INTEGRATING CREATIVITY INTO CORE CONTENTLisa DaVia Rubenstein, Ph.D.

Outline for the Day9:00-9:10 Introduction: Purpose Finding9:10-10:20 Session 1: Visions of Storytellers10:20-10:30 Break10:30-11:45 Session 2: Mysterious Problems: Creating an Intellectual Need 11:45-12:15 Lunch12:15-1:30 Session 3: Brainstorming and Freedom1:30-1:40 Break1:40-3:00 Session 4: Creative Problem Solving

Purpose Finding

Picture from: http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/sense-of-purpose-strengthens-immune-system-63586/

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Facets of Creativity

Novel product that is useful

Elaboration, flexibility, fluency, and originality

Person, product, process, press (environment)

IS IT NECESSARY?

CREATIVITY’S SIGNIFICANCE AND OPPORTUNITIES

IF IT IS IMPORTANT...ARE WE DEVELOPING IT WITHIN OUR STUDENTS?

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM

Westby  &  Dawson,  1995Beghetto,  2007;  Beghetto,  2009

Dobbins,  2009

Sir Ken Robinson

Teaching for Student Creativity Teaching Creatively

Visions of Storytellers

Picture from: http://www.brandstories.net/2013/07/27/what-makes-for-an-exceptional-brand-storyteller/

Think about your favorite movie.

What makes a movie successful?

What about your least favorite

Movie?

Can we apply this to our

classrooms?

Importance of Visual Organization

Many remember visual images better than words. Study: 2,560 images 1 per 10 seconds, 280 pairs, 85-95% rate of identificationCreative people illustrate their thoughts.

If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.-Albert Einstein

“There is no more powerful way to prove that we know something well than to draw a simple picture of it. And there is no more powerful way to see solutions than to pick up a pen and draw out the pieces of our problem.”

Would you rather...

OR

Would you rather...

OR

Visual Thinking Strategies

StoryboardingMind MappingFlow Charts, Concept Maps, Graphic Organizers

From the film industry...Review of the Shots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=DVXMQMUDlTsFrom Pixar and Lord of the Rings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3mAHQuBqQI

Examining 2 Types of Shots

Stepping Forward

The Tease

Stepping Forward

How does this apply to education?

Stepping Forward PatternEstablish the shot. Where are we?Move slowly inward. Each prop has a purpose. (large chair)Continue to move in as long as there is something worth moving into. (object, face...)Don’t jump too fast from shots.When there is new information, move back out.What is the most important thing to be looking at?

The Tease...

Start on something really close.Educational application?

There are 5 more if you are curious...

See “The 7 Hidden Patterns of Successful Storyboards” video.

You have been hired by Disney to design a

storyboard for a movie about...

A Few Student Examples

“Whether you are retelling a fairy tale or telling a complex plot from a novel, simple often turns out better.”

Using storyboards for standardized tests...

Storyboards and Tech

Why should teachers think about storyboards?

How can storyboards help in education?

Teachers: To organize a lesson by seeing the big picture. Teachers: To think about the purpose of each scene or lesson component.Students: To make sense of a story or problem.Students: To create a new story or project. (Engaging visually with the content.)

Other Visual Thinking Strategies

Mind Map

Flow Charts

Compilation of Tech

TRY IT...

• Where could students use storyboards to clarify the story?

• Where could they design their own story?

• Would any of the other visual thinking strategies work better?

• How could you encourage them to use this strategy on their own?

Mysterious Problems: Creating an

Intellectual NeedPicture from: http://titusboy25.deviantart.com/art/Mysterious-Times-169273883

Why are spoilers so frustrating?

Spoiler Alert

Fluid and flexible thinking

?

?

Creating an Intellectual Need

• Find it. (Prequel: Look for it.)

• Capture it.

• Share it.

Avoid spoilers!

1.) Find it. (Look for it.)

Where are the problems that promote creative thinking?

How was this discovered...Can we replicate in the classroom?

Right angles are 90 degrees.

Right angles are important.

Are you mad that I just told you right angles are

90 degrees?

Or that they are important?

What was it like to be the person who

discovered right angles?

Picture from: http://www.101qs.com/955-san-francisco-house

Picture from: http://www.101qs.com/955-san-francisco-house

How can teachers be less helpful?

Taco Cart: http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/tacocart/

What can be debated?

Was this a good idea?

2. Capture it.Take a picture.Take a video.

Copy it.Print it.Steal it.

Picture from: http://thriller10group43.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Tech Tools for Capturing

Kay’s Sample Padlet My Sqworl

Low Tech

3. Share it.

Mystery Boxes

• Artifact Box Exchange

• Location, book/story, time period, experiment, movement, genre

Pictures from: http://www.artifactbox.com/index.html

A few ideas...

• Pictures, graphs, videos

• Incremental revealing of information and data

• Short term or longer term projects

TRY IT...

• Where could the students be the discovers?

• Where is there too much information that spoils their experience?

• How could you reframe the topic to promote perplexity?

