metaphor: the “train of thought”. Researchers have since added and removed stages from Wallas’ model, or rerouted them in iterative Design Thinking circles, yet the “train line” remained. In this talk I invite you to leave this single track and instead think of problem solving as multi-layered processes. The validity of existing models is not questioned by this conceptually simple alteration; instead, they gain additional explanatory power for previously unaccounted observations in the creative process. I provide an argument for multi-layered models augmenting sequential creative models and Design Thinking. In this talk I support this with empirical evidence, discussing results from Dira, a novel experimental paradigm to study the generative process through Eureka moments, and from interviews with Architecture students. The presented case studies touch multidisciplinary research questions regarding theory, application, and education of creative thought.
Creativity and Learning: Toward a Dynamic Approach
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Maciej Karwowski, University of Wroclaw; Marta Czerwonka, Arkadiusz Brzeski
The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity and learning represent interrelated phenomena. Regardless of the theoretical stance one takes on learning, creativity and learning share fundamental similarities. Indeed, both creativity and learning involve change: Creativity refers to new and meaningful changes in thoughts, products, and actions. Learning represents relatively stable changes in understanding and behavior. In this talk we discuss recent operationalizations of "creative learning" understood in a dynamic and processual way. To this end, we focus on both: theoretical and empirical arguments showing how creativity and learning may relate and when and under what conditions creative ability may support the process of effective learning.
Investigating educational dialogues for promoting mathematical creativity in the primary school classroom: A case study
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eveline Schoevers & Esther. M. Slot, Utrecht University
Evelyn H. Kroesbergen, Radboud University
Paul P.M. Leseman, Utrecht University
Abstract: Although the importance of mathematical creativity in education is acknowledged, there is not much empirical research that shows which pedagogical actions contribute to students’ mathematical creativity. Therefore the aim of this case study is to create a better understanding of how mathematical creativity is promoted in educational practice. Therefore, interactions between teacher and students in three different type of math activities are investigated. A female fourth-grade teacher in the Netherlands participated in the study. An ‘open’ in-school math activity, an ‘open’ out-of-school math activity and a regular (‘closed’) math activity were video recorded and interactions were transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. Furthermore, after each lesson the teacher was interviewed regarding her experiences of the given lesson. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed by using constant comparison analyses. Findings suggest that the combination of a less clearly specified learning goal and the creation of an open atmosphere in the classroom promotes mathematical creativity. Solely providing the students with a certain freedom and asking open-ended question did not always promoted mathematical creativity. Namely, if the learning goal was more specified it did not promote mathematical creativity. (Examples of) the findings will be discussed in more depth during the presentation.
Creative Style: Quantifying variation among people on how they fulfill their creative potential
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eric Berlow, Vibrant Data Labs
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Here we present the results of the first large scale study of human "Creative Styles". Countless articles in the popular press outline different versions of the "Top 10 Habits" of highly creative people. These articles implicitly assume that there is one way to be creative. While Creativity Research has demonstrated how creative performance or productivity is influenced by personality traits and environmental factors, we have very little understanding of the variation among people in their Creative Style - or the habits that help them best fulfill their creative potential. We developed a novel survey that characterizes not "how creative are you?" but rather "how do you create?" Initial results from a curated group of 500 professionally accomplished individuals suggests that a) people achieve creative success in very different ways, and b) distinct Creative Styles emerge which are un-related to discipline. A shortened version of the survey was then used to gather data from >10,000 individuals via the website www.hackingcreativity.com. This broader sample also exhibits distinct Creative Styles with a consistent split between 'Extroverted' and 'Introverted' types. Our results suggest that understanding an individual's Creative Style can help tailor the habits which may help them best fulfill their individual creative potential.
Museum-Situated Mobile Game May Increase Creative Self-Efficacy
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dana Atwood-Blaine & Audrey Rule, University of Northern Iowa;
Jordan Walker, Imaginarium; Grout Museum District
Abstract: At a hands-on science museum in the Midwest, researchers and educators wanted to create an experience that would increase children’s creative self-efficacy as a result of their visit to the museum. To this end, we designed as a situated mobile-game in which young visitors explored the museum with iPads. When players discovered a “secret code” (i.e. QR code) near an exhibit, they would scan it to receive an interactive challenge that engaged them both with the exhibit and with one or more of the 7 Components of Creativity outlined by the Center for Childhood Creativity. Players recorded their creative solution to each challenge via text, photographs, audio, and/or video. After the game, participants created an electronic poster that incorporated those self-created media. This study examined 1) change in participants’ creative self-efficacy scores; and 2) correlations between activity preferences, creative self-efficacy scores, and gender. Participants comprised of 37 youth completing grades 3-9 whose three-hour visit to the museum included a pre-survey, orientation to the game (i.e. The Creativity Project), gameplay, multimedia poster development, and post-survey. Results indicated an improvement in creative self-efficacy with a small effect size. Differences in activity preference between those scoring high in creative self-efficacy and those who scored low were also found. No gender differences in creative self-efficacy were noted, but there were gender differences in activity preferences. Results indicate that playing a creativity-focused situated mobile game, followed by the opportunity to reflect on that experience through self-created media, had a positive effect on participants’ creative self-efficacy.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 319
Teaching for creativity in technology-integrated learning environments across the high school curriculum: An exploratory study
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eniko Orsolya Bereczki, Eötvös Loránd University
Abstract: Creativity has benefits both for the individual and the society, and thus fostering students’ creative capacities has justifiably received significant policy, professional and research attention in recent years. In addition to creativity, technology is also an important aspect of today’s classrooms and, if paired with certain pedagogical approaches, digital tools have been shown to increase learning. Furthermore, the affordances of educational technology to promote creativity in schools are also often cited in the literature, yet empirical studies exploring the relationships between learning, creativity and technology are surprisingly scarce. In our presentation, we review the literature on stimulating creativity in technology-integrated environments as well as share the results of our exploratory study seeking to contribute to the growth of this knowledge base. Applying a qualitative phenomenological design, we examined Hungarian digital pedagogy expert teachers’(N=24) beliefs and practices of nurturing creativity in technology-integrated learning environments across 6 subject areas of the curriculum: arts, English as a foreign language, Hungarian language and literature, maths, science, social studies. By analysing data drawn from individual teacher interviews, classroom observations and teacher focus groups we have identified several themes for future research with direct relevance to real-world classroom practices as well as examples of domain specific use of technology to stimulate creativity, which could serve other classrooms and teachers.
How art appreciation inspires artistic creation
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Chiaki Ishiguro, Tamagawa Brain Science Institute & Okada Takeshi The University of Tokyo
Abstract: Through art appreciation, viewers are sometimes inspired to express or implement creative ideas. Such an experience is thought to be important for art learning. In this study, we conduct a questionnaire survey to examine how art appreciation promotes creative inspiration. We hypothesize that: (1) individual experience of art-related activities and self-evaluation of artistic expression affect creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks; (2) the type of artworks affects creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks. The participants were 373 adults, who were not art professionals (179 women, M age = 45.02, SD age = 13.45, age range: 20-69). The data are analyzed using structural equation modeling for the two hypotheses. The two hypotheses are mostly supported, suggesting that self-evaluation of artistic expression and the type of artworks influence creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks. However, experience of art-related activities has no significant direct effect on the inspiration to create something.
Give it a rest: a short distraction from a creative problem-solving task can increase the proportion of creative ideas
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Lindsey Carruthers, Rory MacLean, & Alexandra Willis, Edinburgh Napier University
Abstract: Many famous creators have said that some of their most creative ideas occurred whilst taking a break from their work. Incubation, a period of time spent away from a problem, can be beneficial to formulating creative solutions, though the cognitive mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still unclear. This study aimed to replicate the effect whilst determining the importance of mind-wandering during incubation. Creative problem-solving was assessed in 101 participants using an Unusual Uses Task (UUT): a divergent thinking task scored for idea fluency, flexibility, and originality. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four incubation conditions: cognitively demanding, cognitively undemanding, rest, or no incubation. The UUT was interrupted by a five-minute incubation period in test conditions. Post-incubation improvements in fluency, flexibility, and originality were not significant, nor were there between group differences in performance. However, there was a significant increase in the proportion of original ideas produced after the break (F(1,74)=24.23, p<.001, Ƞ²p=.247), and 62% of post-break ideas belonged to new flexibility categories. Mind-wandering during incubation was reported by 61% of participants. Although the break did not improve raw creativity scores, the concentration of original ideas was significantly higher after the incubation period, and a high percentage of these ideas were from new categories. This shows that the first solutions to a problem may not be the most creative, and taking a break from writing down solutions could be beneficial for creativity.
Filmmaking Practice Re-conceptualised through Creativity Theories
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Susan Kerrigan, Phillip McIntyre, Janet Fulton, & Michael Meany, University of Newcastle, Australia
Abstract: Film is a creative product and filmmaking is a creative practice and this research, draws on inquiries conducted from the filmmaker's perspectives which find the practitioner's internalisation and embodiment of creative practice is central to the filmmaking system (Kerrigan 2016). The primary theory used to frame this practice-led filmmaking research has been Csikszentmihalyi's systems model of creativity, though Paulus and Nijstad's group creativity and Wallas' staged creative process theories are also used to describe how practice collides with processes, idea generation, skill development, collaboration and group work (Kerrigan & McIntyre 2010). By shifting the focus away from the individual's idiosyncratic background, and refocusing on the filmmakers social and cultural interactions, the systems model provides a language by which the selection, stimulation and transmission of novelty is made possible through filmmaking as a creative practice. Creativity is a complex phenomenon, a multifactorial system which when described as a practice requires a confluence approach. This paper presents creativity from a filmmaking practitioner's position and offers one way to translate these theoretical languages into the practical and creative processes of filmmaking.
Real-world artists’ display high levels of intellectual curiosity, cognitive complexity, and analytical thinking styles, with low levels of emotionality
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kathryn Kelley & Molly Ireland, Texas Tech University
Abstract: Correlational studies of personality facets of Openness as it relates to creativity have shown that affective and aesthetic engagement predict achievement in the arts, and cognitive abilities and intellectual engagement predict achievement in the sciences (Kaufman et al, 2016). Sampling for these studies has been highly dependent on student populations, however. In the present study, we employed a computerized text analysis program, Language Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015), to analyze natural writing samples (N =1,821) produced by eminent (n = 186) and professional artists (n = 64), penned between 1907 and 2017. Eminent artists were selected based on inclusion in anthologies of artists’ writings assembled by art scholars. Professional artists’ samples were culled from online art journals. The resulting language frequencies, parsed according to variables relating to psycholinguistic cues of cognitive, affective, and social function, were compared with LIWC’s norms (N = 117,779). Artists’ samples had a significantly higher use of word categories correlated with analytical thinking style, cognitive complexity, and engagement with cognitive processes than the norms. These variables are suggestive of high intellect, need for cognition, and a logical and complex thinking style (Boyd & Pennebaker, 2015). Unexpectedly, artists use of affective words was low relative, with almost equal rates of positive and negative emotion words. Further, there was an extremely low use of social words. Our results suggest that predictors of high-achieving real-world artists may overlap with scientists more than previously suspected. The second phase of this project will collect natural writing samples from highly creative scientists.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eniko Orsolya Bereczki, Eötvös Loránd University
Abstract: Creativity has benefits both for the individual and the society, and thus fostering students’ creative capacities has justifiably received significant policy, professional and research attention in recent years. In addition to creativity, technology is also an important aspect of today’s classrooms and, if paired with certain pedagogical approaches, digital tools have been shown to increase learning. Furthermore, the affordances of educational technology to promote creativity in schools are also often cited in the literature, yet empirical studies exploring the relationships between learning, creativity and technology are surprisingly scarce. In our presentation, we review the literature on stimulating creativity in technology-integrated environments as well as share the results of our exploratory study seeking to contribute to the growth of this knowledge base. Applying a qualitative phenomenological design, we examined Hungarian digital pedagogy expert teachers’(N=24) beliefs and practices of nurturing creativity in technology-integrated learning environments across 6 subject areas of the curriculum: arts, English as a foreign language, Hungarian language and literature, maths, science, social studies. By analysing data drawn from individual teacher interviews, classroom observations and teacher focus groups we have identified several themes for future research with direct relevance to real-world classroom practices as well as examples of domain specific use of technology to stimulate creativity, which could serve other classrooms and teachers.
How art appreciation inspires artistic creation
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Chiaki Ishiguro, Tamagawa Brain Science Institute & Okada Takeshi The University of Tokyo
Abstract: Through art appreciation, viewers are sometimes inspired to express or implement creative ideas. Such an experience is thought to be important for art learning. In this study, we conduct a questionnaire survey to examine how art appreciation promotes creative inspiration. We hypothesize that: (1) individual experience of art-related activities and self-evaluation of artistic expression affect creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks; (2) the type of artworks affects creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks. The participants were 373 adults, who were not art professionals (179 women, M age = 45.02, SD age = 13.45, age range: 20-69). The data are analyzed using structural equation modeling for the two hypotheses. The two hypotheses are mostly supported, suggesting that self-evaluation of artistic expression and the type of artworks influence creative inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks. However, experience of art-related activities has no significant direct effect on the inspiration to create something.
Give it a rest: a short distraction from a creative problem-solving task can increase the proportion of creative ideas
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Lindsey Carruthers, Rory MacLean, & Alexandra Willis, Edinburgh Napier University
Abstract: Many famous creators have said that some of their most creative ideas occurred whilst taking a break from their work. Incubation, a period of time spent away from a problem, can be beneficial to formulating creative solutions, though the cognitive mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still unclear. This study aimed to replicate the effect whilst determining the importance of mind-wandering during incubation. Creative problem-solving was assessed in 101 participants using an Unusual Uses Task (UUT): a divergent thinking task scored for idea fluency, flexibility, and originality. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four incubation conditions: cognitively demanding, cognitively undemanding, rest, or no incubation. The UUT was interrupted by a five-minute incubation period in test conditions. Post-incubation improvements in fluency, flexibility, and originality were not significant, nor were there between group differences in performance. However, there was a significant increase in the proportion of original ideas produced after the break (F(1,74)=24.23, p<.001, Ƞ²p=.247), and 62% of post-break ideas belonged to new flexibility categories. Mind-wandering during incubation was reported by 61% of participants. Although the break did not improve raw creativity scores, the concentration of original ideas was significantly higher after the incubation period, and a high percentage of these ideas were from new categories. This shows that the first solutions to a problem may not be the most creative, and taking a break from writing down solutions could be beneficial for creativity.
Filmmaking Practice Re-conceptualised through Creativity Theories
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Susan Kerrigan, Phillip McIntyre, Janet Fulton, & Michael Meany, University of Newcastle, Australia
Abstract: Film is a creative product and filmmaking is a creative practice and this research, draws on inquiries conducted from the filmmaker's perspectives which find the practitioner's internalisation and embodiment of creative practice is central to the filmmaking system (Kerrigan 2016). The primary theory used to frame this practice-led filmmaking research has been Csikszentmihalyi's systems model of creativity, though Paulus and Nijstad's group creativity and Wallas' staged creative process theories are also used to describe how practice collides with processes, idea generation, skill development, collaboration and group work (Kerrigan & McIntyre 2010). By shifting the focus away from the individual's idiosyncratic background, and refocusing on the filmmakers social and cultural interactions, the systems model provides a language by which the selection, stimulation and transmission of novelty is made possible through filmmaking as a creative practice. Creativity is a complex phenomenon, a multifactorial system which when described as a practice requires a confluence approach. This paper presents creativity from a filmmaking practitioner's position and offers one way to translate these theoretical languages into the practical and creative processes of filmmaking.
Real-world artists’ display high levels of intellectual curiosity, cognitive complexity, and analytical thinking styles, with low levels of emotionality
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kathryn Kelley & Molly Ireland, Texas Tech University
Abstract: Correlational studies of personality facets of Openness as it relates to creativity have shown that affective and aesthetic engagement predict achievement in the arts, and cognitive abilities and intellectual engagement predict achievement in the sciences (Kaufman et al, 2016). Sampling for these studies has been highly dependent on student populations, however. In the present study, we employed a computerized text analysis program, Language Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015), to analyze natural writing samples (N =1,821) produced by eminent (n = 186) and professional artists (n = 64), penned between 1907 and 2017. Eminent artists were selected based on inclusion in anthologies of artists’ writings assembled by art scholars. Professional artists’ samples were culled from online art journals. The resulting language frequencies, parsed according to variables relating to psycholinguistic cues of cognitive, affective, and social function, were compared with LIWC’s norms (N = 117,779). Artists’ samples had a significantly higher use of word categories correlated with analytical thinking style, cognitive complexity, and engagement with cognitive processes than the norms. These variables are suggestive of high intellect, need for cognition, and a logical and complex thinking style (Boyd & Pennebaker, 2015). Unexpectedly, artists use of affective words was low relative, with almost equal rates of positive and negative emotion words. Further, there was an extremely low use of social words. Our results suggest that predictors of high-achieving real-world artists may overlap with scientists more than previously suspected. The second phase of this project will collect natural writing samples from highly creative scientists.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS IN SU 313
“I think that to see someone be creative is better for the world": The Impact of a Creative Based Integrated Arts Programme on the Mental Wellbeing of 11-12 Year-old Children
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vanessa Hince, Mary MacKillop Catholic Community Primary School
Abstract: Positive mental health or wellbeing relates to coping with everyday stress in life, being productive and achieving your full potential. The Australian Government report on the Young Minds Matter Study in 2015 found that 13.9% of youth aged 4-17 suffered some sort of mental disorder over the previous year. This can affect a young person’s school attendance, how they function in the school environment and their academic results.The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact a creative process based Integrated Arts Programme could have on the mental wellbeing of 11-12 year-old children. The eight week programme involved working in small groups to translate a visual artwork into a piece of music and a dance or dramatic work. It was implemented as part of three Year Six classes’ usual music specialist lessons within a Catholic primary school in the Perth metropolitan area. Quantitative data was collected using the Personal Wellbeing Index School Children self-report survey, and qualitative data was collected by conducting two semi-structured focus-group interviews with 5 participants in each group after the programme concluded. The quantitative data indicates the programme had a positive impact on the participants’ mental well being, with the participants’ mean score on the Personal Wellbeing Index increasing by 3.06% from 80.09% to 83.15%. This difference was statistically significant at 0.01.
Creative Experiences, Flow, and Difficulties in Emotional Regulation in Childhood Adversity Groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Paula Thomson & S. Victoria Jaque, California State University, Northridge
Abstract: Childhood adversity and cumulative trauma are strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In this IRB approved study, a sample of individuals (n = 397) (performing artists, elite athletes, recreational athletes) was divided into three groups based on exposure to childhood adversity. Creative experiences, dispositional flow, and difficulties in emotion regulation were examined. Childhood adversity experiences (ACE) included abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, neglect (emotional, physical), and family dysfunction (separation/divorce, domestic violence, family member with mental illness, substance abuse or history of incarceration). The sample was divided into a group with no ACE, one to three ACEs, and four or more ACEs. Study results demonstrated no group differences for global dispositional flow, autotelic experiences, or challenge-skill balance while engaging in a preferred activity. A different picture emerged for creativity. The group with four or more ACEs experienced higher rates of distinct experiences while creating, greater feelings of power and pleasure, increased absorption, more anxiety prior to and during the creative experience, greater clarity and certainty while, deeper sense of self transformation, and feelings that transcended beyond the personal. Those with four or more ACEs claimed that creativity was healing and provided existential meaning. This same group struggled to regulate negative emotions including formulating strategic plans to cope with intense emotions, inability to accept feelings, and greater difficulty formulating goals to overcome emotional distress. This group had much higher cumulative adult trauma. Regardless of childhood adversity, all groups were able to enjoy the integrating experience of flow while engaging in preferred activities.
8:30-10:15 Symposium:
From STEM to STEAM - a European initiative to integrate creativity into science classrooms
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
1.
Creativity as innovative trigger to instructional efficiency in molecular outreach labs
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Bogner F.X. & Mierdel J.,University of Bayreuth, Germany
Abstract: As a pan-European initiative, CREATIONS (http://creations-project.eu/) focusses on potential impacts on advancing science classrooms in order to optimize teaching options, to improve outreach outcomes and to maximize social/economic impacts without detracting from primary research objectives. Hands-on experiments within molecular contexts of outreach labs aim to support individual cognitive learning. Increasingly, these efforts include the use of media to visualize the otherwise invisible. We applied for 9th graders a hands-on module with the first year curriculum content of genetics, by combining experimentation and model work. A model subunit was included to support the experimental work. We compared the impact of two different modules on cognitive achievement, cognitive load and instructional efficiency. We divided our sample (N = 254) into two groups: While both were subjected to the experimental part of the module, the model constructors (n = 120) were required to generate a DNA-model using assorted handcrafting materials, whereas the model viewers (n = 134) worked with a completed commercially available school model of DNA-structure. Surprisingly, the model viewers performed significantly better regarding a mid-term knowledge increase, while individual cognitive load scores remained similar. Accordingly, the model viewing approach produced significantly higher scores for instructional efficiency, pointing to enhanced cognitive achievement through a more intense perception of the DNA-models´ correct contents. While at the first glance our results seem quite surprising, implications for teaching when models come into play and ways to avoid such discrepancies are discussed in detail. Consequently, recommendations for classroom include advice to use advantages by simultaneously avoiding disadvantages.
2.
From STEM to STEAM – Cracking the Code? How creativity and science motivation interacts with inquiry-based classroom learning
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Conradty C. & Bogner F.X. University of Bayreuth, Germany
Abstract: A STEAM module integrating inquiry-based learning (IBSE) and creativity was applied to a sample of 160 students (aged 11-12 years, M± SD: 11.2 ± 0.40; 43.1% females). A four-hour lesson dealt with scientific phenomena surrounding bird flight, including the ancestral archaeopteryx as an attractor. Work at self-explanatory workstations allowed space for creativity and a high level of autonomy. An arts facet was employed on two workstations, using collaborative handicraft artwork on natural fossils, and the construction of paper aircraft for modelling. A workbook offered guidance to the participants, while the teacher’s role was passive (tutor). A pre-/post-/retention-test design monitored knowledge, motivation and creativity. The intervention produced long-term knowledge at a high level and built stable high scores of intrinsic motivation factors (intrinsic motivation and perceived self-determination).
To measure creativity we assessed cognitive processes associated with creativity (CPAC) using two subscales following Miller and Dumford (2016). We modified the label of the first factor as “Act” since it quantifies cognitive processes that are carried out consciously and actively to promote creative ideas and can be trained and taught. The items are a composite of different subscales of the long version of the questionnaire: idea manipulation, imagery, analogical thinking and idea generation. We labelled the second factor “Flow”, as all items are typical elements of a flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Miller (2014) had named this set of items “Flow” only the long version of the questionnaire. That factor is supposed to measure an important element of students’ motivational experiences at school. While creativity (measured by CPAC) did not contribute to cognitive learning (post-knowledge), it was related to the prior knowledge scores as well as to interest and self-determination. Creativity did not change, which shows a single creative, active event as influential, but seems to need more regular training and a sociocultural setting in order to develop. Conclusions for appropriate educational settings to foster creativity and to promote STEAM environments are discussed.
