Assessing Creativity in the Classroom:

Paramount or Paradox?

Lisa Rubenstein, Ph.D.Purdue UniversitySeptember 30, 2014

Discussionhttp://padlet.com/lisarubenstein8/

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How do you define creativity?

Definitional Debate

Continuum of Cs (Kaufman & Beghetto)

Person, process, product, press (Rhodes)

Sociocultural dependent (Craft; sternberg)

Fuzzy Definition

Fuzzy Assessment

Fuzzy Definition

Fuzzy Assessment

“How do you break it to them? It is not quite right but its great? How can you stand in judgement of somebody else’s creativity?”

Participant quote from Myhill & Wilson (2013)

How should we assess Mathematics?

How should we assess Mathematics?

“How do you break it to them? It is not quite right but its great? How can you stand in judgement of somebody else’s creativity?” mathematics?”

How should we assess creativity?

How should we assess mathematics?

How are these questions alike or

different?

General Assessment Guidelines

Assessments cover important content, process skills, and ideas.

Assessments match specific goals. (Direct Alignment)

Multiple assessments provide a more accurate and nuanced picture.

Assessments cover important

content, skills, and ideas.

What is the purpose of assessment?

Why assess?

Diagnostic Tool

Growth Measurement

Competency Evidence

Student Metacognition

Inform Instruction

Assessment methods and requirements probably have a greater influence on how and what students learn than any other single factor.

-Boud, 1988, pg. 35

Why assess?

Diagnostic Tool

Growth Measurement

Competency Evidence

Student Metacognition

Inform Instruction

what is worth

assessing?

What makes something worth assessing?

Fundamental

Transferable

Useful

Vital to professional Life

Vital to everyday Life

Why is creativity worth assessing?

Assessments match specific goals.

Which is more creative?

Creativity is not animals with long eyelashes.

Lilian Katz

If creativity is as important as literacy (Robinson)...

Then we need specific objectives that address it.

Dual Objectives

Content Objective:

Creative Objective:

My Possible Suggestions

Fluency

Flexibility

Originality

Elaboration

Application

Risk Taking

Question Asking

Problem Solving

Collaboration/Communication

Connections

Imagination

Visualization

Choose.

Let’s say the content goal is to write an acrostic poem...

What could the creative goal be?

Su

san

B

rookh

art

Wiggin’s Rubric

Multiple assessments

provide a more accurate and

nuanced picture.

Assessing CreativityAppraise creativity separately. Deliberately.

For smaller projects, give feedback and allow corrections.

Don’t wait until the end of a large project. Use checkpoints to offer feedback.

Be more productive than “I like that...” (Include why)

Don’t assess creativity all the time for a grade.

General Assessment Guidelines Review

Assessments cover important content, process skills, and ideas.

Assessments match specific goals. (Direct Alignment)

Multiple assessments provide a more accurate and nuanced picture.

Questions?Best wishes!

LMRUBENSTEIN@BSU.EDU