Brainstorming and Freedom

Picture from: http://www.feeldesain.com/summer-umbrellas-in-agueda-portugal.html

Before students can brainstorm, teachers

must ask “brainstorm-able”

questions.

What is half of 13?

Half of 136.51 or 3thirteen (letters)...4Roman (XIII)...11 or 2 or 8Multiple operations could be used as well.

6+6 = ?

12

Who brainstorms when?

Why?To solve a problem.To become informed.To make connections.To learn.To think.To improve.

To limit yourself to your first idea is a disaster for your imagination.

-Michael Michalko

Types of Brainstorming

• Analogical Thinking

• SCAMPERFraming

“brainstorm-able” questions will make

you a better question asker.

Analogical Thinking

Comic from: http://xkcd.com/762/

Why do we use analogies?

Amazing AnalogiesHelps make strange...familiar (and familiar strange)Helps students to recognize patterns and create connections (think about students...new ideas are almost all abstract)Connects to passion areas (more interesting?)Encourages cognitive dissonanceCould be used as a tool to solve problems

Analogies are comparisons of the similar features of two things. They are mental telescopes through which you can spy ideas.

-Michael Michalko

What else is like this?

Types of Analogies

Direct AnalogyFantasy AnalogySymbolic AnalogyPersonal Analogy

Direct Analogies

Cave Man Meet Fish(Davis, 2004)

Improve this flashlight...

Picture from: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/December/flashlightday.htm

...by attending medical school?

Pictures from: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/December/flashlightday.htmAnd: http://feministing.com/2011/09/07/new-study-lgbt-issues-barely-taught-in-medical-

school/

Improving flashlight is like attending medical school

Need textbook/manuals

Attend class/talk to professors

Learn how to administer anesthesia

Insulate myself from social demands

Practice on cadavers

Package first aid kits with lights

Incorporate a radio transmitter

Include mace for protection

Insulate flashlights to protect batteries

Include a miniature tool kit

Pick a problem.

Can’t sell copiersWant to increase library usageCan’t get the car to startCan’t motivate students Can’t engage studentsNeed to design a swimming pool

Time to Experiment

Now pick an analogy counterpart...

Television evangelistsDenny’sYour favorite sports team (hint: Steelers)Tape measurePearl Harbor

Brainstorm the characteristics of your counterpart.

Apply those characteristics to

your problem.

What are some potential solutions?

Make the familiar strange.

State your challenge.Choose a key word or phrase.Choose a parallel or distant field/idea.List the images you you associate with your chosen field.Look for similarities and connections between the two.

The Steps

Tips for ParallelsChose a field you know well.The more detailed the better. (Instead of restaurants, think Taco Bell.) Finding parallels...use wikipedia....

Or even... nature, accounting, birds, football, China, comics, dance, mafia, mining, reality

television, ballet, WWI, sailing , jungles, insects, bowling...

Imagine this in the classroom...

How could you scaffold students?

Part of the inherent purpose is to make the strange familiar.

That is the first problem to address.

Questions to Scaffold

How is teaching like football?How is the water cycle like Taco Bell?How is Charlie (chocolate factory) like Manny (Modern Family)?How are sine graphs like lighthouses?

Scaffold creativity. Step 1

Force it.

Give students the concept. (Discuss/lecture...)Create a list of potential analogies.Have them create the attributes and the connections.Describe the similarities and dissimilarities.

Scaffold creativity. Step 2Choose it.

Design your own analogy.

Scaffold creativity. Step 3

Create it.

Other Analogies

Fantasy Analogy: Fantastic, farfetched, craziest situation possible.Symbolic Analogy: OxymoronsPersonal Analogy: Empathy, become the challenge/concept.

Fantasy AnalogyHow do we in our wildest dreams imagine this to operate?Apply to our original problem...How could this problem solve itself?Examples: How can clothes iron themselves? How can a refrigerator defrost itself? How can we get the School Board to want to give us more supplies?

Symbolic Analogies

Compressed conflictBrainstorm oxymorons. Do they suggest new ideas?Gentle toughness for new tires, careful haste for school evacuation...

Personal Analogy

What if you were in the analogy?What if you were a rain drop in the water cycle?What if...

TRY IT...

• When could students assume the role of what they are studying?

• What direct analogies could you force?

• When could you let them create their own?

• How could they demonstrate these analogies?

SCAMPER

Picture from: http://www.womanita.com/health/scamper-technique-method-examples-meaning.html

???

SCAMPER• Substitute• Combine• Adapt• Minimize/Maximize• Put to another use• Eliminate• Rearrange/Reverse

Grand Opening of

JASPER BAGEL SHOP

SubstituteWhat can be substituted? Who else? What else?Can the rules be changed?Are there other ingredients? Other materials?Other processes? procedures?Other power? places? approaches?What else instead?

CombineWhat ideas can be combined?Can we combine purposes?How about an assortment?How about a blend? an alloy? an ensemble?Combine units?What other article could be merged with this?How could we package a combination?

AdaptWhat else is like this? outside my field?What other idea does this suggest?Does the past offer a parallel?What could I copy? in different contexts?Whom could I emulate?What idea could I incorporate?What other process could be adapted?