3.
Establishing a pan-European network of science educators, artists and researchers to create an engaging science classroom.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Alexopoulos G., Chaniotakis E., Stergiopoulos P., Sotiriou S., Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Department of Research & Development, Pallini, Athens, Greece
Abstract: Creative approaches based on art for an engaging science classroom have been developed in the framework of the EU-project CREATIONS, using a variety of events with theatre, photography, music composition, exhibitions in which young people can experience scientific research in an active and playful fashion. To achieve this, CREATIONS has established a network of more than 1,000 schools and 5000 teachers, artists and researchers at European level, using a community building and support framework through the CREATIONS online community portal. To assess the impact of the proposed approach a validation process was established by analyzing the usage of the portal for the time span of an academic year. The data analysis comprised the following portray: a) the temporal evolution of the number of contributors and the amount of content uploaded to the CREATIONS Portal; b) the number of portal visitors and c) visitor loyalty parameters (such as average time on site; depth of visit; length of visit). The quantitative results indicate that the exponential growth of contributors to the CREATIONS portal is followed by an exponential growth of the uploaded content. Altogether, about 55% of the users have contributed resources to the portal. Furthermore, the web usage analytics present significant changes in users' behavior during the period under study, with returning visitors using the CREATIONS Portal more frequently, mainly for lesson planning and preparation. The findings demonstrate that the new users follow the "law of surfing" behavior, a common pattern of surfing behavior in portals. However, returning users comprise more than 60% of all CREATIONS visits, stay longer on site and visit more pages. Returning visitors benchmarked against the "law of surfing" and outperformed it substantially. These quantitative results benchmark the web usage of a portal and provide its operators with maps of value-added patterns of the portal's offering to its users in the science education community. The work presents the monitoring mechanisms of teachers’ engagement and the demographic and behavior results of the 5000 engaged users which developed educational resources in CREATIONS portal. For this purpose, data analytics of the portal are used and as well the first results obtained through the analysis of the provided teacher feedback.
The Sound of the Earth: Bringing Earthquake Data Analysis in the classroom through Artistic Interventions.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Chaniotakis E., Alexopoulos G., Stergiopoulos P., Sotiriou S., Ellinogermaniki Agogi
Abstract: Our study within the CREATIONS initiative project involves teachers and students in Scientific Research through creative ways that are based on Art and focus on the development of effective synergies between schools and research infrastructures in order to spark young people’s interest in science and in following scientific careers.
Through the CREATIONS pedagogical approach, advanced scientific concepts and methodologies, have been introduced in the school classroom using artistic interventions based on creativity, with the aim to increase students’ science motivation and inspire them to follow STEM related careers. In this framework, we have introduced high school students with activities regarding the sonification of experimental data produced by particle collisions in LHC, gravitational waves, earthquakes or astronomical observations. These unique STEAM activities engage students in difficult scientific aspects using art as a vehicle and in parallel help increase their science motivation as well as build the foundations for students’ becoming informed and engaged citizens regarding scientific topics.
In this paper we present the “Sound of the Earth” demonstrator, a 4-hour ICT-enhanced and creativity-enriched, inquiry-based educational intervention, in which students engage with the science behind the (generation and) detection of earthquakes and apply data sonification techniques on seismograms of earthquakes detected in the Eastern Mediterranean, in order to produce their own earthquake-related music compositions. The “Sound of the Earth” module is implemented with 120 Greek high school students of age range 14-16 years old, in school class environment and in informal occasions as well such as afterschool science dedicated activities, students’ summer schools or conferences.
Assessment of the described lesson is realized in terms of acquired by the students’ subject content knowledge and science motivation, following a pre- and post-retention test design scheme. The results of the analysis of the 120 student questionnaires indicate a clear increase in student scientific content knowledge and science motivation.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vanessa Hince, Mary MacKillop Catholic Community Primary School
Abstract: Positive mental health or wellbeing relates to coping with everyday stress in life, being productive and achieving your full potential. The Australian Government report on the Young Minds Matter Study in 2015 found that 13.9% of youth aged 4-17 suffered some sort of mental disorder over the previous year. This can affect a young person’s school attendance, how they function in the school environment and their academic results.The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact a creative process based Integrated Arts Programme could have on the mental wellbeing of 11-12 year-old children. The eight week programme involved working in small groups to translate a visual artwork into a piece of music and a dance or dramatic work. It was implemented as part of three Year Six classes’ usual music specialist lessons within a Catholic primary school in the Perth metropolitan area. Quantitative data was collected using the Personal Wellbeing Index School Children self-report survey, and qualitative data was collected by conducting two semi-structured focus-group interviews with 5 participants in each group after the programme concluded. The quantitative data indicates the programme had a positive impact on the participants’ mental well being, with the participants’ mean score on the Personal Wellbeing Index increasing by 3.06% from 80.09% to 83.15%. This difference was statistically significant at 0.01.
Creative Experiences, Flow, and Difficulties in Emotional Regulation in Childhood Adversity Groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Paula Thomson & S. Victoria Jaque, California State University, Northridge
Abstract: Childhood adversity and cumulative trauma are strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In this IRB approved study, a sample of individuals (n = 397) (performing artists, elite athletes, recreational athletes) was divided into three groups based on exposure to childhood adversity. Creative experiences, dispositional flow, and difficulties in emotion regulation were examined. Childhood adversity experiences (ACE) included abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, neglect (emotional, physical), and family dysfunction (separation/divorce, domestic violence, family member with mental illness, substance abuse or history of incarceration). The sample was divided into a group with no ACE, one to three ACEs, and four or more ACEs. Study results demonstrated no group differences for global dispositional flow, autotelic experiences, or challenge-skill balance while engaging in a preferred activity. A different picture emerged for creativity. The group with four or more ACEs experienced higher rates of distinct experiences while creating, greater feelings of power and pleasure, increased absorption, more anxiety prior to and during the creative experience, greater clarity and certainty while, deeper sense of self transformation, and feelings that transcended beyond the personal. Those with four or more ACEs claimed that creativity was healing and provided existential meaning. This same group struggled to regulate negative emotions including formulating strategic plans to cope with intense emotions, inability to accept feelings, and greater difficulty formulating goals to overcome emotional distress. This group had much higher cumulative adult trauma. Regardless of childhood adversity, all groups were able to enjoy the integrating experience of flow while engaging in preferred activities.
8:30-10:15 Symposium:
From STEM to STEAM - a European initiative to integrate creativity into science classrooms
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
1.
Creativity as innovative trigger to instructional efficiency in molecular outreach labs
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Bogner F.X. & Mierdel J.,University of Bayreuth, Germany
Abstract: As a pan-European initiative, CREATIONS (http://creations-project.eu/) focusses on potential impacts on advancing science classrooms in order to optimize teaching options, to improve outreach outcomes and to maximize social/economic impacts without detracting from primary research objectives. Hands-on experiments within molecular contexts of outreach labs aim to support individual cognitive learning. Increasingly, these efforts include the use of media to visualize the otherwise invisible. We applied for 9th graders a hands-on module with the first year curriculum content of genetics, by combining experimentation and model work. A model subunit was included to support the experimental work. We compared the impact of two different modules on cognitive achievement, cognitive load and instructional efficiency. We divided our sample (N = 254) into two groups: While both were subjected to the experimental part of the module, the model constructors (n = 120) were required to generate a DNA-model using assorted handcrafting materials, whereas the model viewers (n = 134) worked with a completed commercially available school model of DNA-structure. Surprisingly, the model viewers performed significantly better regarding a mid-term knowledge increase, while individual cognitive load scores remained similar. Accordingly, the model viewing approach produced significantly higher scores for instructional efficiency, pointing to enhanced cognitive achievement through a more intense perception of the DNA-models´ correct contents. While at the first glance our results seem quite surprising, implications for teaching when models come into play and ways to avoid such discrepancies are discussed in detail. Consequently, recommendations for classroom include advice to use advantages by simultaneously avoiding disadvantages.
2.
From STEM to STEAM – Cracking the Code? How creativity and science motivation interacts with inquiry-based classroom learning
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Conradty C. & Bogner F.X. University of Bayreuth, Germany
Abstract: A STEAM module integrating inquiry-based learning (IBSE) and creativity was applied to a sample of 160 students (aged 11-12 years, M± SD: 11.2 ± 0.40; 43.1% females). A four-hour lesson dealt with scientific phenomena surrounding bird flight, including the ancestral archaeopteryx as an attractor. Work at self-explanatory workstations allowed space for creativity and a high level of autonomy. An arts facet was employed on two workstations, using collaborative handicraft artwork on natural fossils, and the construction of paper aircraft for modelling. A workbook offered guidance to the participants, while the teacher’s role was passive (tutor). A pre-/post-/retention-test design monitored knowledge, motivation and creativity. The intervention produced long-term knowledge at a high level and built stable high scores of intrinsic motivation factors (intrinsic motivation and perceived self-determination).
To measure creativity we assessed cognitive processes associated with creativity (CPAC) using two subscales following Miller and Dumford (2016). We modified the label of the first factor as “Act” since it quantifies cognitive processes that are carried out consciously and actively to promote creative ideas and can be trained and taught. The items are a composite of different subscales of the long version of the questionnaire: idea manipulation, imagery, analogical thinking and idea generation. We labelled the second factor “Flow”, as all items are typical elements of a flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Miller (2014) had named this set of items “Flow” only the long version of the questionnaire. That factor is supposed to measure an important element of students’ motivational experiences at school. While creativity (measured by CPAC) did not contribute to cognitive learning (post-knowledge), it was related to the prior knowledge scores as well as to interest and self-determination. Creativity did not change, which shows a single creative, active event as influential, but seems to need more regular training and a sociocultural setting in order to develop. Conclusions for appropriate educational settings to foster creativity and to promote STEAM environments are discussed.
3.
Establishing a pan-European network of science educators, artists and researchers to create an engaging science classroom.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Alexopoulos G., Chaniotakis E., Stergiopoulos P., Sotiriou S., Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Department of Research & Development, Pallini, Athens, Greece
Abstract: Creative approaches based on art for an engaging science classroom have been developed in the framework of the EU-project CREATIONS, using a variety of events with theatre, photography, music composition, exhibitions in which young people can experience scientific research in an active and playful fashion. To achieve this, CREATIONS has established a network of more than 1,000 schools and 5000 teachers, artists and researchers at European level, using a community building and support framework through the CREATIONS online community portal. To assess the impact of the proposed approach a validation process was established by analyzing the usage of the portal for the time span of an academic year. The data analysis comprised the following portray: a) the temporal evolution of the number of contributors and the amount of content uploaded to the CREATIONS Portal; b) the number of portal visitors and c) visitor loyalty parameters (such as average time on site; depth of visit; length of visit). The quantitative results indicate that the exponential growth of contributors to the CREATIONS portal is followed by an exponential growth of the uploaded content. Altogether, about 55% of the users have contributed resources to the portal. Furthermore, the web usage analytics present significant changes in users' behavior during the period under study, with returning visitors using the CREATIONS Portal more frequently, mainly for lesson planning and preparation. The findings demonstrate that the new users follow the "law of surfing" behavior, a common pattern of surfing behavior in portals. However, returning users comprise more than 60% of all CREATIONS visits, stay longer on site and visit more pages. Returning visitors benchmarked against the "law of surfing" and outperformed it substantially. These quantitative results benchmark the web usage of a portal and provide its operators with maps of value-added patterns of the portal's offering to its users in the science education community. The work presents the monitoring mechanisms of teachers’ engagement and the demographic and behavior results of the 5000 engaged users which developed educational resources in CREATIONS portal. For this purpose, data analytics of the portal are used and as well the first results obtained through the analysis of the provided teacher feedback.
The Sound of the Earth: Bringing Earthquake Data Analysis in the classroom through Artistic Interventions.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Chaniotakis E., Alexopoulos G., Stergiopoulos P., Sotiriou S., Ellinogermaniki Agogi
Abstract: Our study within the CREATIONS initiative project involves teachers and students in Scientific Research through creative ways that are based on Art and focus on the development of effective synergies between schools and research infrastructures in order to spark young people’s interest in science and in following scientific careers.
Through the CREATIONS pedagogical approach, advanced scientific concepts and methodologies, have been introduced in the school classroom using artistic interventions based on creativity, with the aim to increase students’ science motivation and inspire them to follow STEM related careers. In this framework, we have introduced high school students with activities regarding the sonification of experimental data produced by particle collisions in LHC, gravitational waves, earthquakes or astronomical observations. These unique STEAM activities engage students in difficult scientific aspects using art as a vehicle and in parallel help increase their science motivation as well as build the foundations for students’ becoming informed and engaged citizens regarding scientific topics.
In this paper we present the “Sound of the Earth” demonstrator, a 4-hour ICT-enhanced and creativity-enriched, inquiry-based educational intervention, in which students engage with the science behind the (generation and) detection of earthquakes and apply data sonification techniques on seismograms of earthquakes detected in the Eastern Mediterranean, in order to produce their own earthquake-related music compositions. The “Sound of the Earth” module is implemented with 120 Greek high school students of age range 14-16 years old, in school class environment and in informal occasions as well such as afterschool science dedicated activities, students’ summer schools or conferences.
Assessment of the described lesson is realized in terms of acquired by the students’ subject content knowledge and science motivation, following a pre- and post-retention test design scheme. The results of the analysis of the 120 student questionnaires indicate a clear increase in student scientific content knowledge and science motivation.
8:15AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS IN SU Diversions
Bilingualism and Creativity: Towards a Situated-Embodied Cognition Approach
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marloes van Dijk, Elma Blom, Evelyn Kroesbergen, & Paul Leseman, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Abstract: This presentation focuses on creativity among bilingual children. Various studies have shown that bilingualism is positively related to creativity. Researchers have pointed to the role of executive functioning to explain this association, following research that has demonstrated that several executive functions are better developed among bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals. This approach fits the traditional psychological trait theory, which states that cognitive skills, such as intelligence or creativity, should be seen as personal characteristics that are relatively stable over time and inherently differ between individuals. Recent findings, however, suggest that cognitive processes, and actions that result from these processes, are to be regarded as situated-embodied, meaning that they are influenced by environmental factors and by a person’s perceptions of and actions towards these environmental factors. In my presentation, this alternative approach is discussed, in which creativity can be defined as the emerging skill of an individual to discover affordances, to come up with creative ideas and products. Bilinguals have enriched conceptual systems, which allows for more exploratory actions, and‚ therefore‚ increased creativity. Furthermore, being immersed in multiple cultures and having enhanced sustained attention, flexibility, and working memory may make bilinguals advantaged in discovering affordances. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Inhibition, Friend or Foe? Inhibition as a Moderator between Mathematical Ability and Mathematical Creativity in Primary School Children
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marije Stolte, J. E. H. van Luit, Utrecht University, the Netherlands & E. H. Kroesbergen, Radboud University, the Netherlands
Abstract: To examine the underlying factors of creativity and mathematics in children, we investigated whether inhibition moderated the relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical creativity. Mathematical creativity was measured with a multiple solution task, scored on measures of fluency, flexibility, and originality. The sample included 119 children (8-11 years old). Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that while there was a direct relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical creativity, inhibition did not have a main effect but positively moderated this relationship for flexibility (ΔR2 = .055, ΔF(1, 77) = 6.307, p < .02, b = .252, t(77) = 2.51, p < .02) and originality (ΔR2 = .049, ΔF(1, 76) = 4.374, p = .04, b = .219, t(76) = 2.09, p < .05) but not for fluency scores (ΔR2 = .00, ΔF(1, 75) = .037, p = .847, b = -.016, t(75) = -.193, p = .847). These results indicate that when a child has less inhibition their flexible and original mathematical creativity performance dependents more on mathematical ability compared to a child with good inhibition. A possible explanation for this result may be that when someone is more disinhibited, other mathematical strategies are easier to retrieve, making this person more flexible in their mathematical thinking, leading to a higher chance of original answers. In contrast, to be fluent one may simply generate multiple answers within the same category, which might not require inhibition as much. Explanations and implications of these results will be discussed in more depth during the presentation.
Do mood swings enhance creativity?
Presenter(s)/Co-author(s) Jong Han Kim & Kallie Stephens, Coastal Carolina University
Abstract: This study contrasts the effects of two moods (positive and negative) on a person’s creativity. Specifically, does a positive mood followed by a negative mood foster creativity (P->N), or is the reverse the more effective order (N->P)? Previous research has focused on historical figures (for example, the composer Robert Schumann, a manic depressive) to explore how creativity works within the so-called mad-genius controversy. Others have induced variations of moods in clinically depressed participants to measure changes in their creativity. Those researchers, however, did not directly manipulate any two moods to contrast their effects. In the context of self-regulation of goal setting, Oettingen (2014) conducted a mental contrasting study showing that the sequence of a positive future expectancy followed by a negative view of present reality produced increased creativity. This sequence (P->N) is critical in mental contrasting research; however, it does not conform with findings from the earlier mad-genius research, which indicated that people with bipolar disorder are usually more creative during their manic stages. Furthermore, mental contrasting research focuses on cognition rather than mood. To resolve those discrepancies, we plan to test when creativity is highest under four mood conditions: P-only, N-only, P->N, and N->P. We predict that a sequence of contrasting moods will be more conducive to creativity than a single mood, particularly the sequence of negative to positive mood (N->P). If so, shifts in moods may be instrumental for persons seeking creative solutions.
Using visual practices to promote creative/critical thinking
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jung Lee, Frank Cerreto, Stockton University & Hyunjung Byun, Seoul Women's University
Abstract: Based on the Association of College & Research Libraries Visual Literacy Competency Standards of Higher Education (2011), visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. There are a number of articles addressing how visual literacy relates to scientific reasoning, analytical and analogical thinking, creative thinking and critical thinking. As Rezabek (2005) summarized, people can become more creative and critical thinkers by visual literacy practice. These visual practices do not have to be confined to any particular subject or inside of the classroom. Because of the pervasiveness of images and visual media, students can practice creative/critical thinking skills easily. In this presentation, we demonstrate visual literacy activities that we have been providing to students inside and outside of the classroom in order to promote their critical/creative thinking skills. These activities can be used or adapted to many different disciplines. Along with practical activities, the actual projects of students will be presented.
An adapted coding scheme for measuring divergent thinking strategies with the alternative uses task in 4-year-olds
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Honghong Bai, Hanna Mulder, Paul Leseman, Utrecht University, & Evelyn Kroesbergen, Radboud University
Abstract: Divergent thinking is important for innovation and problem solving. It involves processes of generating multiple solutions to an open-ended problem and is usually evaluated by fluency and originality with, for instance, the alternative uses task (AUT). Gilhooly and colleagues (2007) found that using some strategies could promote fluency and originality in adults. In this study, a coding scheme was developed to extract the strategies that adults use in divergent thinking. Not such effort has been done in early childhood which is deemed to be a golden period for developing divergent thinking, because children tend to be naturally more imaginative and curious. This study hence: (1) attempts to adapt Gilhooly et al.’s coding scheme for the use with young children; (2) evaluate the psychometric properties of the coding scheme. We first analyzed 10 4- to 7-year-olds’ divergent thinking protocols of the AUT (children were constantly asked how they came up with an idea) and adapted the coding scheme (with good interrater reliability; Kappa .65 for basic categories, and .71 when strategies were grouped). Second, we recruited 107 4-year-olds and tested them again with the alternative uses task. The results of a preliminary analysis of 50 children showed that relationships between strategies and fluency and originality were only partially consistent with Gilhooly et al’s study. A valuable finding is that children sometimes used imagination to generate new ideas, and imagination strategy influenced fluency significantly. Future analyses will be conducted to investigate the validity and reliability of the coding scheme using different methods.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marloes van Dijk, Elma Blom, Evelyn Kroesbergen, & Paul Leseman, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Abstract: This presentation focuses on creativity among bilingual children. Various studies have shown that bilingualism is positively related to creativity. Researchers have pointed to the role of executive functioning to explain this association, following research that has demonstrated that several executive functions are better developed among bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals. This approach fits the traditional psychological trait theory, which states that cognitive skills, such as intelligence or creativity, should be seen as personal characteristics that are relatively stable over time and inherently differ between individuals. Recent findings, however, suggest that cognitive processes, and actions that result from these processes, are to be regarded as situated-embodied, meaning that they are influenced by environmental factors and by a person’s perceptions of and actions towards these environmental factors. In my presentation, this alternative approach is discussed, in which creativity can be defined as the emerging skill of an individual to discover affordances, to come up with creative ideas and products. Bilinguals have enriched conceptual systems, which allows for more exploratory actions, and‚ therefore‚ increased creativity. Furthermore, being immersed in multiple cultures and having enhanced sustained attention, flexibility, and working memory may make bilinguals advantaged in discovering affordances. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Inhibition, Friend or Foe? Inhibition as a Moderator between Mathematical Ability and Mathematical Creativity in Primary School Children
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Marije Stolte, J. E. H. van Luit, Utrecht University, the Netherlands & E. H. Kroesbergen, Radboud University, the Netherlands
Abstract: To examine the underlying factors of creativity and mathematics in children, we investigated whether inhibition moderated the relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical creativity. Mathematical creativity was measured with a multiple solution task, scored on measures of fluency, flexibility, and originality. The sample included 119 children (8-11 years old). Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that while there was a direct relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical creativity, inhibition did not have a main effect but positively moderated this relationship for flexibility (ΔR2 = .055, ΔF(1, 77) = 6.307, p < .02, b = .252, t(77) = 2.51, p < .02) and originality (ΔR2 = .049, ΔF(1, 76) = 4.374, p = .04, b = .219, t(76) = 2.09, p < .05) but not for fluency scores (ΔR2 = .00, ΔF(1, 75) = .037, p = .847, b = -.016, t(75) = -.193, p = .847). These results indicate that when a child has less inhibition their flexible and original mathematical creativity performance dependents more on mathematical ability compared to a child with good inhibition. A possible explanation for this result may be that when someone is more disinhibited, other mathematical strategies are easier to retrieve, making this person more flexible in their mathematical thinking, leading to a higher chance of original answers. In contrast, to be fluent one may simply generate multiple answers within the same category, which might not require inhibition as much. Explanations and implications of these results will be discussed in more depth during the presentation.
Do mood swings enhance creativity?
