Unlocking Creativity: A Teacher's Guide to Creativity Across the Curriculum

185 Pages·2016·0.83 MB·English

by  Robert Fisher

Unlocking
Creativity
Teaching Across the Curriculum
Edited by
Robert Fisher • Mary Williams
Related titles of interest:
Unlocking Literacy Fisher and Williams (185346 6522)
Unlocking Writing Williams (185346 8509)
Unlocking Numeracy Koshy and Murray (185346 8355)
David Fulton Publishers Ltd
The Chiswick Centre, 414 Chiswick High Road, London W45TF
www.fultonpublishers.co.uk
First published 2004 by David Fulton Publishers
David Fulton Publishers is a division of Granada Learning, part of ITV plc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © 2004 Robert Fisher, Mary Williams and the individual contributors
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 184312 0925
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Acknowledgements iv
Notes on contributors v
Introduction 1
1 What is creativity? Robert Fisher 6
2 Creative literacy: learning in the early years Mary Williams 21
3 Creative writing: taking risks with words Andrew Green 37
4 Creative drama: thinking from within Colleen Johnson 55
5 Creative mathematics: allowing caged birds to fly Debbie Robinson and
Valsa Koshy 68
6 Creativity in science: leaping the void Juliet Edmonds 82
7 Unlocking creativity with ICT Avril Loveless and Rupert Wegerif 92
8 Creative design and technology David Barlex 103
9 Creativity through geography Fran Martin 117
10 Creativity in music and art Sara Liptai 133
11 Creativity through religious education Lynne Broadbent 150
12 Creativity across the curriculum Robert Fisher 160
Appendix: Reviewing creativity 172
Index 173
iii
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the many teachers, students and children who have helped
to inform our research into creativity. We have welcomed the collaboration with
colleagues from different institutions, as well as with those from within our own
department at Brunel. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to include
copyright material in this book. In case of failure to obtain permission, the editors and
publishers undertake to make good any omissions in future printings.
iv
Notes on contributors
David Barlexis an acknowledged leader in the area of design & technology education,
curriculum design and curriculum materials development. He is the Director of the
Nuffield Design and Technology Projects, and through this activity has produced an
extensive range of curriculum materials that are widely used in primary and secondary
schools in England, Scotland and Wales. He is the educational manager of the Young
Foresight Initiative and through this has developed an interest in developing
approaches to teaching and learning that enable young people to respond creatively to
design & technology activities.
Lynne Broadbent is Director of the British and Foreign Schools Society’s National
Religious Centre at Brunel University, and is currently managing a national project on
religious education and school effectiveness. She is engaged in teacher education for
primary and secondary students, in-service training and consultancy within LEAs,
and is a Section 23 inspector. She has written on the contribution of RE within the school
curriculum to Values and Citizenship Education and to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social
and cultural development. Her research interest is in the relationship between subject
knowledge and pedagogy.
Juliet Edmondsis a senior lecturer in science education at the University of the West of
England. Formerly, she worked at Brunel University for ten years and in west London
schools as an advisory teacher for primary science and assessment. Her research
interests lie in Assessment for Learning in science and science for children with English
as an additional language.
Robert Fisher is Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Research in
Teaching Thinking at Brunel University. His research and publications on teaching
thinking are internationally recognised and he has published more than 20 books
on education. His recent publications include Teaching Thinking (Continuum) and the
highly acclaimed Stories for Thinkingseries (Nash Pollock). He is involved in research
and training with schools and local education authorities, is an adviser to the UK
v
Notes on contributors
Department for Education and Skills, and is a frequent speaker at national and
international conferences on teaching literacy, creativity and thinking skills.
Andrew Green taught English in a variety of schools in Oxfordshire and London
before becoming Head of English at Ewell Castle School, Surrey. He now lectures
in Education at Brunel University, working on both undergraduate and post-
graduate courses. He has contributed articles on many texts to The English Review.
He is the author of a Philip Allan Teacher Resource Pack on Gothic literature and
Student Text Guides on Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights and Songs of Innocence and of
Experience.
Colleen Johnsonspent several years as an actor in Canada and the UK, working mainly
in theatre in education, co-founding two theatre companies. She has a wide range of
teaching experience, specialising in drama, voice production and lecturing skills. She is
a Senior Lecturer in Drama in Primary Education at St Mary’s University College,
Twickenham.
Valsa Koshyis Reader in Education at Brunel University. Prior to joining the University
she was an advisory teacher for mathematics. She co-ordinates the mathematics in-service
programme at the University and teaches mathematics to Initial Training students. She is
also Director of the Brunel Able Children’s Education (BACE) Centre. She has published a
number of practical books on the teaching of mathematics.
Sara Liptaihas experimented with secondary teaching, translated Hungarian poetry into
English and worked in radio journalism. While primary teaching she became interested
in Philosophy for Children. Since completing her PhD on using music in philosophical
enquiry she has trained teachers for Philosophy for Children and collaborated in a
number of philosophy projects including one aimed at using drama and philosophy to
foster better understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim pupils.
Avril Loveless has written extensively on creativity and ICT in education. She is a
member of Creating Spaces, a lobby group for creative use of new technologies in
schools, in collaboration with the Arts Council of Great Britain, and is an editor of the
journal Technology, Pedagogy and Education.
Fran Martinis Senior Lecturer in Primary Geographical Education at University College,
Worcester. She is also a trustee for The World Studies Trust and does some in-service
training for Worcester LEA and Birmingham Development Education Centre. Fran’s
interests are in creativity and thinking skills in primary geography, geographical learning
in the Foundation Stage and the contribution of geography to children’s development as
global citizens.
vi
Notes on contributors
Debbie Robinson has worked in education for over twenty years as a classroom
teacher, advisory teacher and teacher trainer. Her work involved research on both
the Graded Assessments in Mathematics and TVEI and Mathematics projects. She is
currently employed as a Senior Lecturer at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham,
and as a mathematics consultant for Beam Education and for the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea.
Rupert Wegerifhas written and researched extensively on the role of new technology
supporting learning dialogues in classrooms. He is based at the Open University where
he leads the Educational Dialogue Research Unit. He writes a regular column for the
magazine Teaching Thinking. More information and papers are available on his website:
fels-staff.open.ac.uk/rupert-wegerif/
Mary Williams taught for 20 years as a primary school teacher, the last nine as head
teacher of a nursery/infant school. She is a part-time Senior Research Fellow at Brunel
University with research interests that include literacy learning, educating pupils in the
early years and metacognition. She also works for the Brunel Able Children’s centre and
as a freelance education consultant. She is co-editor and editor respectively of Unlocking
Literacyand Unlocking Writingand has published widely in language and literacy fields.
vii