Magnify

What can be made larger? Exaggerated?What can be added? More time? Stronger?Extra features? Greater frequency?What can be duplicated?How could I carry it to a dramatic extreme?

Minimize weakness.Maximize strength.

ModifyHow could this be altered for the better?What can be modified?Is there a new twist?Change meaning, color, motion, sound, odor, form, shape?Change name? plans? process? marketing? package?

Put to other uses...What else can this be used for?Are there new ways to use it as is?Other uses to modify?What else can be made from this?Other extensions? Markets?

EliminateWhat if this were smaller?What should I eliminate? omit?Should I divide it? split it up? separate it?Understate? streamline? make miniature? condense? compact?Subtract? Delete?

RearrangeWhat other arrangements might be better?Interchange components?Other patterns? layouts? sequences? orders?Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? schedule?

Try it...

In what ways might I improve my teaching?How will I encourage students to use SCAMPER?How can I play with this concept?

Implementation IdeasBusiness Class

Writing

Theory Development

Question Development

Teaching Improvement

Problem Refinement

ResourcesCheck out http://byrdseed.com/respondo/ for a fun tool for literature!

Check out http://www.byrdseed.com/creativity-fridays-part-iii/ for a description of SCAMPER in problem development, specifically in science. Redefining questions...

Thinkertoys book and Thinkpac cards

For a written overview: http://litemind.com/scamper/.

SCAMPER the holidays. (http://engagetheirminds.wordpress.com/tag/s-c-a-m-p-e-r/)

Creative Problem Solving

Picture from: http://softwarecreation.org/2010/how-to-become-an-expert-creative-problem-solving/

What is it?PBL: Project or Problem Based LearningInquiry Based Learning

CPS: Creative Problem Solving

Divergent Convergent

Planning your approach.

Appraising tasks.Designing processes.

People Content

Method Context

CPS is best used for novel, complex, ambiguous problems.There are many tools within this model to choose from also.

Why is understanding the challenge important?

Stage 1: Understand the Challenge...

Benefits Risks of Not Understanding

Setting a focus/direction. Getting lots of ideas that don’t matter.

Identifying key concerns for which you want and need ideas.

Using failed ideas because not enough info was collected.

Spurring imagination, innovation, and creativity.

Being unable to generate many ideas because of poorly worded ?

Capturing the curiosity, energy, motivation of the group.

Getting the same ideas because it is worded in the same way.

Stage 1: Understand the Challenge...

Construct opportunities. Generate possible opportunities, focus on most important.Explore data. Examine many sources of data from many points of view.Frame problem. Generate many, varied, and unusual ways to state problem. Select of form the specific problem statement.

Are you working on the right

problem?

Divergent Convergent

The way you describe a problem influences

the possible solutions.

Generating: Word DanceStart with statement: In what ways might I...Then circle verb. List other verbs: attract, locate, find, entice, ensure...Then circle objective. Enrollment: participation, commitment, taking the class...Mix and match

Focusing: Head and Shoulders Test

Is one so far above the rest in its ability to accurately and concisely describe the problem?Is it open ended?Is it free from limiting constraints or criteria?Does it get to the heart of the issue?

Focusing: Hits and Hot Spots

Stage 2: Generate Ideas

Generate potential solutions.Narrow them down.

Divergent Convergent

Generation ToolsBrainstormingSCAMPERForce-fitting (Think about analogies. Use unrelated products or ideas and force them with your idea.)Attribute ListingMorphological Matrix

FluencyFlexibilityOriginalityElaboration

Aim for at least 25-30. Some have more than 100.

Brainstorming Rules

Defer judgement.Seek quantity.Encourage all possibilities.Look for combinations or to elaborate.

Attribute ListingImagine you want to create a new light bulb...

Morphological Matrix Imagine you want to create a new light bulb...

You will probably find it helpful to allow time for both active idea-generation and

for reflection and individual thought.

(Treffinger, Isaksen, Stead-Dorval, 2006)

Narrowing ToolsHits and Hot SpotsALoU: Advantages, Limitations, Ways to Overcome, Unique FeaturesPCA: Paired Comparison AnalysisSequencing: Short, medium, long term actionsEvaluation Matrix: Using specific criteria, evaluate each option.

Stage 3: Preparing for Action

Developing Solutions: Organizing possibilities, choosing between/among options, analyzing/developing or refining (Consider CARTS: cost, acceptance, resources, time, and space)Building Acceptance: Identify possible assisters, resisters (5Ws), Which ones are most likely to arise? What action steps to do you need to take? How will you gain support?

Types of Plans Needed

24 Hour StepsShort-Term StepsLong-Term Steps

After CPSEvaluate.

Did it work?What could you change?

Seeing it action...Edutopia’s video: http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-introduction-videoIt actually changed my life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZxYSe26O9IHigh Tech High: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfP53Alnbhk

What can you learn from this film?

Try it...

What are some problems that would allow you to work through the CPS process in your classroom?

Thank you.lmrubenstein@bsu.edu