Presenter(s)/Co-author(s) Jong Han Kim & Kallie Stephens, Coastal Carolina University
Abstract: This study contrasts the effects of two moods (positive and negative) on a person’s creativity. Specifically, does a positive mood followed by a negative mood foster creativity (P->N), or is the reverse the more effective order (N->P)? Previous research has focused on historical figures (for example, the composer Robert Schumann, a manic depressive) to explore how creativity works within the so-called mad-genius controversy. Others have induced variations of moods in clinically depressed participants to measure changes in their creativity. Those researchers, however, did not directly manipulate any two moods to contrast their effects. In the context of self-regulation of goal setting, Oettingen (2014) conducted a mental contrasting study showing that the sequence of a positive future expectancy followed by a negative view of present reality produced increased creativity. This sequence (P->N) is critical in mental contrasting research; however, it does not conform with findings from the earlier mad-genius research, which indicated that people with bipolar disorder are usually more creative during their manic stages. Furthermore, mental contrasting research focuses on cognition rather than mood. To resolve those discrepancies, we plan to test when creativity is highest under four mood conditions: P-only, N-only, P->N, and N->P. We predict that a sequence of contrasting moods will be more conducive to creativity than a single mood, particularly the sequence of negative to positive mood (N->P). If so, shifts in moods may be instrumental for persons seeking creative solutions.
Using visual practices to promote creative/critical thinking
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jung Lee, Frank Cerreto, Stockton University & Hyunjung Byun, Seoul Women's University
Abstract: Based on the Association of College & Research Libraries Visual Literacy Competency Standards of Higher Education (2011), visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. There are a number of articles addressing how visual literacy relates to scientific reasoning, analytical and analogical thinking, creative thinking and critical thinking. As Rezabek (2005) summarized, people can become more creative and critical thinkers by visual literacy practice. These visual practices do not have to be confined to any particular subject or inside of the classroom. Because of the pervasiveness of images and visual media, students can practice creative/critical thinking skills easily. In this presentation, we demonstrate visual literacy activities that we have been providing to students inside and outside of the classroom in order to promote their critical/creative thinking skills. These activities can be used or adapted to many different disciplines. Along with practical activities, the actual projects of students will be presented.
An adapted coding scheme for measuring divergent thinking strategies with the alternative uses task in 4-year-olds
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Honghong Bai, Hanna Mulder, Paul Leseman, Utrecht University, & Evelyn Kroesbergen, Radboud University
Abstract: Divergent thinking is important for innovation and problem solving. It involves processes of generating multiple solutions to an open-ended problem and is usually evaluated by fluency and originality with, for instance, the alternative uses task (AUT). Gilhooly and colleagues (2007) found that using some strategies could promote fluency and originality in adults. In this study, a coding scheme was developed to extract the strategies that adults use in divergent thinking. Not such effort has been done in early childhood which is deemed to be a golden period for developing divergent thinking, because children tend to be naturally more imaginative and curious. This study hence: (1) attempts to adapt Gilhooly et al.’s coding scheme for the use with young children; (2) evaluate the psychometric properties of the coding scheme. We first analyzed 10 4- to 7-year-olds’ divergent thinking protocols of the AUT (children were constantly asked how they came up with an idea) and adapted the coding scheme (with good interrater reliability; Kappa .65 for basic categories, and .71 when strategies were grouped). Second, we recruited 107 4-year-olds and tested them again with the alternative uses task. The results of a preliminary analysis of 50 children showed that relationships between strategies and fluency and originality were only partially consistent with Gilhooly et al’s study. A valuable finding is that children sometimes used imagination to generate new ideas, and imagination strategy influenced fluency significantly. Future analyses will be conducted to investigate the validity and reliability of the coding scheme using different methods.
9:30AM - 10:15AM CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Do you Need to be Smart to be Creative?: Testing the Threshold Hypothesis with Quantile Regression
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Denis Dumas
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Relational reasoning (RR) and divergent thinking (DT) are two critical antecedents of creative problem solving, but the relation between them is not currently well understood psychologically, limiting efforts to support these constructs through education. The threshold hypothesis (TH) is currently the dominant explanation for the relation between RR and DT, and posits that RR fundamentally supports DT, but only up to a point. In this study, quantile regression was used to test the TH among RR and two separate dimensions of DT: originality and fluency. Results generally supported the TH in regards to originality, with RR being significantly positively related to originality, but only in students at or below the median of the originality distribution. However, the TH was not upheld for fluency, which was only significantly predicted by RR at the top (i.e. 9th decile) of the fluency distribution. In general, results suggest that direct instructional intervention of RR strategies may be most supportive of creativity for those students who are simultaneously highly fluent but low-original thinkers.
Conflict and Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Louise Neilson, Marylhurst University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: What aspects of your belief system prevent you from being more creative? Blocks to creativity and causes of conflict and are interchangeable; different sides of the same coin. This presentation offers the opportunity for participants to examine individual current creative dilemmas through the lens of conflict resolution theory and application. One’s creativity can be enhanced by breaking down limiting personal, perceptual, and cultural blocks in to their conflict lens components: differing perceptions, limited resources, unmet needs, power imbalances, and/or values. This method allows them to expand their thinking beyond their often-unconscious limiting belief about the situation. Breakthroughs happen as a result!
The development of learning experience design principles for creative problem solving on actual social problems
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyunjung Byun, Seoul Women's University & Jung Lee, Stockton University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Enhancing Creativity in higher education is an important issue as well as in K-12. The undergraduate students, who work and collaborate in actual work setting after graduation, need to practice to solve the actual social problems in teams. The undergraduates who experience actual social problem solving might enhance positive attitude toward challenge, and lead naturally them to creative problem solving. The research question was how to design the meaningful learning experiences in the process of creative problem solving with actual social problems? The learning experience design principles are suggested to guide team-based creative problem solving for actual social problems. The learning experience design principles of creative problem solving for actual social problems include five principles and 24 sub-principles. The principles were developed based on review of the previous studies and analysis of students' reflection and interviews. Five principles include global citizenship, team-based learning, creative problem-solving process, social communication, and reflection. First, let students to develop the social value that they are pursuing in solving problems. Second, make the classroom climate in team-based learning to be positive, supportive and collaborative. Third, let students to understand the meaning and the process of problem solving and practice. Fourth, regarding social communication, let students to communicate effectively and persuasively within teams, between teams, and with related organizations outside of the universities. Fifth, let students reflect their own learning including process, results and further action. The advantages and limitations of this design principles need to be discussed.
Learning through Play: How Hands-on Experiences Can Help Stakeholders Understand the Science of Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Elisabeth McClure, LEGO Foundation
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Whether presenting to academics, policy makers, educators, or the general public, communicating about the science of creativity can be difficult. Many people hold pre-existing ideas and biases about what creativity is, who has it, and whether or how it develops. The LEGO Foundation uses carefully designed, evidence-based, hands-on experiences to sidestep these assumptions, replacing them with evidence that participants internalize by literally holding it in their hands. In this interactive workshop, attendees will participate in one of the Foundation’s most popular hands-on activities on creativity – which demonstrates the power of open-ended creative experiences for learning and holistic skills development – and get a glimpse at a new hands-on experience, still in development, which is designed to support formative, reflective conversations about the creative process between educators and learners. Come prepared to play and build!
Embodied Creative Space: The Ritual of Musical Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Zvonimir Nagy; Associate Professor of Music, Duquesne University
Location: Diversions
Abstract: By exploring the reciprocity of psychological and philosophical "spaces" -- attributes, affinities, and actions, the paper makes an argument for the emergence of an embodied creative space in composition, performance, and analysis of music. While focusing on the central hypothesis that exposure to specific musical practices leads to the formation of creative embodied schemas, the paper draws on empirical and theoretical research in music psychology and philosophy, as well as on concepts from cognitive music theory to identify a relationship between musical creativity and embodiment. The author defines embodiment of musical creativity as a cognitive and performative causality: a relationship between the cause and effect when composing, performing, or listening to music. The paper thus suggests that music-making becomes a situated, ritual-like endeavor, forming a link that grows out of a causality of two attributes of embodied creative space: the cognitive musical affinities controlled and sustained by our mind; and the performative actions that may be understood as the body’s enactment of musical structure. Delivered from the perspective of a music scholar and practitioner in the fields of musical composition, performance, and analysis, the aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, to define the concept of creative musical space as an agency that lives at the threshold of the mind and body, i.e., cognition and perception, mental and physical; and secondly, to contribute to the interdisciplinary discourse on the connection between music and creativity in the context of embodied music cognition.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Denis Dumas
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Relational reasoning (RR) and divergent thinking (DT) are two critical antecedents of creative problem solving, but the relation between them is not currently well understood psychologically, limiting efforts to support these constructs through education. The threshold hypothesis (TH) is currently the dominant explanation for the relation between RR and DT, and posits that RR fundamentally supports DT, but only up to a point. In this study, quantile regression was used to test the TH among RR and two separate dimensions of DT: originality and fluency. Results generally supported the TH in regards to originality, with RR being significantly positively related to originality, but only in students at or below the median of the originality distribution. However, the TH was not upheld for fluency, which was only significantly predicted by RR at the top (i.e. 9th decile) of the fluency distribution. In general, results suggest that direct instructional intervention of RR strategies may be most supportive of creativity for those students who are simultaneously highly fluent but low-original thinkers.
Conflict and Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Louise Neilson, Marylhurst University
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: What aspects of your belief system prevent you from being more creative? Blocks to creativity and causes of conflict and are interchangeable; different sides of the same coin. This presentation offers the opportunity for participants to examine individual current creative dilemmas through the lens of conflict resolution theory and application. One’s creativity can be enhanced by breaking down limiting personal, perceptual, and cultural blocks in to their conflict lens components: differing perceptions, limited resources, unmet needs, power imbalances, and/or values. This method allows them to expand their thinking beyond their often-unconscious limiting belief about the situation. Breakthroughs happen as a result!
The development of learning experience design principles for creative problem solving on actual social problems
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyunjung Byun, Seoul Women's University & Jung Lee, Stockton University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Enhancing Creativity in higher education is an important issue as well as in K-12. The undergraduate students, who work and collaborate in actual work setting after graduation, need to practice to solve the actual social problems in teams. The undergraduates who experience actual social problem solving might enhance positive attitude toward challenge, and lead naturally them to creative problem solving. The research question was how to design the meaningful learning experiences in the process of creative problem solving with actual social problems? The learning experience design principles are suggested to guide team-based creative problem solving for actual social problems. The learning experience design principles of creative problem solving for actual social problems include five principles and 24 sub-principles. The principles were developed based on review of the previous studies and analysis of students' reflection and interviews. Five principles include global citizenship, team-based learning, creative problem-solving process, social communication, and reflection. First, let students to develop the social value that they are pursuing in solving problems. Second, make the classroom climate in team-based learning to be positive, supportive and collaborative. Third, let students to understand the meaning and the process of problem solving and practice. Fourth, regarding social communication, let students to communicate effectively and persuasively within teams, between teams, and with related organizations outside of the universities. Fifth, let students reflect their own learning including process, results and further action. The advantages and limitations of this design principles need to be discussed.
Learning through Play: How Hands-on Experiences Can Help Stakeholders Understand the Science of Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Elisabeth McClure, LEGO Foundation
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Whether presenting to academics, policy makers, educators, or the general public, communicating about the science of creativity can be difficult. Many people hold pre-existing ideas and biases about what creativity is, who has it, and whether or how it develops. The LEGO Foundation uses carefully designed, evidence-based, hands-on experiences to sidestep these assumptions, replacing them with evidence that participants internalize by literally holding it in their hands. In this interactive workshop, attendees will participate in one of the Foundation’s most popular hands-on activities on creativity – which demonstrates the power of open-ended creative experiences for learning and holistic skills development – and get a glimpse at a new hands-on experience, still in development, which is designed to support formative, reflective conversations about the creative process between educators and learners. Come prepared to play and build!
Embodied Creative Space: The Ritual of Musical Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Zvonimir Nagy; Associate Professor of Music, Duquesne University
Location: Diversions
Abstract: By exploring the reciprocity of psychological and philosophical "spaces" -- attributes, affinities, and actions, the paper makes an argument for the emergence of an embodied creative space in composition, performance, and analysis of music. While focusing on the central hypothesis that exposure to specific musical practices leads to the formation of creative embodied schemas, the paper draws on empirical and theoretical research in music psychology and philosophy, as well as on concepts from cognitive music theory to identify a relationship between musical creativity and embodiment. The author defines embodiment of musical creativity as a cognitive and performative causality: a relationship between the cause and effect when composing, performing, or listening to music. The paper thus suggests that music-making becomes a situated, ritual-like endeavor, forming a link that grows out of a causality of two attributes of embodied creative space: the cognitive musical affinities controlled and sustained by our mind; and the performative actions that may be understood as the body’s enactment of musical structure. Delivered from the perspective of a music scholar and practitioner in the fields of musical composition, performance, and analysis, the aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, to define the concept of creative musical space as an agency that lives at the threshold of the mind and body, i.e., cognition and perception, mental and physical; and secondly, to contribute to the interdisciplinary discourse on the connection between music and creativity in the context of embodied music cognition.
10:30AM - 11:30AM INVITED ADDRESS & CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Incubation: Past, Present and Future
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kenneth Gilhooly, Brunel University London
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Setting a creative problem aside for a while is often suggested as being useful when progress has stalled. Whether such “incubation” breaks are really helpful and if so, how they work, has been controversial for many years. Although we now have ample evidence supporting the value of incubation periods in creative problem solving, the mechanisms remain unclear. Intermittent conscious work, beneficial forgetting and unconscious work are possible process explanations. Current evidence and future directions will be discussed.
Homo creativus and measures of creative potential
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Todd Lubart, Paris Descartes University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creative potential refers to the latent ability to produce novel, valuable work. The presentation will, first, provide an overview of the history of creativity measurement and its challenges. Second, the EPoC (Evaluation of Creative Potential) battery to measure creativity (graphic, verbal, scientific, mathematic, social) in children and adolescents, will be presented with research results from international studies across ten countries. Third, research on adults using a creative profiler tool with example from higher education and business settings will be described. Both the theoretical and practical issues of creativity measurement will be discussed in terms of challenges that remain, and recommendations for best practices given the current state of the art.
Polymathy at the Heart of Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Araki, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: The literature on creativity has long posed that highly creative individuals tend to have a broad array of interests and they often work‚Äîsimultaneously or sequentially‚Äîon a large number of loosely interconnected problems. However, why is that so? In this presentation, I take a detailed look at the concept of polymathy (which traditionally means expertise in various domains) and explain how polymathic and creative behavior are intimately connected. The presentation is organized along three themes. First, I build upon previous literature on polymathy to examine the nature of construct, unravel its components, and differentiate polymathy from other concepts such as dilettancy and universalism. Second, I revisit relevant ideas in the field of creativity (e.g., Sternberg and Lubart’s investment theory of creativity; Rubenson and Runco’s psycho economic approach to creativity; and Simonton’s view of creativity as a constrained stochastic process) through the lens of polymathy studies. Third, I present a simple model of creativity that aims to illustrate how the concepts of polymathy and creativity are related at their core.
Transformative Arts Integration: Educators as Creative Pedagogical Artists
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Inflexion; Nate Beard, Creative Engagement Lab; Jessica Land, Creative Engagement Lab
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: If teachers are to fulfill Dewey's promise of becoming the ultimate artists for democratic society, then the development of their creative resources and leadership capacity must be developed. Teacher leadership in the literature often relates to largely superficial representations of leadership within a technocracy that restricts their creative development. This presentation explores the role that teachers' creative resources play in their leadership development as pedagogical artists and how arts integration processes shape that development. The presentation will explore the process of arts integration design, implementation, and refinement in middle school classrooms during a four-year development project. The sample includes more than 50 teachers that experienced up to 120 hours of professional development with coaching, in-service, and collaborative design. Presenters will share insights from several studies conducted with multiple data sources to understand the development of teachers as creative pedagogical artists. Data sources included interviews, surveys video documentation, divergent thinking tasks, written reflection, curriculum analysis, and classroom observations. The presentation will conclude with design principles for professional development that aims at developing the creative resources of educators in support of their transformation into pedagogical artists.
Creating your own intelligence test: Implications for cognition research and education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Saskia Jaarsveld & Thomas Lachmann, University of Kaiserslautern
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: We present the Creative Reasoning Test (CRT; Jaarsveld et al., 2010, 2012), which was developed on the basis of an alternative construct of human cognitive functioning: creative reasoning is understood as a thinking process in which cognitive abilities associated with intelligent and with creative thinking are intertwined. Thereby, the CRT circumvents methodological problems regarding the validity of studies comparing results from intelligence and creativity tests, given that standard intelligence and creativity tests not only vary in the definition of their constructs, but also in problem space, and their knowledge domain. The CRT presents participants with an empty 3x3 matrix and asks them to fill it out, as original and complex as possible, by creating components and the relationships that connect them. Results of the CRT are compared with those of a standard intelligence test (Standard Progressive Matrices, SPM; Raven 1998) and a standard creativity test (Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production, TCT-DP; Urban & Jellen, 1985). Studies focusing on cognitive development and intelligence-creativity theory showed, respectively, that (a) in the CRT process abilities related to intelligent and creative thinking intertwine in different stages and can be assessed independently (b) problem space being well or ill-defined affects cognitive processing; cognitive development as inferred from the CRT differs from that yielded by TCT-DP and especially from that yielded by SPM, and (c) with knowledge domain controlled for the relationship between intelligence and creativity yields different results as defined in the Threshold Theory. Implications for research, methodology, and education are discussed.
Deliberate Assessment of the Creative Process
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Lisa Rubenstein, Gregory L. Callan, & Lisa M. Ridgley, Ball State University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: The creativity field has progressed beyond mystical notions that creativity begins with muses; however, current creativity assessment techniques do not capture that shift. We know specific creativity training programs are successful in helping individuals develop more creative ideas, but we are still unsure of the underlying mechanisms that influence this development. Existing assessment methods were not designed to capture how people regulate themselves throughout the creative process, specifically how motivational beliefs, external behaviors, and explicit strategies influence the creative process. This information, however, would provide important insights into which program components are most effective and if/how participants transfer their training to new situations. To address this gap, we designed the Creative Process Protocol. Within this protocol, participants are asked specific process questions while engaged in a creative task. Before they begin the task, they indicate what strategies they plan to use, their self-efficacy, and interest level. Then, as they are engaged with the task, they report which strategies they are using, and finally after task completion, they evaluate their work. Initial studies using this method indicate that strategic planning, strategy use (e.g., perspective-taking and connecting to prior experiences), as well as self-efficacy, predict creative performances. This approach provides helpful data for researchers, educators, and managers who are concerned with designing and implementing the most efficient and effective training programs.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kenneth Gilhooly, Brunel University London
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: Setting a creative problem aside for a while is often suggested as being useful when progress has stalled. Whether such “incubation” breaks are really helpful and if so, how they work, has been controversial for many years. Although we now have ample evidence supporting the value of incubation periods in creative problem solving, the mechanisms remain unclear. Intermittent conscious work, beneficial forgetting and unconscious work are possible process explanations. Current evidence and future directions will be discussed.
Homo creativus and measures of creative potential
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Todd Lubart, Paris Descartes University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creative potential refers to the latent ability to produce novel, valuable work. The presentation will, first, provide an overview of the history of creativity measurement and its challenges. Second, the EPoC (Evaluation of Creative Potential) battery to measure creativity (graphic, verbal, scientific, mathematic, social) in children and adolescents, will be presented with research results from international studies across ten countries. Third, research on adults using a creative profiler tool with example from higher education and business settings will be described. Both the theoretical and practical issues of creativity measurement will be discussed in terms of challenges that remain, and recommendations for best practices given the current state of the art.
Polymathy at the Heart of Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Araki, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: The literature on creativity has long posed that highly creative individuals tend to have a broad array of interests and they often work‚Äîsimultaneously or sequentially‚Äîon a large number of loosely interconnected problems. However, why is that so? In this presentation, I take a detailed look at the concept of polymathy (which traditionally means expertise in various domains) and explain how polymathic and creative behavior are intimately connected. The presentation is organized along three themes. First, I build upon previous literature on polymathy to examine the nature of construct, unravel its components, and differentiate polymathy from other concepts such as dilettancy and universalism. Second, I revisit relevant ideas in the field of creativity (e.g., Sternberg and Lubart’s investment theory of creativity; Rubenson and Runco’s psycho economic approach to creativity; and Simonton’s view of creativity as a constrained stochastic process) through the lens of polymathy studies. Third, I present a simple model of creativity that aims to illustrate how the concepts of polymathy and creativity are related at their core.
Transformative Arts Integration: Educators as Creative Pedagogical Artists
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Inflexion; Nate Beard, Creative Engagement Lab; Jessica Land, Creative Engagement Lab
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: If teachers are to fulfill Dewey's promise of becoming the ultimate artists for democratic society, then the development of their creative resources and leadership capacity must be developed. Teacher leadership in the literature often relates to largely superficial representations of leadership within a technocracy that restricts their creative development. This presentation explores the role that teachers' creative resources play in their leadership development as pedagogical artists and how arts integration processes shape that development. The presentation will explore the process of arts integration design, implementation, and refinement in middle school classrooms during a four-year development project. The sample includes more than 50 teachers that experienced up to 120 hours of professional development with coaching, in-service, and collaborative design. Presenters will share insights from several studies conducted with multiple data sources to understand the development of teachers as creative pedagogical artists. Data sources included interviews, surveys video documentation, divergent thinking tasks, written reflection, curriculum analysis, and classroom observations. The presentation will conclude with design principles for professional development that aims at developing the creative resources of educators in support of their transformation into pedagogical artists.
Creating your own intelligence test: Implications for cognition research and education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Saskia Jaarsveld & Thomas Lachmann, University of Kaiserslautern
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: We present the Creative Reasoning Test (CRT; Jaarsveld et al., 2010, 2012), which was developed on the basis of an alternative construct of human cognitive functioning: creative reasoning is understood as a thinking process in which cognitive abilities associated with intelligent and with creative thinking are intertwined. Thereby, the CRT circumvents methodological problems regarding the validity of studies comparing results from intelligence and creativity tests, given that standard intelligence and creativity tests not only vary in the definition of their constructs, but also in problem space, and their knowledge domain. The CRT presents participants with an empty 3x3 matrix and asks them to fill it out, as original and complex as possible, by creating components and the relationships that connect them. Results of the CRT are compared with those of a standard intelligence test (Standard Progressive Matrices, SPM; Raven 1998) and a standard creativity test (Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production, TCT-DP; Urban & Jellen, 1985). Studies focusing on cognitive development and intelligence-creativity theory showed, respectively, that (a) in the CRT process abilities related to intelligent and creative thinking intertwine in different stages and can be assessed independently (b) problem space being well or ill-defined affects cognitive processing; cognitive development as inferred from the CRT differs from that yielded by TCT-DP and especially from that yielded by SPM, and (c) with knowledge domain controlled for the relationship between intelligence and creativity yields different results as defined in the Threshold Theory. Implications for research, methodology, and education are discussed.