Introduction
‘Creativity is about being able to do things and to live your life in a better way.’
(Jemma,aged 10)
CREATIVETHINKINGSKILLSAREESSENTIALfor success in learning and success in life. They are key
skills that underpin the National Curriculum in England and should be promoted
across all subjects of the curriculum. There is potential for creative thinking in all fields
of human activity, and in every lesson. This book offers a review of strategies for
creative teaching and learning across the curriculum. It aims to identify ways to
develop children’s capacity for originality and creative achievement.
Promoting creative thinking is a powerful way of engaging children with their
learning. Children who are encouraged to think creatively show increased levels of
motivation and self-esteem. Creativity prepares them with the flexible skills they
will need to face an uncertain future. Employers want people who are adaptable,
innovative, can solve problems and communicate well with others. Developing the
capacity to be creative can enrich lives and help to contribute to a better society.
Creativity is not just about the arts, or particular types of individual; we all have
the capacity for creative thinking – for generating and extending ideas, suggesting
hypotheses, applying imagination and looking for alternative innovative outcomes
in any activity. Creativity means generating outcomes that are original and of value.
Originality may be in relation to one’s previous experience, or to that of a group, or
it may be uniquely original in terms of what is already known and thought in the world.
Creative thinking is also about judgement – the ability to judge the value of ideas
and outputs.
Creative children need creative teachers, but there can be many blocks to creativity.
One block to creativity may be defensive teaching. There is little chance for creativity
where pupils work for long periods of time with low demand and little active input,
where outcomes are controlled and prescribed, and where complex topics are taught in
superficial ways. Creativity thrives where there is time to explore, experiment and play
with ideas. Children need the right conditions for creativity to flourish.
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