Neurociencia, educação e criatividade

Fostering

creative thinking: co-constructed insights from neuroscience and education
Dr Paul Howard-Jones

Fostering creative thinking: co-constructed insights from neuroscience and education

Dr Paul Howard-Jones
University of Bristol Graduate School of Education

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DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIES

Contents
Introduction What is creativity? Where is creativity? What do we do when we are being creative? What is fixation? Is there an opposite of fixation? How does the classroom environment influence creativity? So what is a “creative strategy” for a teacher? What about the creative teacher? What can and can’t the sciences of the mind and brain tell us about creativity? Summary References Illustrations 4 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 15 17 18 20 21

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DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIES

Introduction

The UK government presently considers creativity to be a key “employability” skill in terms of the creative industries and beyond, including within the sectors of science and technology (DCMS, 2007). There has been a recent flourishing of interest in the nurturing of creativity among young people (Roberts, 2006, Downing et al., 2007) and yet the provision of support for teachers and trainee teachers to achieve this remains a major challenge for education. This report contributes to meeting this challenge by reviewing the concepts and understanding about creativity that arose from a recent project in drama education. The project, funded by ESCalate, aimed to develop the reflective capability of trainee drama teachers regarding the fostering of creative thinking through enhancing awareness of the underlying cognitive and neurocognitive processes. Such an aim attends to the calls of those such as Chappell (2007) who have also highlighted the need within teacher training for a increased emphasis upon reflective practice in ‘teaching for creativity’. This report will focus chiefly on the constructions around the fostering of