Deliberate Assessment of the Creative Process
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Lisa Rubenstein, Gregory L. Callan, & Lisa M. Ridgley, Ball State University
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: The creativity field has progressed beyond mystical notions that creativity begins with muses; however, current creativity assessment techniques do not capture that shift. We know specific creativity training programs are successful in helping individuals develop more creative ideas, but we are still unsure of the underlying mechanisms that influence this development. Existing assessment methods were not designed to capture how people regulate themselves throughout the creative process, specifically how motivational beliefs, external behaviors, and explicit strategies influence the creative process. This information, however, would provide important insights into which program components are most effective and if/how participants transfer their training to new situations. To address this gap, we designed the Creative Process Protocol. Within this protocol, participants are asked specific process questions while engaged in a creative task. Before they begin the task, they indicate what strategies they plan to use, their self-efficacy, and interest level. Then, as they are engaged with the task, they report which strategies they are using, and finally after task completion, they evaluate their work. Initial studies using this method indicate that strategic planning, strategy use (e.g., perspective-taking and connecting to prior experiences), as well as self-efficacy, predict creative performances. This approach provides helpful data for researchers, educators, and managers who are concerned with designing and implementing the most efficient and effective training programs.
11:30AM - 1:00PM LUNCH
1:15PM - 3:00PM POSTER SESSION
28 Poster Presentations
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
1:00PM - 2:00PM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 323
1:00-1:15 pm
Latency and Serial Order Effect in Divergent Thinking
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Selcuk Acar, International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo StateUzeyir Ogurlu, Harvard University
Mark A. Runco
Abstract: Divergent thinking (DT) tasks allow the generation of numerous ideas and solutions to open-ended questions. Besides their traditional use as a paper-pencil test, and the newer computerized assessments of DT, they can also be used in think-aloud sessions where participants share their ideas out loud as they come to mind. Runco and Acar (2017) administered DT tasks to participants by asking them think aloud and examined if latency -‚Äìthe time elapsing between consecutive ideas‚Äì varied by category switch or category stay. They found that latency was significantly longer (5 s.) when there was a category switch compared to a persistent category, and latency was 2.5 s longer with figural DT tasks compared with verbal DT tasks. The present study revisits this issue by taking serial order effect into consideration. Serial order effect refers to the increased creativity of the ideas that come later than earlier. Parnes (1961) called this phenomenon “extended effort principle” to emphasize the importance of fluency for originality and quality. Acar and Runco’s (2017) findings reported above are based on average latency across the entire ideational session and ignored the possibility of changing latency in early versus late phases of ideation. With this in mind, this investigation has two purposes: First, it aims to reveal the hypothesis that latency between consecutive ideas also varies by serial order effect with higher latency at later phases of ideation than earlier phases. Second, it aims to compare latency across 30-second phases of ideation to see variation over time. The implications of these findings will be discussed in terms of scoring procedures and novel approaches to creativity assessment.
1:15-1:30 pm
Creativity "in the Key of Easy"? Why Digital Tools for Professional Creativity Call for Interdisciplinary Research
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Biskjaer, Jonas Frich Pedersen & Peter Dalsgaard, Aarhus University, Denmark
Abstract: "Incredible music. In the key of easy." So reads the tagline of Apple's successful music recording app, GarageBand, that comes free with every Mac and iOS device. The use of GarageBand among millions of musicians raises the critical question of how well creativity research has examined the radical change in professional creative work, where 'Pro-c' (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009) now depends upon skillful use of digital creativity support tools, particularly in collaborative practices. To what extent can these digital aids be said to transpose complex, in-situ creative processes to "the key of easy"? In this presentation, we argue that the growing use of digital creativity support tools has been largely ignored by creativity research, and that this topic has the potential to become a third wave of creativity research in continuation of Sawyer and DeZutter's (2009) formulation of a second wave based on collaborative networks. We argue that creativity research might benefit from insights from the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), where we have shown that the interest in developing and analyzing creativity support tools as "a grand challenge for HCI researchers" (Shneiderman, 2008) is growing rapidly. Informed by Hennessey and Amabile's (2010) point that "few, if any, 'big questions' are being pursued by a critical mass of creativity researchers" (p. 571), we contribute concrete project-based suggestions for why and how HCI and psychology-based creativity research might collaborate to study the expansive professional use of digital creativity support tools as one such potentially unifying 'big question' for coming creativity research.
1:30-1:45 pm
What we can learn and what we cannot learn from quality-quantity correlations in creativity research
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Boris Forthmann, University of Munster
Abstract: It is widely accepted that individuals or groups who produce more (number of products) are more likely to produce more quality products (number of high-quality products). In fact, evidence from several main areas in creativity research such as eminent creativity, group brainstorming, and divergent thinking research seems to support this view by frequently observed strong quality-quantity correlations. However, particularly divergent thinking researchers have highlighted that at least partially the strong relationship between number of quality ideas and total number of ideas might be artefactual. Several possible ways to prevent confounding of number of quality ideas by total number of ideas (fluency) have been discussed in the literature. The most popular one is perhaps the usage of quality ratio (average quality) scores. Under certain independence conditions of fluency and quality ratio, however, the expected correlation of quality and quantity due to technical reasons can be quantified. A formula to quantify the expected correlation will be illustrated and discussed in relation to existing theories on the quality-quantity relationship. It will be shown that only looking at correlations will not allow to distinguish between competing theories.
Latency and Serial Order Effect in Divergent Thinking
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Selcuk Acar, International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo StateUzeyir Ogurlu, Harvard University
Mark A. Runco
Abstract: Divergent thinking (DT) tasks allow the generation of numerous ideas and solutions to open-ended questions. Besides their traditional use as a paper-pencil test, and the newer computerized assessments of DT, they can also be used in think-aloud sessions where participants share their ideas out loud as they come to mind. Runco and Acar (2017) administered DT tasks to participants by asking them think aloud and examined if latency -‚Äìthe time elapsing between consecutive ideas‚Äì varied by category switch or category stay. They found that latency was significantly longer (5 s.) when there was a category switch compared to a persistent category, and latency was 2.5 s longer with figural DT tasks compared with verbal DT tasks. The present study revisits this issue by taking serial order effect into consideration. Serial order effect refers to the increased creativity of the ideas that come later than earlier. Parnes (1961) called this phenomenon “extended effort principle” to emphasize the importance of fluency for originality and quality. Acar and Runco’s (2017) findings reported above are based on average latency across the entire ideational session and ignored the possibility of changing latency in early versus late phases of ideation. With this in mind, this investigation has two purposes: First, it aims to reveal the hypothesis that latency between consecutive ideas also varies by serial order effect with higher latency at later phases of ideation than earlier phases. Second, it aims to compare latency across 30-second phases of ideation to see variation over time. The implications of these findings will be discussed in terms of scoring procedures and novel approaches to creativity assessment.
1:15-1:30 pm
Creativity "in the Key of Easy"? Why Digital Tools for Professional Creativity Call for Interdisciplinary Research
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Michael Biskjaer, Jonas Frich Pedersen & Peter Dalsgaard, Aarhus University, Denmark
Abstract: "Incredible music. In the key of easy." So reads the tagline of Apple's successful music recording app, GarageBand, that comes free with every Mac and iOS device. The use of GarageBand among millions of musicians raises the critical question of how well creativity research has examined the radical change in professional creative work, where 'Pro-c' (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009) now depends upon skillful use of digital creativity support tools, particularly in collaborative practices. To what extent can these digital aids be said to transpose complex, in-situ creative processes to "the key of easy"? In this presentation, we argue that the growing use of digital creativity support tools has been largely ignored by creativity research, and that this topic has the potential to become a third wave of creativity research in continuation of Sawyer and DeZutter's (2009) formulation of a second wave based on collaborative networks. We argue that creativity research might benefit from insights from the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), where we have shown that the interest in developing and analyzing creativity support tools as "a grand challenge for HCI researchers" (Shneiderman, 2008) is growing rapidly. Informed by Hennessey and Amabile's (2010) point that "few, if any, 'big questions' are being pursued by a critical mass of creativity researchers" (p. 571), we contribute concrete project-based suggestions for why and how HCI and psychology-based creativity research might collaborate to study the expansive professional use of digital creativity support tools as one such potentially unifying 'big question' for coming creativity research.
1:30-1:45 pm
What we can learn and what we cannot learn from quality-quantity correlations in creativity research
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Boris Forthmann, University of Munster
Abstract: It is widely accepted that individuals or groups who produce more (number of products) are more likely to produce more quality products (number of high-quality products). In fact, evidence from several main areas in creativity research such as eminent creativity, group brainstorming, and divergent thinking research seems to support this view by frequently observed strong quality-quantity correlations. However, particularly divergent thinking researchers have highlighted that at least partially the strong relationship between number of quality ideas and total number of ideas might be artefactual. Several possible ways to prevent confounding of number of quality ideas by total number of ideas (fluency) have been discussed in the literature. The most popular one is perhaps the usage of quality ratio (average quality) scores. Under certain independence conditions of fluency and quality ratio, however, the expected correlation of quality and quantity due to technical reasons can be quantified. A formula to quantify the expected correlation will be illustrated and discussed in relation to existing theories on the quality-quantity relationship. It will be shown that only looking at correlations will not allow to distinguish between competing theories.
1:00PM - 2:00PM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 319
1:00-1:15 pm
Does Creative Coursework Predict Educational, Career, and Community Engagement Outcomes for Arts Alumni?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Angie Miller, Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract: This presentation will present results from a study that explored how exposure to creative coursework during one’s education can influence a variety of educational, career, and community involvement outcomes for arts alumni, utilizing data from 43,515 undergraduate-level arts alumni from the 2015 and 2016 administrations of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). SNAAP is an online alumni survey designed to collect data annually about the educational experiences and careers of alumni from art and design colleges, conservatories, and arts schools, departments, and programs within comprehensive universities. SNAAP’s measure of creative coursework includes items on generating new ideas, taking risks without fear of penalty, evaluating multiple approaches to problems, and inventing new methods. A series of ordinary least squares and binary logistic regression models (controlling for relevant demographic and institutional characteristics) suggest that exposure to creative coursework is a significant predictor of several desirable outcomes. Specifically, the analyses explored the effect of exposure to creative coursework on the following: creative skills gained during time at institution, sense of connection to one’s institution, time until first job after graduation, relevance of first job after graduation, current occupational field, current income, relevance of training to current occupation, and recent arts engagement in the community. Potential reasons for these results will be discussed. These findings can help to support curricular changes that encourage the increased use of creative activities and assignments in higher education, as well as provide accountability evidence for the effectiveness of arts education across a variety of outcomes.
1:15-1:30 pm
Exploring the Creative Industries: Toward a Classification by Process and Job Functions
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Mirjam Koehorst, A.J.A.M. van Deursen J.A.G.M. van Dijk, University of Twente & J. de Haan, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Abstract: In Europe, the creative industries (CIs) are experiencing growth rates well above the average of the EU’s total economic growth. However, a lack of consensus regarding how these industries work impedes the development of effective policy. In our research, we suggest a process approach to characterize the CIs. This characterization is more flexible in comparison to existing definitions. This process model can be used to easily identify job functions that are important for the development of innovative and creative products or services. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with key players in CIs in the Netherlands. After analysis of these interviews, a process model of CIs was developed that consists of the following six steps: (1) problem analysis, (2) concept generation, (3) provisional design, (4) final design, (5) production/execution, and (6) product introduction. This model was supplemented with job functions for each step of the process. For future research, the model should be further developed to provide a greater differentiating effect between the CIs and other industries. However, the model can be very useful for characterizing the CIs in a manner that is more adaptable to the ever-changing nature of the industries.
1:30-1:45 pm
How to promote creative performance: the interaction of individuals’ creativity and betweenness centrality in social network
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jingjing Li, Jian Zhang, Ying Zhang, Guodong Cui, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Abstract: Previous studies haven’t got consistent conclusions about the relationship between individuals’ creativity and their creative performance. It is the ignorance of the boundary conditions of creative performance that leads to the inconsistency. Exploring the possible boundary conditions of creative performance and promoting the creative performance of individuals with creativity is what this study’s focus on. Since creative work is coordinate work, individuals’ location in the social network of the scientific team may play a great role in their creative performance. Therefore, we introduce the social network in our study, and conduct a survey of 15 real scientific teams and 201 team members. We have constructed a directed-weighted network with the team members as nodes, the relations (friend, real cooperation, and cooperation desire) between members as edges, and the closeness of these relations as weights. Combining the social network and regression analysis, results show the following. (1) Individuals’ creativity has significantly positive relations with creative performance. However, the regression of individuals’ creativity cannot predict their creative performance, indicating that only creativity cannot impact one’s creative performance. (2) It is the interaction between individuals’ creativity and the betweenness centrality of the social network influence one’s creative performance. To be specific, high creativity and high betweenness centrality lead to high creative performance. If an individual has low creativity, but has high betweenness centrality, (s)he can also get more social resources and has high creative performance.
1:45-2:00 pm
Impact of drama instruction on TTCT results in Summer Reading Program
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy & Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Abstract: Are there any appreciable impacts on learning when teachers incorporate drama strategies in their regular instruction? This presentation shares pilot data from two research projects that examine student outcomes connected to using classroom drama strategies within elementary schools' six-week summer reading program. In the first project, researchers designed a six-week drama curriculum that took place during a summer reading camp intended to prevent reading loss. All students had 45 minutes of process drama a day and 4.5 hours of reading instruction. The control school, which was similar to the intervention school’s demographic, academic achievement, and economic makeup, used the same reading curriculum, had 45 minutes more reading time and also took figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (form A and B). We also compared MAP standardized test scores to see whether drama in combination with their reading curriculum made any appreciable impact on their summer reading loss. The results show a statistically significant difference in the creativity scores between the control and drama intervention schools. The researchers will share video footage of the drama work as well as reviewing the research data. Additionally, researchers conducted discourse analyses of the students in the dramas to check for lexical frequency and morphological complexity of words used in and out of role within the drama. We will share the initial results that suggest that the use of drama provides a “mantel of the expert” (Heathcote, 1984) that determines the complexity of the language used within fictional rhetorical situations.
Does Creative Coursework Predict Educational, Career, and Community Engagement Outcomes for Arts Alumni?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Angie Miller, Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract: This presentation will present results from a study that explored how exposure to creative coursework during one’s education can influence a variety of educational, career, and community involvement outcomes for arts alumni, utilizing data from 43,515 undergraduate-level arts alumni from the 2015 and 2016 administrations of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). SNAAP is an online alumni survey designed to collect data annually about the educational experiences and careers of alumni from art and design colleges, conservatories, and arts schools, departments, and programs within comprehensive universities. SNAAP’s measure of creative coursework includes items on generating new ideas, taking risks without fear of penalty, evaluating multiple approaches to problems, and inventing new methods. A series of ordinary least squares and binary logistic regression models (controlling for relevant demographic and institutional characteristics) suggest that exposure to creative coursework is a significant predictor of several desirable outcomes. Specifically, the analyses explored the effect of exposure to creative coursework on the following: creative skills gained during time at institution, sense of connection to one’s institution, time until first job after graduation, relevance of first job after graduation, current occupational field, current income, relevance of training to current occupation, and recent arts engagement in the community. Potential reasons for these results will be discussed. These findings can help to support curricular changes that encourage the increased use of creative activities and assignments in higher education, as well as provide accountability evidence for the effectiveness of arts education across a variety of outcomes.
1:15-1:30 pm
Exploring the Creative Industries: Toward a Classification by Process and Job Functions
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Mirjam Koehorst, A.J.A.M. van Deursen J.A.G.M. van Dijk, University of Twente & J. de Haan, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Abstract: In Europe, the creative industries (CIs) are experiencing growth rates well above the average of the EU’s total economic growth. However, a lack of consensus regarding how these industries work impedes the development of effective policy. In our research, we suggest a process approach to characterize the CIs. This characterization is more flexible in comparison to existing definitions. This process model can be used to easily identify job functions that are important for the development of innovative and creative products or services. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with key players in CIs in the Netherlands. After analysis of these interviews, a process model of CIs was developed that consists of the following six steps: (1) problem analysis, (2) concept generation, (3) provisional design, (4) final design, (5) production/execution, and (6) product introduction. This model was supplemented with job functions for each step of the process. For future research, the model should be further developed to provide a greater differentiating effect between the CIs and other industries. However, the model can be very useful for characterizing the CIs in a manner that is more adaptable to the ever-changing nature of the industries.
1:30-1:45 pm
How to promote creative performance: the interaction of individuals’ creativity and betweenness centrality in social network
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jingjing Li, Jian Zhang, Ying Zhang, Guodong Cui, University of Science and Technology Beijing
Abstract: Previous studies haven’t got consistent conclusions about the relationship between individuals’ creativity and their creative performance. It is the ignorance of the boundary conditions of creative performance that leads to the inconsistency. Exploring the possible boundary conditions of creative performance and promoting the creative performance of individuals with creativity is what this study’s focus on. Since creative work is coordinate work, individuals’ location in the social network of the scientific team may play a great role in their creative performance. Therefore, we introduce the social network in our study, and conduct a survey of 15 real scientific teams and 201 team members. We have constructed a directed-weighted network with the team members as nodes, the relations (friend, real cooperation, and cooperation desire) between members as edges, and the closeness of these relations as weights. Combining the social network and regression analysis, results show the following. (1) Individuals’ creativity has significantly positive relations with creative performance. However, the regression of individuals’ creativity cannot predict their creative performance, indicating that only creativity cannot impact one’s creative performance. (2) It is the interaction between individuals’ creativity and the betweenness centrality of the social network influence one’s creative performance. To be specific, high creativity and high betweenness centrality lead to high creative performance. If an individual has low creativity, but has high betweenness centrality, (s)he can also get more social resources and has high creative performance.
1:45-2:00 pm
Impact of drama instruction on TTCT results in Summer Reading Program
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy & Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Abstract: Are there any appreciable impacts on learning when teachers incorporate drama strategies in their regular instruction? This presentation shares pilot data from two research projects that examine student outcomes connected to using classroom drama strategies within elementary schools' six-week summer reading program. In the first project, researchers designed a six-week drama curriculum that took place during a summer reading camp intended to prevent reading loss. All students had 45 minutes of process drama a day and 4.5 hours of reading instruction. The control school, which was similar to the intervention school’s demographic, academic achievement, and economic makeup, used the same reading curriculum, had 45 minutes more reading time and also took figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (form A and B). We also compared MAP standardized test scores to see whether drama in combination with their reading curriculum made any appreciable impact on their summer reading loss. The results show a statistically significant difference in the creativity scores between the control and drama intervention schools. The researchers will share video footage of the drama work as well as reviewing the research data. Additionally, researchers conducted discourse analyses of the students in the dramas to check for lexical frequency and morphological complexity of words used in and out of role within the drama. We will share the initial results that suggest that the use of drama provides a “mantel of the expert” (Heathcote, 1984) that determines the complexity of the language used within fictional rhetorical situations.
1:00PM-2:15 SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 313
1:00-1:15 pm
Feeling, Producing and Reflecting: An Approach to Studying Creative Self-Beliefs and Production
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Michele Haney; Inflexion
Abstract: The field of creative studies has become more interested in understanding the role of creative self-beliefs in creative development. Past research investigated how creative self-beliefs relate to sustained effort and creative achievement in creative production. Although past research yielded mixed results about the role of creative self-beliefs, those results may indicate a lack of conceptual clarity. With greater clarity, researchers and educators can more fully consider the role and development of creative self-beliefs in the creative teaching and learning process. In this study, we used a multidimensional assessment designed with recommendations from psychological and creativity research. We measure task-specific creative self-efficacy, creative production using the consensual assessment technique, creative metacognition, and creative identity. Creative self-efficacy showed small correlations with creative production and creative metacognition. Creative metacognition demonstrated a large correlation with creative production when both the illustration and written description of the creative product were included in the scoring. These results suggest that creative self-efficacy relates to level of creative achievement, weakly. The strong relationship between creative metacognition and achievement when scores included illustrated and written descriptions of the creative product indicates a strong link between creative ideas communicated in multiple forms. The results suggest that future research and design of creative learning programs should consider multiple modalities to develop and assess creative production and metacognition.
1:15-1:30 pm
Distributed creativity in small groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Stacey DeZutter, Millsaps College
Abstract: The notion of distributed creativity, as taken up by scholars such as Miettinen, DeZutter and Sawyer, and Glaveanu, seeks to extricate the concept of the creative process from the confines of the individual mind. Drawing on sociocultural theories of cognition, particularly Hutchins’ “distributed cognition,” the theory of distributed creativity invites researchers and practitioners to attend to ways in which creativity may be distributed or “stretched across” many minds and dispersed across time, space, and materials. After providing a brief overview of diverse but interrelated ways the distributed creativity construct has been articulated over the past decade, this presentation will share methods and findings from three studies that take a microanalytic approach to understanding distributed creative processes. In particular, the presentation will explain how techniques associated with interaction analysis can be adapted to track emergent ideas and practices within a collaborative group. Findings from studies of an improvisational theatre group, a team of co-teachers, and an academic department will be used to illustrate the affordances of a distributed creativity approach both for understanding the processes by which groups create and for elucidating potential means to enhance those processes.
1:30-1:45 pm
Assessing age-related changes in collage creativity with the Consensual Assessment Technique
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rory MacLean, Edinburgh Napier University
Abstract: Creative activity offers a number of benefits for older adults; however, surprisingly little research has investigated how creativity changes with age over adulthood, and existing studies tend to focus on divergent thinking. The current study aimed to investigate age-related changes in creativity using the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT; Amabile, 1982, 1996), in which experienced judges rate the creativity of products independently. Ninety participants (aged 17-82 years) created two collages using a selection of colored paper shapes and stickers; a number of cognitive measures were also completed. Collage creativity was assessed by 19 judges with expertise in the visual arts, using their own definition of creativity. Analysis revealed an age-related decline in collage creativity: the collages produced by older adults (60 years and over) received significantly lower creativity ratings than those produced by younger participants. Further analysis suggested that age-related variance in collage creativity could be explained by information processing speed, divergent thinking and visual working memory scores. The current research supports previous findings of a decline in creativity in old age, and demonstrates that the CAT can be used successfully in aging research.
