Running Head: EPSY 5663 FINAL 1

EPSY 5663 Creativity for Teachers Final

Kristin L. ODell

Oklahoma State University

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1. Develop a proposition to support the best description of creativity using person, product,
process or environmental context variables according to these two quotes.
Piirto (19998) quotes Paul Torrance.
If creative behavior were determined by heredity, there would be little that parents could do to
increase it. There is compelling evidence that this is not true. How a young childs creative
behavior is treated by parent and other important people in his life seems to make all the
difference
Gary Davis:
The complexity of creativity and the effects of innumerable personal, familial, and
environmental factors do not permit the development of a comprehensive, highly valid Creativity
Quotient test that can make long-range predictions of outstanding creative achievement.

Creativity is a word that most people would say they understand, yet has been defined is

numerous ways by experts. Creativity is highly regarded in artistic domains but also in the

business world, in science, and in other academic areas. Creativity is such a valuable trait that

creativity training has been a goal of both school and business. This raises many important

questions: Is creativity something one can learn, or is it entirely based on biological factors? If it

can be learned, how do we teach it? How do we measure creativity? Can we measure the

potential for creativity? And this leads us back to the very beginning, what exactly IS creativity?

Most experts begin defining creativity by describing the traits of a creative person.

Researchers have found many characteristics that are common in creative people, but there is not

one single characteristic that accounts for creativity. The characteristics that researchers have

listed can be positive, negative, or neither. For example, creative people often have above

average IQs, which is regarded as a positive trait. However, creative people can often suffer from

depression or anxiety. Creative people are usually more androgynous than their peers, which is

neither positive nor negative. Personality traits relate to Torrances quote because personality

and temperament are determined by genetic makeup and not taught by parents or teachers. Is

personality the only thing that makes a person creative?

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Other definitions for creativity include the products that are created, the processes used to

create the products, and/or the environment (press) that stimulates creativity. Thinking processes

that can produce creativity can involve preparing by gathering information, identifying problems,

allowing time for thoughts to emerge, coming up with ideas, testing ideas, and communicating

results. The products are usually deemed creative if they are both original and useful. Press is the

reason people are creative. Creative thinking is used to solve a problem, to invent a solution, or

in some way make life better for people. Social needs breed creativity. Press can also be a

hindrance, however. Some cultures do not value nonconformist thinking and behavior. A society

must also have an appropriate amount of technology to facilitate innovation.

When we incorporate process, product, and press into our definition of creativity, we

have room for creativity training. Torrances quote asserts that parents and other important

people can facilitate creativity in the way they treat creativity. Formal training in divergent

thinking and problem solving may help, but most research shows that encouragement of creative

thinking (or even creative living) from a young age can help children to be creative. By

encouraging creativity, parents are controlling the press domain of creativity in a positive way.

With that thought in mind, we must consider Daviss quote. Even when parents go to every effort

to encourage creativity, they cannot control every environment and interaction their child will

encounter. As children become teenagers and adults, the number of environments and attitudes

they encounter become innumerable. Because no test can account for the future work

environments, future peers, future social norms, or the future motivational forces in the childs

life, there is very little a test can predict about a childs potential for future creative abilities. The

best we can do as parents and teachers is to give children ample opportunities to practice
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creativity and offer encouragement when creativity is evident in hopes of instilling the idea that

creativity is a valuable and appreciated characteristic.