1:45-2:00 pm
1Places for Creativity: The Case of the Richardson Design Center
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Laura Malinin, Colorado State University
Abstract: Stories of creativity often describe how people draw inspiration from majestic settings and experience profound attachment to places and objects they believe essential for their productivity. Jonas Salk, for example was so convinced that spending time in an Italian monastery was instrumental for his creative breakthrough on the polio vaccine that he tasked the architect Louise Kahn with capturing its inspirational qualities with his design for the Salk Institute. Today economic pressure on companies have managers embracing the potential for space to add creative value to their organizations and universities across the country are constructing fabrication and ideation spaces to spur innovation and foster a culture of social creativity. In this presentation I will give a brief overview of what we know about how spaces do (or do not) impact creativity. Next, I will use a case example of a university project, The Richardson Design Center, to illustrate the research-informed process we used to guide the design of a building intended to help develop “cross-disciplinary creative culture” on campus. Finally, I will describe our plans to use the building as a “living laboratory” to collect real-time social, behavioral, and physiological data to better understand how places affect creativity.
2:00-2:15 pm
Implicit theories of creativity: How experience shapes out definitions?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Sue Hyeon Paek, University of Northern Colorado; Sarah E. Sumners; University of Georgia ; Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University; Mark A. Runco
Abstract:Unexpressed and personal perceptions held by laypeople such as teachers and artists are termed implicit theories. As creativity is multidimensional, implicit theories are attributed to which aspects of creativity people value most. Due to the attributing process, implicit theories matter in the informal assessment of creative behaviors and performance as the subjective judgments of pertinent individuals have more contextual relevance than purely objective examinations in the real world (Runco & Bahleda, 1986; Runco, Johnson, & Bear 1993). However, how different aspects of creativity are interrelated in the minds of laypeople has not been fully studied. For instance, when considering the question of whether creativity is more closely related to originality or problem-solving, do people’s previous experiences predict which aspect of creativity they value more? Thus, the present study aimed to show how different aspects of creativity were more or less related to one another through a two-phase random social validation survey of 306 participants (females = 86.9%). Exploratory factor analysis was used in analyzing perceptions of how twelve socially validated definitions of creativity were related to the term of creativity. The twelve definitions are discovery, innovation, insight, morality, creativity, intelligence, originality, productivity, insanity, imagination, problem-solving, and invention. The results indicate that implicit theories consist of two factors: adaptive and innovative creativity (Kirton, 1976). During the presentation, we will further discuss how the two factors are predicted by people’s previous experiences related to creativity such as their education and art backgrounds.
Feeling, Producing and Reflecting: An Approach to Studying Creative Self-Beliefs and Production
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Michele Haney; Inflexion
Abstract: The field of creative studies has become more interested in understanding the role of creative self-beliefs in creative development. Past research investigated how creative self-beliefs relate to sustained effort and creative achievement in creative production. Although past research yielded mixed results about the role of creative self-beliefs, those results may indicate a lack of conceptual clarity. With greater clarity, researchers and educators can more fully consider the role and development of creative self-beliefs in the creative teaching and learning process. In this study, we used a multidimensional assessment designed with recommendations from psychological and creativity research. We measure task-specific creative self-efficacy, creative production using the consensual assessment technique, creative metacognition, and creative identity. Creative self-efficacy showed small correlations with creative production and creative metacognition. Creative metacognition demonstrated a large correlation with creative production when both the illustration and written description of the creative product were included in the scoring. These results suggest that creative self-efficacy relates to level of creative achievement, weakly. The strong relationship between creative metacognition and achievement when scores included illustrated and written descriptions of the creative product indicates a strong link between creative ideas communicated in multiple forms. The results suggest that future research and design of creative learning programs should consider multiple modalities to develop and assess creative production and metacognition.
1:15-1:30 pm
Distributed creativity in small groups
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Stacey DeZutter, Millsaps College
Abstract: The notion of distributed creativity, as taken up by scholars such as Miettinen, DeZutter and Sawyer, and Glaveanu, seeks to extricate the concept of the creative process from the confines of the individual mind. Drawing on sociocultural theories of cognition, particularly Hutchins’ “distributed cognition,” the theory of distributed creativity invites researchers and practitioners to attend to ways in which creativity may be distributed or “stretched across” many minds and dispersed across time, space, and materials. After providing a brief overview of diverse but interrelated ways the distributed creativity construct has been articulated over the past decade, this presentation will share methods and findings from three studies that take a microanalytic approach to understanding distributed creative processes. In particular, the presentation will explain how techniques associated with interaction analysis can be adapted to track emergent ideas and practices within a collaborative group. Findings from studies of an improvisational theatre group, a team of co-teachers, and an academic department will be used to illustrate the affordances of a distributed creativity approach both for understanding the processes by which groups create and for elucidating potential means to enhance those processes.
1:30-1:45 pm
Assessing age-related changes in collage creativity with the Consensual Assessment Technique
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Rory MacLean, Edinburgh Napier University
Abstract: Creative activity offers a number of benefits for older adults; however, surprisingly little research has investigated how creativity changes with age over adulthood, and existing studies tend to focus on divergent thinking. The current study aimed to investigate age-related changes in creativity using the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT; Amabile, 1982, 1996), in which experienced judges rate the creativity of products independently. Ninety participants (aged 17-82 years) created two collages using a selection of colored paper shapes and stickers; a number of cognitive measures were also completed. Collage creativity was assessed by 19 judges with expertise in the visual arts, using their own definition of creativity. Analysis revealed an age-related decline in collage creativity: the collages produced by older adults (60 years and over) received significantly lower creativity ratings than those produced by younger participants. Further analysis suggested that age-related variance in collage creativity could be explained by information processing speed, divergent thinking and visual working memory scores. The current research supports previous findings of a decline in creativity in old age, and demonstrates that the CAT can be used successfully in aging research.
1:45-2:00 pm
1Places for Creativity: The Case of the Richardson Design Center
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Laura Malinin, Colorado State University
Abstract: Stories of creativity often describe how people draw inspiration from majestic settings and experience profound attachment to places and objects they believe essential for their productivity. Jonas Salk, for example was so convinced that spending time in an Italian monastery was instrumental for his creative breakthrough on the polio vaccine that he tasked the architect Louise Kahn with capturing its inspirational qualities with his design for the Salk Institute. Today economic pressure on companies have managers embracing the potential for space to add creative value to their organizations and universities across the country are constructing fabrication and ideation spaces to spur innovation and foster a culture of social creativity. In this presentation I will give a brief overview of what we know about how spaces do (or do not) impact creativity. Next, I will use a case example of a university project, The Richardson Design Center, to illustrate the research-informed process we used to guide the design of a building intended to help develop “cross-disciplinary creative culture” on campus. Finally, I will describe our plans to use the building as a “living laboratory” to collect real-time social, behavioral, and physiological data to better understand how places affect creativity.
2:00-2:15 pm
Implicit theories of creativity: How experience shapes out definitions?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Sue Hyeon Paek, University of Northern Colorado; Sarah E. Sumners; University of Georgia ; Ahmed Abdulla, Arabian Gulf University; Mark A. Runco
Abstract:Unexpressed and personal perceptions held by laypeople such as teachers and artists are termed implicit theories. As creativity is multidimensional, implicit theories are attributed to which aspects of creativity people value most. Due to the attributing process, implicit theories matter in the informal assessment of creative behaviors and performance as the subjective judgments of pertinent individuals have more contextual relevance than purely objective examinations in the real world (Runco & Bahleda, 1986; Runco, Johnson, & Bear 1993). However, how different aspects of creativity are interrelated in the minds of laypeople has not been fully studied. For instance, when considering the question of whether creativity is more closely related to originality or problem-solving, do people’s previous experiences predict which aspect of creativity they value more? Thus, the present study aimed to show how different aspects of creativity were more or less related to one another through a two-phase random social validation survey of 306 participants (females = 86.9%). Exploratory factor analysis was used in analyzing perceptions of how twelve socially validated definitions of creativity were related to the term of creativity. The twelve definitions are discovery, innovation, insight, morality, creativity, intelligence, originality, productivity, insanity, imagination, problem-solving, and invention. The results indicate that implicit theories consist of two factors: adaptive and innovative creativity (Kirton, 1976). During the presentation, we will further discuss how the two factors are predicted by people’s previous experiences related to creativity such as their education and art backgrounds.
1:00PM - 2:00PM SHORT PRESENTATIONS-SU Diversions
1:00-1:15 pm
Meaning of Creativity from the Technique of Modified Natural Semantic Networks in young Mexican adults
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Mario Maya Martinez, National Autonomous University of Mexico
Abstract: The importance of the study of creativity is not in doubt since it has been shown to have a positive impact in various spheres of society, it has even been considered as a cultural asset of humanity. Historically, one of the leading criticisms towards the study of creativity was focused for years on its definition. Some attempts, such as the so-called "Standard definition of creativity," have sought to achieve consensus on this.This definition has served as a useful starting point, although the possibility that it does not take into account other components that could be important for creativity has also been discussed. Also, the existence of cultural differences regarding their conception and development is undeniable. In this sense, the objective of this research was to explore the way in which young Mexicans conceptualize creativity using the technique of modified natural semantic networks. The results obtained in the general network coincide with that provided by the specialized literature. Participants use the words: Imagination, skill, innovation, creation, color, art, intelligence, thinking, innovation, ingenuity, drawn, design, idea, capacity, originality, inspiration and drawing when referring to creativity.
1:15-1:30 pm
Reigniting Latent Creative Processes in Pre-Service Music Teachers
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Tamara Thies, California State University, Long Beach
Abstract: Children are born with curiosity and creative tendencies that are often stifled through educational expectations. Therefore, pre-service teachers need to develop their own creative processes while developing their teaching skills in order to foster their future students' creativity. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to provide insights into the impact of immersing traditionally-trained instrumental, pre-service music teachers in creative processes and pedagogies in a four-month course dedicated to teaching large ensembles. The overarching research question explores: How does the infusion of creative processes and teaching impact pre-service teachers' learning and preparation for teaching? Using Graham Wallas's Stages of the Creative Process (1926), students cultivated their own improvisation, composition, and multi-media performance skills while designing lessons, developing curriculum, and producing an interactive concert. In addition to field notes, fifteen pre-service teachers provided data through student reflections, course submissions, interactions with high school students, and performances. The findings reveal how these processes and products impacted students' personal teaching identities, preparation for teaching, and musical-pedagogical skill development. By focusing on creativity, programs can reinforce prior learning using additional musical behaviors, expand inclusivity in large ensembles, and provide creative opportunities to empower the well-rounded pre-service teacher.
1:30-1:45 pm
New Definitions of Creativity and Discussion on Assessment of the Creative Process and Product
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Bernie Murray, Ryerson University
Abstract: Asking students to re-define the meaning of creativity is an important aspect that affects their assessment of the creative process or final product. It is also essential to understand their goals and learning preferences in a communication and design program in higher education. This qualitative study explored students’ perspectives related to creativity, professional goals, and assessment criteria. The purpose of the study was to improve teaching practice and develop reliable assessment measures of creative products such as installations, designs, and artwork. Personal interviews were conducted with undergraduate students in the creative discipline that provided rich data to incorporate into the course. Their perspectives about learning, creativity, and assessment helped to re-create the rubrics and understand their goals within the creative program. The contribution that this study makes to the literature on assessment and creativity was asking for students’ perspectives about learning and development of their innovative products. It establishes an inclusive teaching environment that includes students’ concerns and views as a critical component in fair assessment.
1:45-2:00 pm
Epistemic emotions and creativity : a motor for learning?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Catherine Audrin & Isabelle Capron Puozzo, University for Teacher Education
Abstract: Epistemic emotions have been neglected in the field of educational science. << Epistemic >> refers to knowledge. Epistemic emotions are affective states related generation of knowledge (Pekrun et al., 2017) and are intrinsically linked with learning process (Valdesolo, Shtulman, & Baron, 2017). More specifically, they emerge when learners focus on knowledge and knowing (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012), or during cognitive analysis of information (Muis, Psaradellis, Lajoie, Di Leo, & Chevrier, 2015). Thus, epistemic emotions can be considered important in self-regulation of learning (Muis, Pekrun, et al., 2015). While epistemic emotions has been highlighted in the context of learning (Kang et al., 2009), no previous research has focused on the impact of epistemic emotions on creativity. Creativity is defined as a "new and adapted production" (Lubart, 2010, p. 3). While many researchers have highlighted the link between emotions and creativity (Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005; Capron Puozzo, 2015; Puozzo Capron, 2013,2014; Zenasni & Lubart, 2002), none of them have studied the importance of epistemic emotions. In this research, we hypothesize that epistemic emotions can also be involved in creativity. Experiment one was performed in a laboratory, and participants performed creative tasks and then assessed their epistemic emotions. Experiment two was held during a creativity marathon and students who took part were asked to assess their epistemic emotions at various time points during the marathon. Our research questions are: 1) are epistemic emotions felt during creative tasks and if so, 2) what are these epistemic emotions? Data is currently being collected.
Meaning of Creativity from the Technique of Modified Natural Semantic Networks in young Mexican adults
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Mario Maya Martinez, National Autonomous University of Mexico
Abstract: The importance of the study of creativity is not in doubt since it has been shown to have a positive impact in various spheres of society, it has even been considered as a cultural asset of humanity. Historically, one of the leading criticisms towards the study of creativity was focused for years on its definition. Some attempts, such as the so-called "Standard definition of creativity," have sought to achieve consensus on this.This definition has served as a useful starting point, although the possibility that it does not take into account other components that could be important for creativity has also been discussed. Also, the existence of cultural differences regarding their conception and development is undeniable. In this sense, the objective of this research was to explore the way in which young Mexicans conceptualize creativity using the technique of modified natural semantic networks. The results obtained in the general network coincide with that provided by the specialized literature. Participants use the words: Imagination, skill, innovation, creation, color, art, intelligence, thinking, innovation, ingenuity, drawn, design, idea, capacity, originality, inspiration and drawing when referring to creativity.
1:15-1:30 pm
Reigniting Latent Creative Processes in Pre-Service Music Teachers
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Tamara Thies, California State University, Long Beach
Abstract: Children are born with curiosity and creative tendencies that are often stifled through educational expectations. Therefore, pre-service teachers need to develop their own creative processes while developing their teaching skills in order to foster their future students' creativity. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to provide insights into the impact of immersing traditionally-trained instrumental, pre-service music teachers in creative processes and pedagogies in a four-month course dedicated to teaching large ensembles. The overarching research question explores: How does the infusion of creative processes and teaching impact pre-service teachers' learning and preparation for teaching? Using Graham Wallas's Stages of the Creative Process (1926), students cultivated their own improvisation, composition, and multi-media performance skills while designing lessons, developing curriculum, and producing an interactive concert. In addition to field notes, fifteen pre-service teachers provided data through student reflections, course submissions, interactions with high school students, and performances. The findings reveal how these processes and products impacted students' personal teaching identities, preparation for teaching, and musical-pedagogical skill development. By focusing on creativity, programs can reinforce prior learning using additional musical behaviors, expand inclusivity in large ensembles, and provide creative opportunities to empower the well-rounded pre-service teacher.
1:30-1:45 pm
New Definitions of Creativity and Discussion on Assessment of the Creative Process and Product
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Bernie Murray, Ryerson University
Abstract: Asking students to re-define the meaning of creativity is an important aspect that affects their assessment of the creative process or final product. It is also essential to understand their goals and learning preferences in a communication and design program in higher education. This qualitative study explored students’ perspectives related to creativity, professional goals, and assessment criteria. The purpose of the study was to improve teaching practice and develop reliable assessment measures of creative products such as installations, designs, and artwork. Personal interviews were conducted with undergraduate students in the creative discipline that provided rich data to incorporate into the course. Their perspectives about learning, creativity, and assessment helped to re-create the rubrics and understand their goals within the creative program. The contribution that this study makes to the literature on assessment and creativity was asking for students’ perspectives about learning and development of their innovative products. It establishes an inclusive teaching environment that includes students’ concerns and views as a critical component in fair assessment.
1:45-2:00 pm
Epistemic emotions and creativity : a motor for learning?
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Catherine Audrin & Isabelle Capron Puozzo, University for Teacher Education
Abstract: Epistemic emotions have been neglected in the field of educational science. << Epistemic >> refers to knowledge. Epistemic emotions are affective states related generation of knowledge (Pekrun et al., 2017) and are intrinsically linked with learning process (Valdesolo, Shtulman, & Baron, 2017). More specifically, they emerge when learners focus on knowledge and knowing (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012), or during cognitive analysis of information (Muis, Psaradellis, Lajoie, Di Leo, & Chevrier, 2015). Thus, epistemic emotions can be considered important in self-regulation of learning (Muis, Pekrun, et al., 2015). While epistemic emotions has been highlighted in the context of learning (Kang et al., 2009), no previous research has focused on the impact of epistemic emotions on creativity. Creativity is defined as a "new and adapted production" (Lubart, 2010, p. 3). While many researchers have highlighted the link between emotions and creativity (Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005; Capron Puozzo, 2015; Puozzo Capron, 2013,2014; Zenasni & Lubart, 2002), none of them have studied the importance of epistemic emotions. In this research, we hypothesize that epistemic emotions can also be involved in creativity. Experiment one was performed in a laboratory, and participants performed creative tasks and then assessed their epistemic emotions. Experiment two was held during a creativity marathon and students who took part were asked to assess their epistemic emotions at various time points during the marathon. Our research questions are: 1) are epistemic emotions felt during creative tasks and if so, 2) what are these epistemic emotions? Data is currently being collected.
2:10PM - 3:00PM CONCURRENT SESSIONS
The East and the West: The Creativity Gap at School and Outside of School
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyeri Park, University of Georgia
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Culture can influence how much creativity occurs, along with how it is defined and assessed. Creativity is not only a mental process but a culturally bound phenomenon (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). In a study, testing a hypothesis that the individualistic culture or collectivistic culture of the society of origin influences creative potential and achievement, Zha et al. (2006) found that Americans showed greater individualism and displayed significantly higher creative potential than Chinese while Chinese had significantly higher skill mastery in the domain of mathematics. The proposed study explores the creativity gap inside and outside school in the east compared to the western culture including the quantity of creative activity and the quality of creative achievement.
The following hypotheses are tested: First, the creativity gap inside and outside school in the east will be larger than the west. Second, the creativity gap between the quantity of creative activity and the quality of creative achievement in the east will be larger than the west. Third, there will be moderating effects of culture on the creativity gap between creative potential and creative achievement. Collective culture and competitive school environment will increase the creativity gap in the east compared to the west. The interesting results findings will be shared by the presenters.
From Here You Can Step Anywhere - Dance as a Creative Youth Development Catalyst
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dawn Reese, CEO, The Wooden Floor & Ivonne Chand O'Neal, Ph.D. Principal, MUSE Research
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor (TWF) is one of the foremost creative youth development nonprofit organizations in the country. Through this program, the lives of young people in low-income communities are
transformed through the power of dance. In 2013, The Wooden Floor (TWF) embarked on a 10-year longitudinal study to assess the impacts of the organization’s dance-centric model on students between third and twelfth grades. Implementing a Theory of Change to develop life skills and personal assets that contribute to success, the study examined the following constructs: Achievement Motivation, Empathy, Future Outlook,
Social Self-Concept and Engagement, and Creative Youth Development (creative problem-solving skills that include problem-finding, creative fluency, flexibility and originality). Results of the first panel will be discussed as well as highlights from a recently published chapter written by the late Dr. James Catterall of the Center for Research on Creativity (CRoC) and TWF CEO Dawn Reese, entitled, A Step in the Right
Direction: Early Lessons From a Longitudinal Study of Dance Education as a Developmental Catalyst in Rajan, R. & Chand O’Neal, I. (Eds.) (2018) Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impacts in Schools and
Communities, Palgrave Macmillan. The session will feature details about how TWF is using their theory of change to develop life skills and personal assets that contribute to success in this under-resourced
population. Implications of additional key studies focusing on the broader field of Creative Youth Development and the arts will be discussed.
Creative Aerobics
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Arpan Yagnik; Penn State University
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Creative Aerobics (CA) is a creativity enhancement strategy. It is a series of four specific, interrelated exercises that allows you to generate numerous solutions quickly. CA emphasizes on the process instead of solution. This changed emphasis makes generating ideas a fun-filled task free of anxiety and panic. Using CA students have won over 200 national and international awards over the past two decades. There four CA exercises systematically stretch and flex your abilities to access solutions that are available but not accessible. CA is a great asset for todays business professionals, advertisers, chambers of commerce, designers of distance learning, software companies, venture capitalists and more. Everyone who is into the business of creating content and/or designing solutions be it (governance, leaders, politicians, development managers) can benefit from CA.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyeri Park, University of Georgia
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Culture can influence how much creativity occurs, along with how it is defined and assessed. Creativity is not only a mental process but a culturally bound phenomenon (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). In a study, testing a hypothesis that the individualistic culture or collectivistic culture of the society of origin influences creative potential and achievement, Zha et al. (2006) found that Americans showed greater individualism and displayed significantly higher creative potential than Chinese while Chinese had significantly higher skill mastery in the domain of mathematics. The proposed study explores the creativity gap inside and outside school in the east compared to the western culture including the quantity of creative activity and the quality of creative achievement.
The following hypotheses are tested: First, the creativity gap inside and outside school in the east will be larger than the west. Second, the creativity gap between the quantity of creative activity and the quality of creative achievement in the east will be larger than the west. Third, there will be moderating effects of culture on the creativity gap between creative potential and creative achievement. Collective culture and competitive school environment will increase the creativity gap in the east compared to the west. The interesting results findings will be shared by the presenters.
From Here You Can Step Anywhere - Dance as a Creative Youth Development Catalyst
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Dawn Reese, CEO, The Wooden Floor & Ivonne Chand O'Neal, Ph.D. Principal, MUSE Research
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor (TWF) is one of the foremost creative youth development nonprofit organizations in the country. Through this program, the lives of young people in low-income communities are
transformed through the power of dance. In 2013, The Wooden Floor (TWF) embarked on a 10-year longitudinal study to assess the impacts of the organization’s dance-centric model on students between third and twelfth grades. Implementing a Theory of Change to develop life skills and personal assets that contribute to success, the study examined the following constructs: Achievement Motivation, Empathy, Future Outlook,
Social Self-Concept and Engagement, and Creative Youth Development (creative problem-solving skills that include problem-finding, creative fluency, flexibility and originality). Results of the first panel will be discussed as well as highlights from a recently published chapter written by the late Dr. James Catterall of the Center for Research on Creativity (CRoC) and TWF CEO Dawn Reese, entitled, A Step in the Right
Direction: Early Lessons From a Longitudinal Study of Dance Education as a Developmental Catalyst in Rajan, R. & Chand O’Neal, I. (Eds.) (2018) Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impacts in Schools and
Communities, Palgrave Macmillan. The session will feature details about how TWF is using their theory of change to develop life skills and personal assets that contribute to success in this under-resourced
population. Implications of additional key studies focusing on the broader field of Creative Youth Development and the arts will be discussed.
Creative Aerobics
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Arpan Yagnik; Penn State University
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Creative Aerobics (CA) is a creativity enhancement strategy. It is a series of four specific, interrelated exercises that allows you to generate numerous solutions quickly. CA emphasizes on the process instead of solution. This changed emphasis makes generating ideas a fun-filled task free of anxiety and panic. Using CA students have won over 200 national and international awards over the past two decades. There four CA exercises systematically stretch and flex your abilities to access solutions that are available but not accessible. CA is a great asset for todays business professionals, advertisers, chambers of commerce, designers of distance learning, software companies, venture capitalists and more. Everyone who is into the business of creating content and/or designing solutions be it (governance, leaders, politicians, development managers) can benefit from CA.
3:15PM - 4:15PM KEYNOTE ADDRESS - MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
TITLE
Speaker: Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate University
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
Abstract:
Speaker: Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate University
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
Abstract:
Monday, August 6th, 2018
Creativity Conference - Day 4
8:00am - 9:15am short presentations in su 323
Learning Creativity from Examples: The Influences of Modeling Conditions on Scientific and Artistic Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Xinfa Yi; Shaanxi Normal University, China
Abstract: Creative modeling is one of powerful educational strategies that can foster the students’ creativity
performance. However, the inconsistency found in the literature of the influence of modeling
indicated that different types of modeling could arouse different creativity outcomes. This study
examined the influence of different types of modeling on scientific and artistic creativity
outcomes. 293 seventh-grade and eighth-grade students from a middle school in Shaanxi Province
of China had been recruited to participant this study. Task of creative science product design
(CSPD) was chosen from the Scientific Creativity Test for Secondary School Students (Hu &
Adey, 2002) to indicate students’ ability of science product design. The test for art creativity was
chosen from the Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production (TCT-DP) (Urban & Jellen,
1996) to measure students’ ability of creative drawing. Three different modeling treatments were
utilized for three groups of students – self-learning (SL) group allowed students to learn creative
responses chosen from previous studies by themselves, collaborative learning (CL) group asked
students to see same models and solve same tasks together, direct instruction learning (DIL) group
were given verbal instructions of those creative responses by experimenters. Both CSPD and TCT-
DP were completed as pre-test and post-test by participants before and after the interventions. The
results showed that the intervention of DIL was more efficient than other two groups to promote
students’ ability of creative design by enhancing function design ability and originality of design
ability and promote creative drawing ability by enhancing figure utility ability. In addition, the
differentiality of the performance of different gender and grades need to be considered. In
conclusion, the science creativity ability could be trained by proper modeling strategy to specific
grade and gender.
Creativity Required for Everyone
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Esme Hacieminoglu; Akdeniz University
Abstract: This study is a look at the results regarding creativity and its development after similar PD efforts that were experienced over a three year interim. This report is offered as evidence of what can be accomplished as a result of a prolonged PD experiences which purposefully attempt to improve creativity as defined in the references cited. The study was planned as an action research effort of a long-standing PD team focusing on science in middle schools (Grades 5 through 8). The results indicate clearly why Creativity can be called an Enabling Domain as many students are seen to be doing science rather than performing typical investigations found in science programs which typical teacher-centered instruction is seen and practiced. The two typical classrooms illustrated well the differences among the teachers in the two groups. If teaching is student-centered, the content and actions undertaken are very different than they are where the content remains closely tied to textbooks and where teachers are "in-charge". Differences among students and their ideas and actions initiated were diverse as to how they promoted student-student interactions.
Creativity as Additional Trigger to Cognitive Learning in Outreach Labs
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Franz Bogner & Mierdel Julia; University of Bayreuth
Abstract: As a pan-European initiative, CREATIONS focusses on potential impacts on advancing science classrooms. It supports to optimize teaching options and internal procedures in order to improve outreach outcomes and to maximize social/economic impacts without detracting from primary research objectives. Hands-on experiments within molecular contexts of outreach labs primarily aim to support individual cognitive learning, but also visualize the otherwise invisible. We applied a hands-on module, combining experimentation and model work. A model subunit was included to support the experimental work. We compared the impact of two different modules on cognitive achievement, cognitive load and instructional efficiency. We divided our sample (N = 254) into two groups: While both were subjected to the experimental part of the module, the model constructors (n = 120) were required to generate a DNA-model using assorted handcrafting materials, whereas the model viewers (n = 134) worked with a completed commercially available school model of DNA-structure. Surprisingly, the model viewers performed significantly better regarding a mid-term knowledge increase, while individual cognitive load scores remained similar. Accordingly, the model viewing approach produced significantly higher scores for instructional efficiency, pointing to enhanced cognitive achievement through a more intense perception of the DNA-models' correct contents. While at the first glance our results seem surprising, implications for teaching when models come into play and ways to avoid such discrepancies are discussed. Consequently, recommendations for classroom impacts are presented.
What Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy; Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Abstract: Two researchers will share survey and interview data conducted with teachers (n=300) about their opinions of their own and their students’ creativity in the classroom as a piece of performed research. Looking to the ethnographer Dwight Conquergood and the theatre researcher Johnny Saldaña the investigators crafted a theatrical script from the rich blended research methods used in this project. The researchers used verbatim text from hundreds of hours of interviews as well as the survey data to create a piece of theatre that captures the feelings, frustrations and joys of teachers in relationship to their and their students’ creativity. The research will be summarized before the performance, and a twenty-five minute piece will be presented with a discussion to follow. The research examines how teachers define creativity, whether they feel as if they are creative teachers, whether they encourage their students to be creative, and what impediments do they face in the process. Furthermore, the piece asks what is missing to make schools more creative and engaging spaces. Students and teachers have some surprising answers.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Xinfa Yi; Shaanxi Normal University, China
Abstract: Creative modeling is one of powerful educational strategies that can foster the students’ creativity
performance. However, the inconsistency found in the literature of the influence of modeling
indicated that different types of modeling could arouse different creativity outcomes. This study
examined the influence of different types of modeling on scientific and artistic creativity
outcomes. 293 seventh-grade and eighth-grade students from a middle school in Shaanxi Province
of China had been recruited to participant this study. Task of creative science product design
(CSPD) was chosen from the Scientific Creativity Test for Secondary School Students (Hu &
Adey, 2002) to indicate students’ ability of science product design. The test for art creativity was
chosen from the Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production (TCT-DP) (Urban & Jellen,
1996) to measure students’ ability of creative drawing. Three different modeling treatments were
utilized for three groups of students – self-learning (SL) group allowed students to learn creative
responses chosen from previous studies by themselves, collaborative learning (CL) group asked
students to see same models and solve same tasks together, direct instruction learning (DIL) group
were given verbal instructions of those creative responses by experimenters. Both CSPD and TCT-
DP were completed as pre-test and post-test by participants before and after the interventions. The
results showed that the intervention of DIL was more efficient than other two groups to promote
students’ ability of creative design by enhancing function design ability and originality of design
ability and promote creative drawing ability by enhancing figure utility ability. In addition, the
differentiality of the performance of different gender and grades need to be considered. In
conclusion, the science creativity ability could be trained by proper modeling strategy to specific
grade and gender.
Creativity Required for Everyone
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Esme Hacieminoglu; Akdeniz University
Abstract: This study is a look at the results regarding creativity and its development after similar PD efforts that were experienced over a three year interim. This report is offered as evidence of what can be accomplished as a result of a prolonged PD experiences which purposefully attempt to improve creativity as defined in the references cited. The study was planned as an action research effort of a long-standing PD team focusing on science in middle schools (Grades 5 through 8). The results indicate clearly why Creativity can be called an Enabling Domain as many students are seen to be doing science rather than performing typical investigations found in science programs which typical teacher-centered instruction is seen and practiced. The two typical classrooms illustrated well the differences among the teachers in the two groups. If teaching is student-centered, the content and actions undertaken are very different than they are where the content remains closely tied to textbooks and where teachers are "in-charge". Differences among students and their ideas and actions initiated were diverse as to how they promoted student-student interactions.
Creativity as Additional Trigger to Cognitive Learning in Outreach Labs
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Franz Bogner & Mierdel Julia; University of Bayreuth
Abstract: As a pan-European initiative, CREATIONS focusses on potential impacts on advancing science classrooms. It supports to optimize teaching options and internal procedures in order to improve outreach outcomes and to maximize social/economic impacts without detracting from primary research objectives. Hands-on experiments within molecular contexts of outreach labs primarily aim to support individual cognitive learning, but also visualize the otherwise invisible. We applied a hands-on module, combining experimentation and model work. A model subunit was included to support the experimental work. We compared the impact of two different modules on cognitive achievement, cognitive load and instructional efficiency. We divided our sample (N = 254) into two groups: While both were subjected to the experimental part of the module, the model constructors (n = 120) were required to generate a DNA-model using assorted handcrafting materials, whereas the model viewers (n = 134) worked with a completed commercially available school model of DNA-structure. Surprisingly, the model viewers performed significantly better regarding a mid-term knowledge increase, while individual cognitive load scores remained similar. Accordingly, the model viewing approach produced significantly higher scores for instructional efficiency, pointing to enhanced cognitive achievement through a more intense perception of the DNA-models' correct contents. While at the first glance our results seem surprising, implications for teaching when models come into play and ways to avoid such discrepancies are discussed. Consequently, recommendations for classroom impacts are presented.
What Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy; Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Abstract: Two researchers will share survey and interview data conducted with teachers (n=300) about their opinions of their own and their students’ creativity in the classroom as a piece of performed research. Looking to the ethnographer Dwight Conquergood and the theatre researcher Johnny Saldaña the investigators crafted a theatrical script from the rich blended research methods used in this project. The researchers used verbatim text from hundreds of hours of interviews as well as the survey data to create a piece of theatre that captures the feelings, frustrations and joys of teachers in relationship to their and their students’ creativity. The research will be summarized before the performance, and a twenty-five minute piece will be presented with a discussion to follow. The research examines how teachers define creativity, whether they feel as if they are creative teachers, whether they encourage their students to be creative, and what impediments do they face in the process. Furthermore, the piece asks what is missing to make schools more creative and engaging spaces. Students and teachers have some surprising answers.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su 319
Creative Agency In Learning: Exploration of Links Between Creative Resources and Student Agency
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Inflexion; Matthew Graham; University of Oregon
Abstract: Adolescent boys experience a greater decrease in some person-level creative resources compared to adolescent girls. Moreover, the influence of socio-economic factors of the school environment also influence that creative development. Some research and theory supports a multidimensional approach to creativity research and development that includes student affect, motivation, and creative resources in adolescence as a whole. For instance, self-beliefs, relational supports, and other factors that contribute to the personal agency a student feels in their learning relate to creative development in adolescence. This current study explores those relationships further using latent class analysis (LCA) to detect patterns of association across these variables. We test the invariance of the best-fitting structural equation models to compare different groups of students, including male and female students, special education students, and students who experienced intensive arts integration during middle school. Will also test for model invariance over time for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Our results suggest student agency and creative development are interrelated. More clarity about the underlying interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental factors that influence creative development can help theory development and provide guidance to educators to develop the creative potential in all students.
Essentialism: an Inhibitor to Creative Problem Solving
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: David Mesplé, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
Abstract: Recent research in essentialism shows it can be implicated in success rates for creative problem solving. Specifically, this presentation explores factors that have been shown to have effects on problem solving including essentialist compartmentalization of exemplars, racial stereotyping, observational experiments, and subject’s focus on essentialist scripts versus neutral scripts. Findings suggest that effective problem-solving strategies are inhibited when essentialist beliefs are embraced. Moreover, problem-solving may be enhanced if subjects are not directed towards specific goals, advice is given sparingly, variable task orders are incorporated, instructions and feedback are used to induce an internal focus of attention, and practice conditions allow for self-control.
Developing a Taxonomic Framework for Creativity: A Design for Higher Education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Xun Yu Chai, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Abstract: In researching the role of higher education in developing creativity in graduates, I have found a wide range of issues of concern particularly expressed by employers. The bottom line is the mismatch between graduate and market demands. This has seen an emphasis on the development of skills supporting the creation of knowledge and innovation. Creativity in education has now become an international concern that has led to a greater emphasis of promoting and rewarding the creativity of teachers and learners. A gap in the effort to promote criticality and creativity is the lack or absence of a systematic framework that may be used to support the incorporation of creativity in teaching and learning similar to the role played by the Bloom’s taxonomy with reference to learning. My research explores the possibility of developing such a taxonomic framework for creativity that may be used for teaching and learning and assessment. It uses a multiphase mixed-methods design in the development of the taxonomic framework. This session will discuss the different creative strategies that are encapsulated in the taxonomic framework and how the framework may be used in the context of higher education.
50 Years of Innovation: The College of Creative Studies at UC-Santa Barbara
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Steve Smith, Kailyn Kausen, Carly Larsson, Charlotte Moffat, Ted Tinker, University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract: The College of Creative Studies (CCS) at UCSB was founded in 1967 to provide bright and driven undergraduates the opportunity to explore deeply their areas of academic passion. From the time they arrive on campus, students are individually mentored toward high-level work, independent research, and creative scholarly activity. With a total student body of less than 400 students in eight majors (art, biology, chemistry/biochemistry, physics, computing, music composition, literature and writing, and mathematics), CCS provides students with a unique educational experience. The CCS model centralizes deep undergraduate education and creative activity. In this presentation, we will outline the structure and goals of CCS, its role in the greater University, the roles of faculty, and the outcomes for students (including one Nobel Prize winner). We believe that the educational mission and structure of CCS could easily be implemented in other universities, particularly in research universities, where creative undergraduate work is often overlooked or even impossible.
Relationship between Creativity and Learning at Work: Narratives from Knowledge Intensive Work
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Soila Lemmetty, Kaija Collin, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Abstract: The contexts of knowledge-intensive work have been seen important for contemporary working life. The meaning of learning and creative practices in these contexts are important for their continuous and ongoing everyday problem solving processes. The work itself is characterized as busy and hasty, challenging for the creative processes required at work. There is not necessarily time or space for learning or applying, which, in turn, demands motivational state of mind, and an environment that encourages to interaction. The aim of the study is to investigate the intertwined relationship between creativity and learning at work. More specifically, we aim to reveal, what kind of role learning may have in the emergence of workplace creativity. The participants of the study are 40 employees from two organizations in the field of Information technology (IT). Empirical data consists of interviews. As analytical tool we have utilized the analysis of narratives. Our preliminary findings show that employees describe their creativity strongly related to action (e.g. problem solving), and practices. Learning is seen imperative to accomplish daily practices. Learning is needed in different phases of the process, but especially at the early stages. Application, in turn, is seen the most creative phase of the problem solving process including, for instance, different kinds of experimentations individually and collectively. In our presentation, more detailed description of the findings, as well as discussion and future research directions will be offered.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ross Anderson, Inflexion; Matthew Graham; University of Oregon
Abstract: Adolescent boys experience a greater decrease in some person-level creative resources compared to adolescent girls. Moreover, the influence of socio-economic factors of the school environment also influence that creative development. Some research and theory supports a multidimensional approach to creativity research and development that includes student affect, motivation, and creative resources in adolescence as a whole. For instance, self-beliefs, relational supports, and other factors that contribute to the personal agency a student feels in their learning relate to creative development in adolescence. This current study explores those relationships further using latent class analysis (LCA) to detect patterns of association across these variables. We test the invariance of the best-fitting structural equation models to compare different groups of students, including male and female students, special education students, and students who experienced intensive arts integration during middle school. Will also test for model invariance over time for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Our results suggest student agency and creative development are interrelated. More clarity about the underlying interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental factors that influence creative development can help theory development and provide guidance to educators to develop the creative potential in all students.
Essentialism: an Inhibitor to Creative Problem Solving
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: David Mesplé, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
Abstract: Recent research in essentialism shows it can be implicated in success rates for creative problem solving. Specifically, this presentation explores factors that have been shown to have effects on problem solving including essentialist compartmentalization of exemplars, racial stereotyping, observational experiments, and subject’s focus on essentialist scripts versus neutral scripts. Findings suggest that effective problem-solving strategies are inhibited when essentialist beliefs are embraced. Moreover, problem-solving may be enhanced if subjects are not directed towards specific goals, advice is given sparingly, variable task orders are incorporated, instructions and feedback are used to induce an internal focus of attention, and practice conditions allow for self-control.
Developing a Taxonomic Framework for Creativity: A Design for Higher Education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Xun Yu Chai, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Abstract: In researching the role of higher education in developing creativity in graduates, I have found a wide range of issues of concern particularly expressed by employers. The bottom line is the mismatch between graduate and market demands. This has seen an emphasis on the development of skills supporting the creation of knowledge and innovation. Creativity in education has now become an international concern that has led to a greater emphasis of promoting and rewarding the creativity of teachers and learners. A gap in the effort to promote criticality and creativity is the lack or absence of a systematic framework that may be used to support the incorporation of creativity in teaching and learning similar to the role played by the Bloom’s taxonomy with reference to learning. My research explores the possibility of developing such a taxonomic framework for creativity that may be used for teaching and learning and assessment. It uses a multiphase mixed-methods design in the development of the taxonomic framework. This session will discuss the different creative strategies that are encapsulated in the taxonomic framework and how the framework may be used in the context of higher education.
50 Years of Innovation: The College of Creative Studies at UC-Santa Barbara
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Steve Smith, Kailyn Kausen, Carly Larsson, Charlotte Moffat, Ted Tinker, University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract: The College of Creative Studies (CCS) at UCSB was founded in 1967 to provide bright and driven undergraduates the opportunity to explore deeply their areas of academic passion. From the time they arrive on campus, students are individually mentored toward high-level work, independent research, and creative scholarly activity. With a total student body of less than 400 students in eight majors (art, biology, chemistry/biochemistry, physics, computing, music composition, literature and writing, and mathematics), CCS provides students with a unique educational experience. The CCS model centralizes deep undergraduate education and creative activity. In this presentation, we will outline the structure and goals of CCS, its role in the greater University, the roles of faculty, and the outcomes for students (including one Nobel Prize winner). We believe that the educational mission and structure of CCS could easily be implemented in other universities, particularly in research universities, where creative undergraduate work is often overlooked or even impossible.
Relationship between Creativity and Learning at Work: Narratives from Knowledge Intensive Work
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Soila Lemmetty, Kaija Collin, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Abstract: The contexts of knowledge-intensive work have been seen important for contemporary working life. The meaning of learning and creative practices in these contexts are important for their continuous and ongoing everyday problem solving processes. The work itself is characterized as busy and hasty, challenging for the creative processes required at work. There is not necessarily time or space for learning or applying, which, in turn, demands motivational state of mind, and an environment that encourages to interaction. The aim of the study is to investigate the intertwined relationship between creativity and learning at work. More specifically, we aim to reveal, what kind of role learning may have in the emergence of workplace creativity. The participants of the study are 40 employees from two organizations in the field of Information technology (IT). Empirical data consists of interviews. As analytical tool we have utilized the analysis of narratives. Our preliminary findings show that employees describe their creativity strongly related to action (e.g. problem solving), and practices. Learning is seen imperative to accomplish daily practices. Learning is needed in different phases of the process, but especially at the early stages. Application, in turn, is seen the most creative phase of the problem solving process including, for instance, different kinds of experimentations individually and collectively. In our presentation, more detailed description of the findings, as well as discussion and future research directions will be offered.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in Stevenson union 313
Attitude Towards Creativity, Creative People, and Innovation Over the Years: A Time Series Analysis of TV Commercials
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyeri Park, University of Georgia & Mark Runco
Abstract: Creativity in advertising is integral to ad effectiveness, and creativity is considered a central component of advertising success. Numerous studies have been conducted on the “attentional effects” of advertising creativity on potential consumers. The focus of the study is on creativity, particularly creativity as a cultural value. Creativity may support communication which transfers to the brand or aids in the memory of the key message. The present investigation is unique in examining the creativity of ads (both the medium and the message of each ad) as they have changed over the years. Given the rapid increase in attention to creativity, one hypothesis is that social values have shifted so that creativity is a higher priority than ever before. This investigation compares current TV commercials with past commercials to examine how implied attitudes and values toward creativity, creative people, and innovation have changed at different points in time. The scale developed for this study includes indicators of creativity of the medium (e.g., the format of the ad), creativity of the product, and the message (the verbiage). Randomly selected 60 commercials each from the 1970s and 2010s were used to avoid selection bias. The results, showed that there was a significant difference in the scores for 1970’s ads (M=2.78, SD = .52) and the 2010’s ads (M=3.11, SD = .55); t(631)= -7.934, p = .000 in evaluating TV messages. We found that creativity values have a higher priority than ever before. More interesting findings will also be shared by the presenters.
Attitude and perception change according to experience of creativity promotion class
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Nooree Kim, Mokpo National Maritime University
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine how the students' creativity, perceptions, behaviors, and cognitive processing in college classes changed. For this purpose, students' perceptions and attitudes toward creativity before the class were measured, and classes for improving creativity were conducted for 12 weeks. Then, at the end of the lesson, students were asked how their thoughts and attitudes about creativity changed. The subjects in this study were 89 freshman students in South Korea, and they were taught in three classes with the same subject and method of teaching. The method of teaching was topic-based cooperative learning. As a result, 88.6% of the students believed that creativity can grow through the class. And 28.7% of the students answered that they believe there are no relationship between age and creativity, but 23.7% of the students answered that they believe creativity is related to age. And we asked the following questions: Does creativity need to be in general and or variety fields? Or is creativity needed in a special area?. As a result, 92% of the students answered that creativity needs to be in general fields. And, 84.9 % of 92 % of the students who answered ' creativity doesn't change ' in the pre-research said after class ' creativity is needed in a variety of areas.’ Students also responded that 'collaborative learning did not help to change creativity'. These results were the main points of discussion and discussion of the study, and the recommendations for further development were written.
Openness to Experience and Mindsets as Predictors of Creativity in Science and Art
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yousun Kwon, ChungKang College of Cultural Industries
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine how openness to experience (intellect and aesthetic) and mindsets (creativity and intelligence) predict creativity in science and art differently. Participants were 306 college students in South Korea. We used the Kaufman-Domain of Creativity Scale to assess creativity in science and art. The Creative Mindsets Scale, Dweck’s Intelligence Mindset Questionnaire, and Big-Five Personality Scale were used to measure two types of mindsets and openness to experience, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted separately for creativity in science and art. Results were very different for the two models of creativity. Intellect aspect of openness to experience and growth mindsets of creativity significantly positively predicted creativity in science whereas openness (aesthetic) aspect of openness to experience predicted creativity in science negatively. However, openness (aesthetic) aspect of openness to experience and growth mindsets of creativity were the positive, significant predictors of creativity in art. In both models, gender was a significant predictor indicating that males had higher scores on scientific creativity while females showed better scores on artistic creativity. Interestingly, both growth and fixed mindsets of intelligence and fixed mindsets of creativity did not predict either scientific or artistic creativity. Implications for this study were discussed in terms of explaining how the underlying processes of scientific and artistic creativity are different.