2. Compare and contrast four creativity theorists using at least five criteria.

Theorist Definition of Description Social, Research Big C vs

the creative of creative psychological, method or Little c
person and products and scientific
their processes environmental basis for
factors that affect theory
creativity
Csikszent- The person has Products are Community plays Interviewed Speaks of
mihalyi abilities and judged by a very large role in several big C
traits that enable others in the creativity because hundred creativity.
creative domain or it is responsible people known Was
thinking, but the field. for determining for concerned
person must also Products can what is creative. transforming with what
receive formal only be Creativity must be their domains. makes one
training in a deemed considered in eminent in a
domain. creative by context. domain.
ones peers.
Products
must change
an existing
domain.
Gardner A creative Products Took into account Case studies Speaks of
person regularly must be so the relationship of seven big C
solves influential between a creative creatively creativity.
problems, that they child and the adult eminent Had a very
fashions change the he or she persons. His restrictive
products, or domain. becomes, the theory states definition of
poses new creative person that creativity what makes
questions within and others, and the is one aspect someone
a domain in a creative person of the 8 creative.
way that is and the work he or intelligences.
initially she does. Used the
considered to be term fruitful
unusual but is asynchrony to
eventually describe
accepted something that
pushes the
creative person to
make something
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new.
Simonton A creative A tenant of A person must Used Big C
person has this theory is convince others historiometry creativity.
intrapsychic that the most that he or she is to compile Found that
development in creative creative. data on the most
which there are people create Persuasion and various factors eminent
permutations of the most chance are factors of creative people in
thoughts and products in being creative. peoples lives. any domain
ideas. Of those which makes have created
the most stable them leaders more works
and best-suited in their than 90% of
are selected as domains. their peers.
potential
solutions.
Piirto Creativity has its Products can Labeled the five Researched Includes
roots first in be in any suns of numerous both Big C
genetics and field and are environment, theories, and little c
then in usually the home, community books, and creativity. A
personality result of a and culture, other sources person can
attributes. While talent and the school, gender, to form her live a
a certain base IQ motivation to and chance are all own theory creative life
is necessary for create. factors that can and write without
creative either support or books. becoming
thinking, discourage a Compared her eminent.
motivation and childs creativity. theory to
support are more biographical
necessary stories
factors. Most compiled by
creative people her students.
have a thorn
or desire to
create.

3. B. Demonstrate the solution to a problem, starting from the mess and working through
Parnes Creative Problem Solving.

The Mess: Students are not making corrections on their graded papers for credit. They are not using

the feedback I write on their papers to adjust their performance.

Objective Finding: I want students to use feedback to improve their performance and their scores.
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Problem Finding: I spend most of my day teaching, leading, or helping students. I have one hour of

planning time. I spend some of that time planning lessons, some of it making copies and preparing for

lessons, and some of it grading papers. The turn-in basket is always full. The papers are coming back

to students a full week after they initially turned them in. There are a lot of students in each class.

There is at least one assignment for each class every day. The assignments are meaningful and

contain valuable information about their learning. My feedback on their assignments helps them

know what they are doing well and where they need to try again. Receiving that feedback a full week

later is proving less effective than I would like. Possible problems: not enough time to grade all

papers, too many papers to grade, Im spending too much time per paper, or feedback from graded

papers itself is ineffective.

Idea Finding: I could grade papers at home. I could give fewer assignments. I could spend some of

my teach time grading and have students do quiet work. I could grade less of each paper to shorten

the time it takes to grade. I could make assignments very short and easy to grade with a key. I could

request a teachers assistant to help with grading. I could have the students grade their own papers in

class. I could stop grading papers and find a different way of giving feedback, possibly through spot-

checking their work during the lesson.

Solution Finding: Grading papers at home- I do not want to take away from my personal time. Give

fewer assignments- the assignments are meaningful, help the students practice what were learning,

and let me know how they are doing. Grade during teach time- this takes away from their learning.

Grade less of each paper- although I do not want to shorten their assignments (practice is important),

I may not have to grade every problem. I could choose a few problems to grade instead. Short, easy

assignments- this will not encourage critical thinking on their part and leaves less room for creative

answers. TA- this person may not give the same feedback I would and that would not give me the
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information I need about the students learning. Grade papers in class- this would take up valuable

learning time and the opportunity to be dishonest would be hard to turn down for some kids.

However, I could give more immediate feedback if I were to ask their answers on a few key problems

and then discuss any common misunderstandings. This would help them use feedback better and

would help improve their scores. No grading- I still have to turn-in grades, and I get a better idea of

how theyre doing from grading their papers. However, the immediate feedback during a lesson is a

good idea. I could do that and still grade papers.