Parenthood of Highly Creative Individuals
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Izabela Lebuda, University of Wroclaw
Abstract: The purpose of the presentation is to investigate the experience of parenthood among highly creative people. It will be base on qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with well-known creative people. The data triangulates two sources: interviews with prominent creators from the USA and interviews with recognized contemporary Polish artists and scientists. In the results, we will focus on how the experience of parenthood is connected with the creative self of the participants, on the relation between the perceived role as a creator, experience of parenthood, and the well being of creators.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Hyeri Park, University of Georgia & Mark Runco
Abstract: Creativity in advertising is integral to ad effectiveness, and creativity is considered a central component of advertising success. Numerous studies have been conducted on the “attentional effects” of advertising creativity on potential consumers. The focus of the study is on creativity, particularly creativity as a cultural value. Creativity may support communication which transfers to the brand or aids in the memory of the key message. The present investigation is unique in examining the creativity of ads (both the medium and the message of each ad) as they have changed over the years. Given the rapid increase in attention to creativity, one hypothesis is that social values have shifted so that creativity is a higher priority than ever before. This investigation compares current TV commercials with past commercials to examine how implied attitudes and values toward creativity, creative people, and innovation have changed at different points in time. The scale developed for this study includes indicators of creativity of the medium (e.g., the format of the ad), creativity of the product, and the message (the verbiage). Randomly selected 60 commercials each from the 1970s and 2010s were used to avoid selection bias. The results, showed that there was a significant difference in the scores for 1970’s ads (M=2.78, SD = .52) and the 2010’s ads (M=3.11, SD = .55); t(631)= -7.934, p = .000 in evaluating TV messages. We found that creativity values have a higher priority than ever before. More interesting findings will also be shared by the presenters.
Attitude and perception change according to experience of creativity promotion class
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Nooree Kim, Mokpo National Maritime University
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine how the students' creativity, perceptions, behaviors, and cognitive processing in college classes changed. For this purpose, students' perceptions and attitudes toward creativity before the class were measured, and classes for improving creativity were conducted for 12 weeks. Then, at the end of the lesson, students were asked how their thoughts and attitudes about creativity changed. The subjects in this study were 89 freshman students in South Korea, and they were taught in three classes with the same subject and method of teaching. The method of teaching was topic-based cooperative learning. As a result, 88.6% of the students believed that creativity can grow through the class. And 28.7% of the students answered that they believe there are no relationship between age and creativity, but 23.7% of the students answered that they believe creativity is related to age. And we asked the following questions: Does creativity need to be in general and or variety fields? Or is creativity needed in a special area?. As a result, 92% of the students answered that creativity needs to be in general fields. And, 84.9 % of 92 % of the students who answered ' creativity doesn't change ' in the pre-research said after class ' creativity is needed in a variety of areas.’ Students also responded that 'collaborative learning did not help to change creativity'. These results were the main points of discussion and discussion of the study, and the recommendations for further development were written.
Openness to Experience and Mindsets as Predictors of Creativity in Science and Art
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Yousun Kwon, ChungKang College of Cultural Industries
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine how openness to experience (intellect and aesthetic) and mindsets (creativity and intelligence) predict creativity in science and art differently. Participants were 306 college students in South Korea. We used the Kaufman-Domain of Creativity Scale to assess creativity in science and art. The Creative Mindsets Scale, Dweck’s Intelligence Mindset Questionnaire, and Big-Five Personality Scale were used to measure two types of mindsets and openness to experience, respectively. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted separately for creativity in science and art. Results were very different for the two models of creativity. Intellect aspect of openness to experience and growth mindsets of creativity significantly positively predicted creativity in science whereas openness (aesthetic) aspect of openness to experience predicted creativity in science negatively. However, openness (aesthetic) aspect of openness to experience and growth mindsets of creativity were the positive, significant predictors of creativity in art. In both models, gender was a significant predictor indicating that males had higher scores on scientific creativity while females showed better scores on artistic creativity. Interestingly, both growth and fixed mindsets of intelligence and fixed mindsets of creativity did not predict either scientific or artistic creativity. Implications for this study were discussed in terms of explaining how the underlying processes of scientific and artistic creativity are different.
Parenthood of Highly Creative Individuals
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Izabela Lebuda, University of Wroclaw
Abstract: The purpose of the presentation is to investigate the experience of parenthood among highly creative people. It will be base on qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with well-known creative people. The data triangulates two sources: interviews with prominent creators from the USA and interviews with recognized contemporary Polish artists and scientists. In the results, we will focus on how the experience of parenthood is connected with the creative self of the participants, on the relation between the perceived role as a creator, experience of parenthood, and the well being of creators.
8:00AM - 9:15AM SHORT PRESENTATIONS in su diversions
Insight is Facilitated by High Definition tDCS to the Right Temporal Lobe
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Salvi Carola, Northwestern University & Shirley Ryan Ability Lab; Ryan D. Conrardy, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab; Richard McKinley. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB; Marom Bikson City College of the City University of New York; Mark Beeman Northwestern University; and Jordan Grafman, Northwestern University
Abstract: Neuroscientific research has identified a distinctive brain network for insight problem-solving. Within that network, the right Anterior Temporal Lobe (rATL), putatively involved in semantic integration, is preferentially activated when participants experience a so-called Aha! moment. The rATL appears to be crucial for the creation of distant semantic relations, although fMRI and EEG evidence for its role is correlational. In our latest study, we applied High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD tDCS) to the rATL of participants, while they attempted to solve Compound Remote Associates problems. Between- and within-subjects’ analyses showed a higher percent of problems solved via insight during and after tDCS compared both to sham and to pre-stimulation control conditions. By using tDCS applied to the rATL, and showing a causative relationship between active stimulation and increased insight problem-solving, this novel finding corroborates the important role of the rATL in producing insightful thinking.
Motherhood in the Paintings of Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eda Yazgin & Yucel Yazgin, Near East University
Abstract: The art of painting, from ancient to modern times, succeeded in projecting emotions alongside depicting physical things, especially during times when modern art movements were in effect. Impressionist painters in particular attempted to reflect in their art the effects of physical phenomena on their own emotions. In this context Mary Cassatt, one of the major female impressionist painters, projected in her work the emotional relation between the mother and child figures. Cassatt used this close relationship between the mother and child as a subject often. The mother and child figures were depicted in various forms of communication in Cassatt’s paintings. Those different depictions have been a factor in the varying interpretation of motherhood in the paintings emotionally. Mother and child relations and the concept of motherhood have deeply interested researchers from many disciplines. This research, hence, focused on the projection of the image of motherhood in the art of painting, specifically inquiring how this image was depicted in Cassatt’s art. In this context, 50 paintings of Mary Cassatt, worked in oil paint and pastel techniques, were analyzed. The content of the paintings were analyzed in the categories of the meaning instilled in facial expressions, representation of the relationship between mother and child, locations, apparent socio-economic status and colours. The research used a qualitative phenomenological design using image analysis. The content was coded and described simultaneously by both researchers according to the categories. As a result, elements depicting the values of the motherhood image of the time and culture were found in Cassatt’s paintings. Mary Stevenson Cassatt, having been influenced by the pioneers of Impressionist movement such as Renoir, Degas and Monet, depicted in her own art the effects of physical phenomena on her own psychology as a famous painter of the movement. These psychological influences carried onto her ‘mother and child’ portrayals. Mary Cassatt has been famous with her paintings of the mother and child in everyday activities.
Creativity for everyone: implementing 21-century skills in public school
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Aleksandra Mikhailova & Nadezhda Avdeenko, NRU Higher School of Economics
Abstract: In most of schools in Russia classroom space is highly restricted. Teacher is considered to be the primary source of knowledge and the only person in class that possesses ‘the right answer’. We suggested 23 teachers from different Moscow schools to conduct several collaborative problem-solving lessons in Mathematics or Science in the same class. We base on presumption that collaborative problem solving is an effective practice to promote 4C-skills (creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration). Using action research methodology we observed what effects this intervention had on teachers’ and students’ space perception. We gathered data through ethnography within the lessons and group interviews. Teachers’ view concerning this change in classroom space was controversial. They felt uncomfortable because of the changed roles and the fact that children didn’t see them as the only source of knowledge within these collaborative problem solving lessons. They also had disciplinary problem in that kind of a new space. Nevertheless, most teachers acknowledged that relationships between the best students and those who usually didn’t show big results also changed. The last ones became much more prominent. They proposed as many interesting ideas and brilliant solutions as those, who were known as smartest, or even more.
Creative Teaching in Science Education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Haiying Song & Zahra Hazari, Florida International University
Abstract: Creative teaching has been considered to be effective for increasing students’ interest and enhancing their career aspirations in science fields, two factors that contribute to students’ science achievement. However, very few studies in the fields of creativity and science education have examined this topic. Further, little has known about the relationship between creative teaching and students’ and teachers’ background information, including gender, race, and ethnicity. This study uses the data collected from 6,772 freshman college students with the Sustainability and Gender in Engineering Survey and examines the effects of creative teaching on students’ science career aspiration and science achievement as well as the interaction between creative teaching and students’ and teachers’ background. Based on students’ report of teaching activities in their high school science classes, an indicator of creative teaching was first developed for biology, chemistry, and physics classes. The study found that the creative teaching indicator in the three science subjects significantly predicted students’ selection of the three majors, respectively. The indicator also significantly predicted students’ achievement in chemistry and physics but not in biology. In addition, significant student gender, ethnicity, and race differences were also found in the report of creative teaching in the subjects and female teachers were reported to have more creative teaching in biology and physics. These results were discussed in the context of creativity research and science education.
Interpersonal Brain Synchronization Underlies Brainstorming
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kelong Lu & Ning Hao, East China Normal University
Abstract: We conducted three studies to investigate the effects of task feedback, group composition and interactive mode on group creativity, and reveal the underlying interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between team members by using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technique. In Study 1, participants were asked to solve one realistic presented problem (RPP; a typical creativity problem) with two strangers in different conditions with positive/negative/no feedback. Results showed that creative performance of groups in the positive feedback condition and control condition was higher than in the negative feedback condition. We also found that the cooperation behaviour in the positive feedback condition were higher than in the other feedback conditions. Whereas, higher collective flexibility scores in the control condition were observed, with respect to those of the other feedback conditions. The collective flexibility scores in the positive feedback condition were higher than that of the negative feedback condition. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (r-DLPFC) only for the positive feedback condition, which was significantly stronger than that of the other feedback conditions. These findings may suggest that individuals will be more inclined to cooperate with each other (i.e., combine their own ideas with others’) when positive feedback occurs and that negative feedback can inhibit group creativity. In Study 2, a preliminary test (alternative-uses task, AUT) was performed to divide participants into three types of dyads: high-high (two highly-creative individuals), low-low (two less-creative individuals), and high-low (one highly-creative and one less-creative individual). Dyads were then asked to solve one RPP. Results showed that less-creative individuals, while working together, would perform as well as highly-creative individuals. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS only for low-low dyads at PFC (prefrontal cortex) and r-TPJ (right temporal-parietal junction) brain regions during RPP task performance. Besides, the IBS at r-DLPFC and r-TPJ regions in the low-low dyads was positively correlated with their cooperation behaviour and group creative performance. These findings indicated when two less-creative individuals worked on a creativity problem together, they tended to cooperate with each other (indicated by both behaviour index and increased IBS at r-DLPFC and r-TPJ), which benefited their creative performance. In study 3, participants were assigned as dyads to solve two problems demanding creativity (AUT) or two problems demanding no creativity (object characteristic task, OCT). Dyads solved one of the two problems in cooperative mode and the other in competitive mode. Results revealed that dyads showed higher AUT fluency, AUT originality, OCT fluency and level of cooperation behaviour in cooperative mode than in competitive mode. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS in the r-DLPFC and r-TPJ only for dyads in the AUT/ cooperation condition. Moreover, increased IBS in the r-DLPFC and the r-TPJ could positively predict AUT performance and level of cooperation behaviour. These findings suggest that the enhanced IBS in the r-DLPFC and r-TPJ may underlie the positive effects of cooperation rather than competition in group creativity.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Salvi Carola, Northwestern University & Shirley Ryan Ability Lab; Ryan D. Conrardy, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab; Richard McKinley. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB; Marom Bikson City College of the City University of New York; Mark Beeman Northwestern University; and Jordan Grafman, Northwestern University
Abstract: Neuroscientific research has identified a distinctive brain network for insight problem-solving. Within that network, the right Anterior Temporal Lobe (rATL), putatively involved in semantic integration, is preferentially activated when participants experience a so-called Aha! moment. The rATL appears to be crucial for the creation of distant semantic relations, although fMRI and EEG evidence for its role is correlational. In our latest study, we applied High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD tDCS) to the rATL of participants, while they attempted to solve Compound Remote Associates problems. Between- and within-subjects’ analyses showed a higher percent of problems solved via insight during and after tDCS compared both to sham and to pre-stimulation control conditions. By using tDCS applied to the rATL, and showing a causative relationship between active stimulation and increased insight problem-solving, this novel finding corroborates the important role of the rATL in producing insightful thinking.
Motherhood in the Paintings of Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Eda Yazgin & Yucel Yazgin, Near East University
Abstract: The art of painting, from ancient to modern times, succeeded in projecting emotions alongside depicting physical things, especially during times when modern art movements were in effect. Impressionist painters in particular attempted to reflect in their art the effects of physical phenomena on their own emotions. In this context Mary Cassatt, one of the major female impressionist painters, projected in her work the emotional relation between the mother and child figures. Cassatt used this close relationship between the mother and child as a subject often. The mother and child figures were depicted in various forms of communication in Cassatt’s paintings. Those different depictions have been a factor in the varying interpretation of motherhood in the paintings emotionally. Mother and child relations and the concept of motherhood have deeply interested researchers from many disciplines. This research, hence, focused on the projection of the image of motherhood in the art of painting, specifically inquiring how this image was depicted in Cassatt’s art. In this context, 50 paintings of Mary Cassatt, worked in oil paint and pastel techniques, were analyzed. The content of the paintings were analyzed in the categories of the meaning instilled in facial expressions, representation of the relationship between mother and child, locations, apparent socio-economic status and colours. The research used a qualitative phenomenological design using image analysis. The content was coded and described simultaneously by both researchers according to the categories. As a result, elements depicting the values of the motherhood image of the time and culture were found in Cassatt’s paintings. Mary Stevenson Cassatt, having been influenced by the pioneers of Impressionist movement such as Renoir, Degas and Monet, depicted in her own art the effects of physical phenomena on her own psychology as a famous painter of the movement. These psychological influences carried onto her ‘mother and child’ portrayals. Mary Cassatt has been famous with her paintings of the mother and child in everyday activities.
Creativity for everyone: implementing 21-century skills in public school
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Aleksandra Mikhailova & Nadezhda Avdeenko, NRU Higher School of Economics
Abstract: In most of schools in Russia classroom space is highly restricted. Teacher is considered to be the primary source of knowledge and the only person in class that possesses ‘the right answer’. We suggested 23 teachers from different Moscow schools to conduct several collaborative problem-solving lessons in Mathematics or Science in the same class. We base on presumption that collaborative problem solving is an effective practice to promote 4C-skills (creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration). Using action research methodology we observed what effects this intervention had on teachers’ and students’ space perception. We gathered data through ethnography within the lessons and group interviews. Teachers’ view concerning this change in classroom space was controversial. They felt uncomfortable because of the changed roles and the fact that children didn’t see them as the only source of knowledge within these collaborative problem solving lessons. They also had disciplinary problem in that kind of a new space. Nevertheless, most teachers acknowledged that relationships between the best students and those who usually didn’t show big results also changed. The last ones became much more prominent. They proposed as many interesting ideas and brilliant solutions as those, who were known as smartest, or even more.
Creative Teaching in Science Education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Haiying Song & Zahra Hazari, Florida International University
Abstract: Creative teaching has been considered to be effective for increasing students’ interest and enhancing their career aspirations in science fields, two factors that contribute to students’ science achievement. However, very few studies in the fields of creativity and science education have examined this topic. Further, little has known about the relationship between creative teaching and students’ and teachers’ background information, including gender, race, and ethnicity. This study uses the data collected from 6,772 freshman college students with the Sustainability and Gender in Engineering Survey and examines the effects of creative teaching on students’ science career aspiration and science achievement as well as the interaction between creative teaching and students’ and teachers’ background. Based on students’ report of teaching activities in their high school science classes, an indicator of creative teaching was first developed for biology, chemistry, and physics classes. The study found that the creative teaching indicator in the three science subjects significantly predicted students’ selection of the three majors, respectively. The indicator also significantly predicted students’ achievement in chemistry and physics but not in biology. In addition, significant student gender, ethnicity, and race differences were also found in the report of creative teaching in the subjects and female teachers were reported to have more creative teaching in biology and physics. These results were discussed in the context of creativity research and science education.
Interpersonal Brain Synchronization Underlies Brainstorming
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Kelong Lu & Ning Hao, East China Normal University
Abstract: We conducted three studies to investigate the effects of task feedback, group composition and interactive mode on group creativity, and reveal the underlying interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between team members by using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technique. In Study 1, participants were asked to solve one realistic presented problem (RPP; a typical creativity problem) with two strangers in different conditions with positive/negative/no feedback. Results showed that creative performance of groups in the positive feedback condition and control condition was higher than in the negative feedback condition. We also found that the cooperation behaviour in the positive feedback condition were higher than in the other feedback conditions. Whereas, higher collective flexibility scores in the control condition were observed, with respect to those of the other feedback conditions. The collective flexibility scores in the positive feedback condition were higher than that of the negative feedback condition. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (r-DLPFC) only for the positive feedback condition, which was significantly stronger than that of the other feedback conditions. These findings may suggest that individuals will be more inclined to cooperate with each other (i.e., combine their own ideas with others’) when positive feedback occurs and that negative feedback can inhibit group creativity. In Study 2, a preliminary test (alternative-uses task, AUT) was performed to divide participants into three types of dyads: high-high (two highly-creative individuals), low-low (two less-creative individuals), and high-low (one highly-creative and one less-creative individual). Dyads were then asked to solve one RPP. Results showed that less-creative individuals, while working together, would perform as well as highly-creative individuals. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS only for low-low dyads at PFC (prefrontal cortex) and r-TPJ (right temporal-parietal junction) brain regions during RPP task performance. Besides, the IBS at r-DLPFC and r-TPJ regions in the low-low dyads was positively correlated with their cooperation behaviour and group creative performance. These findings indicated when two less-creative individuals worked on a creativity problem together, they tended to cooperate with each other (indicated by both behaviour index and increased IBS at r-DLPFC and r-TPJ), which benefited their creative performance. In study 3, participants were assigned as dyads to solve two problems demanding creativity (AUT) or two problems demanding no creativity (object characteristic task, OCT). Dyads solved one of the two problems in cooperative mode and the other in competitive mode. Results revealed that dyads showed higher AUT fluency, AUT originality, OCT fluency and level of cooperation behaviour in cooperative mode than in competitive mode. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS in the r-DLPFC and r-TPJ only for dyads in the AUT/ cooperation condition. Moreover, increased IBS in the r-DLPFC and the r-TPJ could positively predict AUT performance and level of cooperation behaviour. These findings suggest that the enhanced IBS in the r-DLPFC and r-TPJ may underlie the positive effects of cooperation rather than competition in group creativity.
9:15AM - 10:15AM CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Smells Like Innovative Spirit. A music thinking mindset for fearless innovation.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Johannes Flecker
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In this session, participants learn to express and overcome roadblocks of innovation through the process of songwriting and musical storytelling. Songwriters like Lady Gaga and Sia are universally recognized as innovators and music disruptors. Their persistent and risk-taking exposure of novel ideas sets them apart, embracing uncertainty as a prerequisite for lasting musical and business success. In this session, you immerse in the process of innovation-minded songwriting and learn to utilize artistic tools in your work environment.
The Creativity Landscape Framework and Design of Learning
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jonan Donaldson, Drexel University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: This study applied the Creativity Landscape conceptual framework (Donaldson, 2016) as a diagnostic tool in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the instructional design of a course in terms of facilitating development of learner creativity. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the framework as a diagnostic tool. The findings suggest that the framework is effective for this purpose, particularly in identifying areas for potential enhancement of creativity in a course design. These findings fill a gap in the literature in terms of instruments and frameworks for evaluating facilitation of learner creativity in the design of learning.
What Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy & Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Two researchers will share survey and interview data conducted with teachers (n=300) about their opinions of their own and their students’ creativity in the classroom as a piece of performed research. Looking to the ethnographer Dwight Conquergood and the theatre researcher Johnny Salda the investigators crafted a theatrical script from the rich blended research methods used in this project. The researchers used verbatim text from hundreds of hours of interviews as well as the survey data to create a piece of theatre that captures the feelings, frustrations and joys of teachers in relationship to their and their students’ creativity. The research will be summarized before the performance, and a twenty-five minute piece will be presented with a discussion to follow. The research examines how teachers define creativity, whether they feel as if they are creative teachers, whether they encourage their students to be creative, and what impediments do they face in the process. Furthermore, the piece asks what is missing to make schools more creative and engaging spaces. Students and teachers have some surprising answers.
Death of the Father: A Poet’s Healing Journey
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Carol Barrett, Union Institute & University; Saybrook University
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Multiple theories of how original creative writing may support healing will be reviewed in light of the author’s experience navigating the death of her father, and teaching graduate courses on poetry and healing. Theories derived from both the psychological literature and the field of poetry therapy will be assessed from the phenomenological perspective of the adult child experiencing this loss. Poems written decades before the loss, during the final illness, days before the death, and after the father’s death will be shared to explore the healing potential in such creative acts. The presenter will examine the felt experience of the poem’s birth, and explore its impact in the process of revision, in subsequent publication in literary or medical journals, and in recitation at a memorial service. The audience will be encouraged in their own healing efforts in the face of loss, based on the potential benefits of the creative process using language. Limitations where the loss involves significant trauma will be acknowledged, and further studies of the phenomenology of healing will be called for.
From here you can step anywhere - Dance as a Creative Youth Development Catalyst
Speaker: Dawn Reese Chief Executive Officer, The Wooden Floor
& Ivonne Chand O'Neal, Ph.D. Principal, MUSE Research
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor (TWF) is one of the foremost creative
youth development nonprofit organizations in the country. Through this
program, the lives of young people in low-income communities are
transformed through the power of dance. In 2013, The Wooden Floor
(TWF) embarked on a 10-year longitudinal study to assess the impacts of
the organization’s dance-centric model on students between third and
twelfth grades. Implementing a Theory of Change to develop life skills
and personal assets that contribute to success, the study examined the
following constructs: Achievement Motivation, Empathy, Future Outlook,
Social Self-Concept and Engagement, and Creative Youth Development
(creative problem-solving skills that include problem-finding, creative
fluency, flexibility and originality). Results of the first panel will
be discussed as well as highlights from a recently published chapter
written by the late Dr. James Catterall of the Center for Research on
Creativity (CRoC) and TWF CEO Dawn Reese, entitled, A Step in the Right
Direction: Early Lessons From a Longitudinal Study of Dance Education as
a Developmental Catalyst in Rajan, R. & Chand O’Neal, I. (Eds.) (2018)
Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impacts in Schools and
Communities, Palgrave Macmillan. The session will feature details about
how TWF is using their theory of change to develop life skills and
personal assets that contribute to success in this under-resourced
population. Implications of additional key studies focusing on the
broader field of Creative Youth Development and the arts will be
discussed.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Johannes Flecker
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In this session, participants learn to express and overcome roadblocks of innovation through the process of songwriting and musical storytelling. Songwriters like Lady Gaga and Sia are universally recognized as innovators and music disruptors. Their persistent and risk-taking exposure of novel ideas sets them apart, embracing uncertainty as a prerequisite for lasting musical and business success. In this session, you immerse in the process of innovation-minded songwriting and learn to utilize artistic tools in your work environment.
The Creativity Landscape Framework and Design of Learning
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Jonan Donaldson, Drexel University
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: This study applied the Creativity Landscape conceptual framework (Donaldson, 2016) as a diagnostic tool in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the instructional design of a course in terms of facilitating development of learner creativity. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the framework as a diagnostic tool. The findings suggest that the framework is effective for this purpose, particularly in identifying areas for potential enhancement of creativity in a course design. These findings fill a gap in the literature in terms of instruments and frameworks for evaluating facilitation of learner creativity in the design of learning.
What Teachers Talk About When They Talk About Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Peter Duffy & Jordan Beck, University of South Carolina
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Two researchers will share survey and interview data conducted with teachers (n=300) about their opinions of their own and their students’ creativity in the classroom as a piece of performed research. Looking to the ethnographer Dwight Conquergood and the theatre researcher Johnny Salda the investigators crafted a theatrical script from the rich blended research methods used in this project. The researchers used verbatim text from hundreds of hours of interviews as well as the survey data to create a piece of theatre that captures the feelings, frustrations and joys of teachers in relationship to their and their students’ creativity. The research will be summarized before the performance, and a twenty-five minute piece will be presented with a discussion to follow. The research examines how teachers define creativity, whether they feel as if they are creative teachers, whether they encourage their students to be creative, and what impediments do they face in the process. Furthermore, the piece asks what is missing to make schools more creative and engaging spaces. Students and teachers have some surprising answers.
Death of the Father: A Poet’s Healing Journey
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Carol Barrett, Union Institute & University; Saybrook University
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: Multiple theories of how original creative writing may support healing will be reviewed in light of the author’s experience navigating the death of her father, and teaching graduate courses on poetry and healing. Theories derived from both the psychological literature and the field of poetry therapy will be assessed from the phenomenological perspective of the adult child experiencing this loss. Poems written decades before the loss, during the final illness, days before the death, and after the father’s death will be shared to explore the healing potential in such creative acts. The presenter will examine the felt experience of the poem’s birth, and explore its impact in the process of revision, in subsequent publication in literary or medical journals, and in recitation at a memorial service. The audience will be encouraged in their own healing efforts in the face of loss, based on the potential benefits of the creative process using language. Limitations where the loss involves significant trauma will be acknowledged, and further studies of the phenomenology of healing will be called for.
From here you can step anywhere - Dance as a Creative Youth Development Catalyst
Speaker: Dawn Reese Chief Executive Officer, The Wooden Floor
& Ivonne Chand O'Neal, Ph.D. Principal, MUSE Research
Location: Stevenson Union Arena
Abstract: Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor (TWF) is one of the foremost creative
youth development nonprofit organizations in the country. Through this
program, the lives of young people in low-income communities are
transformed through the power of dance. In 2013, The Wooden Floor
(TWF) embarked on a 10-year longitudinal study to assess the impacts of
the organization’s dance-centric model on students between third and
twelfth grades. Implementing a Theory of Change to develop life skills
and personal assets that contribute to success, the study examined the
following constructs: Achievement Motivation, Empathy, Future Outlook,
Social Self-Concept and Engagement, and Creative Youth Development
(creative problem-solving skills that include problem-finding, creative
fluency, flexibility and originality). Results of the first panel will
be discussed as well as highlights from a recently published chapter
written by the late Dr. James Catterall of the Center for Research on
Creativity (CRoC) and TWF CEO Dawn Reese, entitled, A Step in the Right
Direction: Early Lessons From a Longitudinal Study of Dance Education as
a Developmental Catalyst in Rajan, R. & Chand O’Neal, I. (Eds.) (2018)
Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impacts in Schools and
Communities, Palgrave Macmillan. The session will feature details about
how TWF is using their theory of change to develop life skills and
personal assets that contribute to success in this under-resourced
population. Implications of additional key studies focusing on the
broader field of Creative Youth Development and the arts will be
discussed.
10:30AM - 11:30AM INVITED ADDRESS & CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Creativity in Perspective
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vlad Glaveneau
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: In this talk I will explore a new, sociocultural way of thinking about creativity as a dialogue of perspectives. The notion of perspective, popular within art history and photography, is highly relevant for discussions of creativity given the fact that it designates the particular relationship established between person and his or her situation. The creative process is are often considered, in lay discussions, to involve a ‘change in perspective’. What this means, from a psychological point of view, is that creativity often requires a re-positioning of the person (in physical, social and/or symbolic terms), towards the problem at hand, in order to develop new ways of looking or thinking about it. Oftentimes, this implies moving beyond conventional, usual or dominant perspectives and towards the unconventional, the unique and the marginal. Essentially, what matters most for creativity researchers is how these unique positions and perspectives are reached. I will propose and illustrate here a perspectival model of creativity that considers different kind of dialogues between perspectives, resulting either in their reduction, synthesis or multiplication. My hope is that such a sociocultural framework - grounded in notions of position, perspective, dialogue and reflexivity - can take us beyond individualistic and ‘mentalist’ accounts of creativity and towards a more comprehensive theory that bridges the psychological, the material, the social and the cultural.
Who will succeed? Creativity and motivation in college students
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Joanne Rojas, University of Kentucky
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity is an important individual difference among college students that is not typically measured in educational research. In this study, the relationships among measures of creativity, perseverance (grit), two measures of academic motivation (academic self-efficacy and avoidance of novelty), and self-reported grades were examined among two samples of college students (N = 817; N = 187). Correlations were examined and hierarchical multiple regressions controlling for gender, age, and ethnicity were conducted to determine which of these variables significantly predicted participants’ self-reported grades. No relationship emerged between creative ideation and grades, although grit did predict grades in one sample. Traditional academic motivation measures robustly predicted grades. Limitations and implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.
CREATE: Designing learning experiences that boost creative problem solving
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Helen Hadani, Center for Childhood Creativity
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Creative problem solving is a fundamental skill in the 21st century, yet all too often education experiences are not designed to build creativity or link it to problem solving. To help educators reimagine their approach, the Center for Childhood Creativity conducted a comprehensive review of empirical studies on creativity, cognitive development, and learning to develop the CREATE framework, which describes the key components of experiences and environments that build creative problem-solving skills.
Building Creative Information Systems
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vitor Santos, NOVAIMS - New University of Lisbon
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: A “Creative Information System” (CIS) could be defined as an information system that facing a concrete problem in a certain context and using an adapted creativity technique, is able to generate automatically a set of answers potentially innovative for the solution of a problem. In this presentation, it will be proposed concrete software architectures to build Creative Information Systems based in some popular creativity techniques, namely: “Brute Thinking, “Whiteboard” and SCAMPER.
Group Creativity in Early Adolescence
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Palmyre Pierroux & Rolf Steier, University of Oslo
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: The context for this study was a touring museum workshop on architecture produced for middle school students through a national arts and culture program. The study investigates small group interactions among adolescents (13-14 years) as they collaborated on creative tasks in different phases of designing architectural models of a new cultural building. How does the design of tasks, teacher facilitation, and materials hinder or support group creativity? Creativity is understood as the ways in which design ideas and concepts are proposed, picked up and developed as products of imagination in the context of group collaboration, or what Nishizaka (2003) calls “imagination in action.’ The basis for the qualitative study was a pilot of the two-day workshop, which was developed in a research‚ practice collaboration between university researchers, curators at an architecture museum, architects at a firm called Sn√∏hetta, and the teacher of the participating class. Two researchers conducted observations and recorded all workshop activities, and the video recordings are primary data for the analysis presented in this paper. The findings show how different types of activities, social relations, and materials, including a site visit, schematic planning, modeling, and an interactive tabletop‚ supported and hindered group collaboration and creativity. The findings are discussed in view of central trends in creativity research and policy, and implications for practice in schools and museums are discussed.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vlad Glaveneau
Location: Stevenson Union Rogue River Room
Abstract: In this talk I will explore a new, sociocultural way of thinking about creativity as a dialogue of perspectives. The notion of perspective, popular within art history and photography, is highly relevant for discussions of creativity given the fact that it designates the particular relationship established between person and his or her situation. The creative process is are often considered, in lay discussions, to involve a ‘change in perspective’. What this means, from a psychological point of view, is that creativity often requires a re-positioning of the person (in physical, social and/or symbolic terms), towards the problem at hand, in order to develop new ways of looking or thinking about it. Oftentimes, this implies moving beyond conventional, usual or dominant perspectives and towards the unconventional, the unique and the marginal. Essentially, what matters most for creativity researchers is how these unique positions and perspectives are reached. I will propose and illustrate here a perspectival model of creativity that considers different kind of dialogues between perspectives, resulting either in their reduction, synthesis or multiplication. My hope is that such a sociocultural framework - grounded in notions of position, perspective, dialogue and reflexivity - can take us beyond individualistic and ‘mentalist’ accounts of creativity and towards a more comprehensive theory that bridges the psychological, the material, the social and the cultural.
Who will succeed? Creativity and motivation in college students
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Joanne Rojas, University of Kentucky
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity is an important individual difference among college students that is not typically measured in educational research. In this study, the relationships among measures of creativity, perseverance (grit), two measures of academic motivation (academic self-efficacy and avoidance of novelty), and self-reported grades were examined among two samples of college students (N = 817; N = 187). Correlations were examined and hierarchical multiple regressions controlling for gender, age, and ethnicity were conducted to determine which of these variables significantly predicted participants’ self-reported grades. No relationship emerged between creative ideation and grades, although grit did predict grades in one sample. Traditional academic motivation measures robustly predicted grades. Limitations and implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.
CREATE: Designing learning experiences that boost creative problem solving
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Helen Hadani, Center for Childhood Creativity
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: Creative problem solving is a fundamental skill in the 21st century, yet all too often education experiences are not designed to build creativity or link it to problem solving. To help educators reimagine their approach, the Center for Childhood Creativity conducted a comprehensive review of empirical studies on creativity, cognitive development, and learning to develop the CREATE framework, which describes the key components of experiences and environments that build creative problem-solving skills.
Building Creative Information Systems
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Vitor Santos, NOVAIMS - New University of Lisbon
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: A “Creative Information System” (CIS) could be defined as an information system that facing a concrete problem in a certain context and using an adapted creativity technique, is able to generate automatically a set of answers potentially innovative for the solution of a problem. In this presentation, it will be proposed concrete software architectures to build Creative Information Systems based in some popular creativity techniques, namely: “Brute Thinking, “Whiteboard” and SCAMPER.
Group Creativity in Early Adolescence
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Palmyre Pierroux & Rolf Steier, University of Oslo
Location: Stevenson Union Diversions
Abstract: The context for this study was a touring museum workshop on architecture produced for middle school students through a national arts and culture program. The study investigates small group interactions among adolescents (13-14 years) as they collaborated on creative tasks in different phases of designing architectural models of a new cultural building. How does the design of tasks, teacher facilitation, and materials hinder or support group creativity? Creativity is understood as the ways in which design ideas and concepts are proposed, picked up and developed as products of imagination in the context of group collaboration, or what Nishizaka (2003) calls “imagination in action.’ The basis for the qualitative study was a pilot of the two-day workshop, which was developed in a research‚ practice collaboration between university researchers, curators at an architecture museum, architects at a firm called Sn√∏hetta, and the teacher of the participating class. Two researchers conducted observations and recorded all workshop activities, and the video recordings are primary data for the analysis presented in this paper. The findings show how different types of activities, social relations, and materials, including a site visit, schematic planning, modeling, and an interactive tabletop‚ supported and hindered group collaboration and creativity. The findings are discussed in view of central trends in creativity research and policy, and implications for practice in schools and museums are discussed.
11:30AM - 1:15PM LUNCH
1:15PM - 2:15PM INVITED ADDRESS & CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Structured Uncertainty: A Dynamic Approach for Inducing and Studying Creative Expression in Educational Contexts
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ronald Beghetto
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: The purpose of this talk is highlight how providing opportunities for students to engage with uncertainty — in an otherwise structured learning environment — can serve as a catalyst for inducing and studying creative expression in educational contexts. Implications for creativity theory, research, and practice will also be discussed.
Music and Animation: A Perfect Pairing for Students with Autism
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Randles
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Media is ubiquitous in the lives of adolescent students (Coleman, 2012). Given the proliferation of web and software-based composition platforms music teachers have valuable tools at their disposal for introducing and sustaining meaningful music creation experiences. The presenter has worked as a professional performing musician on a tablet over the past eight years and has used musical skills developed in this area in an assortment of teaching and research applications (2015, 2017, in press). This session will be the author/researcher/teacher’s reporting on summer camps where tablets are being utilized in a multitrack recording and performance instrument sense as a means for composing music for animation and film with students with autism. Strategies for harnessing the power of media in the classroom will be presented along with the ongoing results of how music and animation experiences are being used to connect students with autism with careers in the Arts (including music).
How the ‘Asset-based Approach’ Enhances Social Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Maclurcan
Location: 319 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In every social interaction or task-oriented activity, we can engage people’s creativity from the very outset. By beginning processes with a focus on what’s already good or working, we engage people’s imaginative neocortex, rather than the part of their brains associated with ‘flight, fight or freeze’ responses. Building on Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) and Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and drawing from cognitive science, the author’s informal, experiential research suggests this ‘Asset-based Approach’ consistently results in pro-social interactions, greater participant engagement, and more effective community outcomes. This presentation will explain the Asset-based Approach, as well as how it can be applied to build trust and stimulate creativity in social interactions, team building processes and the development of community-oriented projects.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Ronald Beghetto
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: The purpose of this talk is highlight how providing opportunities for students to engage with uncertainty — in an otherwise structured learning environment — can serve as a catalyst for inducing and studying creative expression in educational contexts. Implications for creativity theory, research, and practice will also be discussed.
Music and Animation: A Perfect Pairing for Students with Autism
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Randles
Location: 323 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: Media is ubiquitous in the lives of adolescent students (Coleman, 2012). Given the proliferation of web and software-based composition platforms music teachers have valuable tools at their disposal for introducing and sustaining meaningful music creation experiences. The presenter has worked as a professional performing musician on a tablet over the past eight years and has used musical skills developed in this area in an assortment of teaching and research applications (2015, 2017, in press). This session will be the author/researcher/teacher’s reporting on summer camps where tablets are being utilized in a multitrack recording and performance instrument sense as a means for composing music for animation and film with students with autism. Strategies for harnessing the power of media in the classroom will be presented along with the ongoing results of how music and animation experiences are being used to connect students with autism with careers in the Arts (including music).
How the ‘Asset-based Approach’ Enhances Social Creativity
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Maclurcan
Location: 319 in the Stevenson Union
Abstract: In every social interaction or task-oriented activity, we can engage people’s creativity from the very outset. By beginning processes with a focus on what’s already good or working, we engage people’s imaginative neocortex, rather than the part of their brains associated with ‘flight, fight or freeze’ responses. Building on Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) and Appreciative Inquiry (AI), and drawing from cognitive science, the author’s informal, experiential research suggests this ‘Asset-based Approach’ consistently results in pro-social interactions, greater participant engagement, and more effective community outcomes. This presentation will explain the Asset-based Approach, as well as how it can be applied to build trust and stimulate creativity in social interactions, team building processes and the development of community-oriented projects.
2:30PM - 3:30PM CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Songwriting as a Means to Reinvigorate Music Education
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: John Kratus, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity has been largely absent from in-school music education, despite numerous efforts to incorporate composition in the curriculum. Perhaps as a result, the percentage of students electing to take music classes has decreased in recent years. This presentation proposes that songwriting has the power to reinvigorate music education by providing a creative means for students to express themselves lyrically and musically. The presentation begins with a rationale for offering songwriting classes in middle school, high school, and college. Songwriting makes use of the most popular instruments in the United States (i.e., guitar, keyboard, and digital instruments), it addresses the emotional needs of adolescents and young adults, it provides a direct connection to students’ cultures, and it is a skill that can bring pleasure for a lifetime. The second part of the presentation describes a means for teaching a songwriting class, based on the author’s 14 years of experience as a collegiate songwriting teacher. Included in the part of the presentation are means for establishing a nurturing classroom environment, and an approach to non-critical assessment. The presentation concludes with the passionate words of student songwriters regarding their development as songwriters and the powerful impact songwriting has had on their lives. Examples: “I want people to be able to reach for my songs for comfort when they are in distress, “ and “Now that I am able to write and compose my own songs, I just can’t imagine the rest of my life not possessing this skill.”
Acknowledging Creative Thinking Skills
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Holt
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: In this talk I will outline and illustrate the results of the international, EU-funded, ACTS project, (Acknowledging Creative Thinking Skills), which set out in a practical and pragmatic way to rethink high school qualifications and design a rigorous, yet widely relevant, valid and portable system of qualifications. The ACTS qualification design is based upon a redefined spectrum of creative thinking skills that can be enabled and enhanced within transdisciplinary learning and the inclusion of non-formal and informal learning opportunities. The innovative core certificates within each diploma level have been designed to overarch any content, allowing the greatest flexibility to trial the approach without disruption to existing programmes. The project is currently in its final, piloting phase and has received positive international support for its potential to raise attainment for all and maximise creativity without increasing stress. Enhanced creative thinking is highly relevant in relation to the mounting global issues that face the young people of today and tomorrow. In an increasingly complex and uncertain world, they will need these skills as never before. I will also illustrate how these skills may be similarly relevant to higher education, business or any other area of human endeavour, since they work cooperatively with the natural process of learning and autonomy of thinking. In combination, they help pave the way to the ‘A-ha’ moment; to insight, or to a personal conviction based upon objective understanding and self-understanding. They can also enable and enhance meaningful creative action.
An urgent call for stronger and more robust cooperation between disciplines in creativity studies
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Fisher
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Understanding creativity from only one vantage point will never provide a necessary, satisfactory answer. Much as we were not able to describe cognition in the realm of one discipline, so too are we not able to crack the enigma of creativity by only using one set of tools. In this talk I will share a few remarks about the current state of creativity, collected from a wide range of disciplines and published on The Creativity Post—a thriving, multidisciplinary platform dedicated to understanding creativity from a variety of different perspectives. Mainly, I will focus my talk on the progress made in "algorithmic" approaches to creativity, including computational creativity, creative AI and philosophy of mind. I will also explore the difficult questions left unanswered by psychology that have left us stumped when attempting to teach creativity in the classroom and in the boardroom.
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: John Kratus, Michigan State University
Location: Stevenson Union 323
Abstract: Creativity has been largely absent from in-school music education, despite numerous efforts to incorporate composition in the curriculum. Perhaps as a result, the percentage of students electing to take music classes has decreased in recent years. This presentation proposes that songwriting has the power to reinvigorate music education by providing a creative means for students to express themselves lyrically and musically. The presentation begins with a rationale for offering songwriting classes in middle school, high school, and college. Songwriting makes use of the most popular instruments in the United States (i.e., guitar, keyboard, and digital instruments), it addresses the emotional needs of adolescents and young adults, it provides a direct connection to students’ cultures, and it is a skill that can bring pleasure for a lifetime. The second part of the presentation describes a means for teaching a songwriting class, based on the author’s 14 years of experience as a collegiate songwriting teacher. Included in the part of the presentation are means for establishing a nurturing classroom environment, and an approach to non-critical assessment. The presentation concludes with the passionate words of student songwriters regarding their development as songwriters and the powerful impact songwriting has had on their lives. Examples: “I want people to be able to reach for my songs for comfort when they are in distress, “ and “Now that I am able to write and compose my own songs, I just can’t imagine the rest of my life not possessing this skill.”
Acknowledging Creative Thinking Skills
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Holt
Location: Stevenson Union 319
Abstract: In this talk I will outline and illustrate the results of the international, EU-funded, ACTS project, (Acknowledging Creative Thinking Skills), which set out in a practical and pragmatic way to rethink high school qualifications and design a rigorous, yet widely relevant, valid and portable system of qualifications. The ACTS qualification design is based upon a redefined spectrum of creative thinking skills that can be enabled and enhanced within transdisciplinary learning and the inclusion of non-formal and informal learning opportunities. The innovative core certificates within each diploma level have been designed to overarch any content, allowing the greatest flexibility to trial the approach without disruption to existing programmes. The project is currently in its final, piloting phase and has received positive international support for its potential to raise attainment for all and maximise creativity without increasing stress. Enhanced creative thinking is highly relevant in relation to the mounting global issues that face the young people of today and tomorrow. In an increasingly complex and uncertain world, they will need these skills as never before. I will also illustrate how these skills may be similarly relevant to higher education, business or any other area of human endeavour, since they work cooperatively with the natural process of learning and autonomy of thinking. In combination, they help pave the way to the ‘A-ha’ moment; to insight, or to a personal conviction based upon objective understanding and self-understanding. They can also enable and enhance meaningful creative action.
An urgent call for stronger and more robust cooperation between disciplines in creativity studies
Presenter(s)/Co-authors: Fisher
Location: Stevenson Union 313
Abstract: Understanding creativity from only one vantage point will never provide a necessary, satisfactory answer. Much as we were not able to describe cognition in the realm of one discipline, so too are we not able to crack the enigma of creativity by only using one set of tools. In this talk I will share a few remarks about the current state of creativity, collected from a wide range of disciplines and published on The Creativity Post—a thriving, multidisciplinary platform dedicated to understanding creativity from a variety of different perspectives. Mainly, I will focus my talk on the progress made in "algorithmic" approaches to creativity, including computational creativity, creative AI and philosophy of mind. I will also explore the difficult questions left unanswered by psychology that have left us stumped when attempting to teach creativity in the classroom and in the boardroom.
3:40PM - 4:15PM CLOSING REMARKS
Location: Rogue River Room in the Stevenson Union