Acceptance Finding: I will combine a few of the solutions into one plan. I will still teach and give

assignments as usual, but I will make sure to allocate time during the lesson to ask for their answers

to some of the more telling problems. We can discuss their thinking and their answers. From this I

hope that the students will learn the item more fully and that they will get that problem correct, which

will help everyones scores if even just a little. When I do sit down to grade, I will only grade about a

third of the problems. This should be enough to show me how they are doing, take a third of the time,

and give them a manageable amount that they can correct for more credit. This plan will not

drastically change what we are already doing. Change can be hard for some students. This will still

allow plenty of feedback for the parents to see when papers come home. And lastly, I will still have

grades to enter, as my school requires.

3.D. Analyze an individual (who was not mentioned in the text or discussed during the
semester) who is eminent in a specific field from the perspective of Piirtos suns.

Neil Gaiman is a prolific writer. He has authored short stories, novels, graphic novels, comic

books, screenplays, and more. He has won numerous awards and is loved by many. By many

definitions of creativity, he is one of the most creative authors of our time. According to Piirtos
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theory, we can analyze Gaimans creative life through the lens of five suns: home, community and

culture, school, gender, and chance.

Neil Gaiman was born in England to Jewish parents. His father was a grocery store owner and

his mother was a pharmacist. His family (his parents, himself, and his two younger sisters) were also

scientologists. According to Gaimans sister, the familys social activities were limited to family and

church events. Neil was an avid reader and spent most of his days at the library. His parents would

often drop him off at the library on their way to work. Neil found the librarians to be wonderfully

helpful and even took advantage of the interlibrary loan system. He was exposed to a variety of

authors and writing styles. Although Neil will tell of his parents having to take his books away from

him during events when he should not be reading (including his own bar mitzvah), his parents seemed

to encourage his reading habits. The sun of home is hard to read due to Gaimans private nature. It is

possible that Neil was encouraged to read and explore ideas, so home was a positive sun. It is also

possible that religious views may have stifled Neil to some degree. There also seems to be no

evidence that he sun of gender has affected him much, other than the fact that he most likely did not

have to deal with many of the career challenges that women often face.

There is only a little information about Neil Gaiman and school. He has reported that he liked

that he could read at school. On the first day of school he would be given textbooks that he

immediately read. He always knew what was coming up because he had already read the book. At

school, Neil won the school English prize and the school reading prize. After high school, Neil did

not pursue college, but instead started writing right away. The school of sun in Neils life seems to be

somewhere between neutral and positive.

Neil Gaiman started his career as a journalist. He conducted interviews, wrote book reviews, and

wrote for the British Fantasy Society. During this time he made connections that he hoped would help
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him get published one day, and he wrote to his favorite author seeking career advice. Author R.A.

Lafferty (of Oklahoma!) wrote back to Gaiman with encouragement and advice. It is lucky for us that

Lafferty chose to write back to Gaiman. If he had not, Neil may not have had the encouragement to

become an author. The sun of chance has made an impact on Neils career. More evidence of the sun

of chance includes the way that Gaiman happened to notice books that turned out to be influential to

him.

The most influential sun in Neil Gaimans life is most likely the sun of community and culture.

Neil Gaiman acquired a great network of friends and peers not only in the writing community, but

also in the artistic community at large. He has written books, comics, and screenplays jointly with

many authors. His current wife is singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer, and one of his best friends is

singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Neil has done live readings of his short stories with the accompaniment

of string quartets. Neil Gaiman is wellknown in many circles, which allows him the opportunity to

combine styles and mediums to create wonderful things. A quote from Neil about why he enjoys

writing comics exemplifies his creativity, I felt like- I can do stuff nobody has ever done. I can do

stuff nobody has ever thought of. And I could and it was enormously fun.
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Resources

Davis, G. A. (1999) Creativity is forever (5th ed). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing

Company

Gaiman, N. (2016) About Neil. Retrieved from http://neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Biography

Piirto, J. (2004). Understanding Creativity. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press Inc.