Defying the Crowd

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Defying the Crowd
Book Review ETC 547 Darcy Markham

• Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity
• By Robert J. Sternberg

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Table of Contents

• Reviewers Comments Educational Implications
• The Nature of Creativity The Role of
  Personality
• The Role of Intelligence The Relation of
  Motivation to Creativity Synthetic Intelligence
  Motivating Creativity
• Analytic Intelligence Environment
  Creativity
• Practical Intelligence Putting It All
  Together
• Knowledge Formal Informal Personal
  Philosophy of Teaching
• The Role of Thinking Styles Reflections
• in Creativity Resources
• Function e-mail dmarkaz_at_aol.com
• Form
• Levels
• Scope
• Orientation Title Page

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Reviewers Comments
Sternbergs Book Defying the Crowd examines the
idea of creativity and how it can be cultivated.
The book itself focuses on the general public and
though it relates and references the education
system it is not specifically oriented in this
matter. For the purposes of this Review I will
specifically focus on cultivating creativity
within the education system a system which tends
to support conformity rather than creativity.
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The Nature of Creativity

• Intelligence
• Knowledge
• Thinking Styles
• Personality
• Motivation
• Environmental Context

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The Role of Intelligence

• Intelligence serves three roles in creativity
• Synthetic
• Analytic
• Practical

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Synthetic Intelligence

• The ability to generate ideas depends on the
  individuals insight.
• Selective Encoding-the students ability to
  recognize the relevance of information that may
  or may not be immediately obvious.
• Selective Comparison-the students ability to
  determine how information from the past can be
  brought to bear on the problems of the future.
• Selective Combination-the students ability to
  fit together the pieces of information whose
  connection is not obvious.

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Analytic Intelligence

• Analytical Intelligence involves knowing where
  the problem exists and how to define it. The four
  key parts are
• Problem Recognition
• Mentally representing the information
• Formulating a Strategy and Allocating Resources
• Monitoring and Evaluating Problem-solving

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Practical Intelligence

• Making Good Ideas Work!
• Involves the students taking into account their
  own interests as well as the interests of others.

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Knowledge

• Formal- Students must have knowledge of a
  particular field in order to be creative.
• Students must have knowledge of a field in order
  to produce work that is novel to that field
• Students must have knowledge of current thinking
  in order to move against the tide.
• Knowledge helps students transform an idea into a
  product
• Allows students to concentrate on new ideas
  rather than on basics.
• Knowledge allows students to use chance
  occurrences as a source for creative ideas.

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Knowledge

• Informal- the knowledge picked up from daily
  living.
• Creativity in everyday life-Students ability to
  solve everyday problems by seeing them in a new
  way and using informal knowledge to solve them in
  an optimal way.
• Creativity in the Classroom- Students ability to
  know when to be creative and when not to be
  creative.
• See Practical Intelligence for School

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The Role of Thinking Styles in Creativity

• How students approach a task are based upon
  their thinking styles.
• Important factors to consider
• Thinking styles may vary across tasks and
  situations
• Thinking styles vary in strength
• Thinking styles are effected influences in the
  environment
• Thinking styles vary over time.

NEXT
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Creative Thinking StylesFunctions

• Legislative-
• Plan what to do and how to do it.
• Prefer tasks they can do their own way
• Prefer less structured tasks
• Executive
• Prefer clear directions
• Follow instructions when solving problems
• Prefer step by step process
• Judicial
• Analyze peoples behavior
• Prefer to evaluate the work of others
• Prefer to express their opinions

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Creative Thinking StylesForm

• Monarchic Style- very high creative achievers
  tend to be monarchic in their style
• Prefer to finish one assignment before beginning
  another
• Devote time and energy to one project at a time
• Will work on a project for several hours without
  being distracted.
• Hierarchic-students who are hierarchic tend to
  be the most creative
• Prioritize tasks
• Prioritize within a task
• Emphasize major points and de-emphasize minor ones

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Creative Thinking StylesForm

• Oligarchic-these students are good at finding
  competing approaches to solving problems
• Tries to address problems simultaneously
• Difficulty setting priorities
• View all aspects with equal importance.
• Anarchic- these students take a random approach
  to problem-solving.
• Do not organize thoughts prior to beginning a
  task
• Minds wander from idea to idea
• Speak before thinking.

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Creative Thinking StylesLevels

• Global- students with a global style prefer big
  issues and often ignore details.
• Dont pay attention to details
• They emphasize the general picture
• Make decisions without paying attention to
  details
• Local-students with a local style tend to be
  pragmatic and down to earth.
• Like problems that require engagement of details
• Not satisfied until the details are given close
  attention
• Focus on one thing and scrutinize it thoroughly.

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Creative Thinking StylesScope

• Internal Style-students with an internal style
  tend to be introverted, task-oriented, aloof,
  socially less sensitive.
• Prefer to work alone
• Avoid group situations
• Prefer research to discussion
• External Style-students with an external style
  tend to be extroverted, people-oriented and
  out-going.
• Discuss ideas with others before beginning a
  project
• Prefer to work in groups
• Like to talk about ideas and listen to what
  others have to say.

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Creative Thinking StylesOrientation

• Liberal Style-these students like to go beyond
  existing rules and procedures.
• Like to do things in new ways
• Avoid the established way of doing things
• Comfortable with unconventional methods
• Conservative Style-these students stick to the
  rules and procedures, and avoid ambiguous
  situations
• Like to do things the correct way
• Follow standard procedures
• Participate in traditional activities

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Creative Thinking StylesEducational Implications

• Teachers and students will not necessarily match
  in their thinking styles therefore it is
  necessary that teachers and students alike be
  flexible with regards to the differences they
  encounter.
• Teachers cant match every students style but
  they can teach in a way that allows children to
  express their styles to a maximum benefit

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The Role of Personality

• Creative Students Display the Following
• Perseverance in the face of obstacles
• Willingness to take sensible risks
• Willingness to grow
• Tolerance of ambiguity
• Openness to experience
• Belief in yourself and courage of convictions

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The Relation of Motivation to Creativity

• Intrinsic- Students who are intrinsically
  motivated tend to be more creative and persevere
  in the face of adversity
• Extrinsic-Students who are extrinsically
  motivated tend to be less creative and look
  outside themselves for rewards.

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Motivating CreativityEducational Implications

• De-emphasize grades
• Make creativity an explicit part of an assignment
• Give verbal recognition for creative work
• Encourage students to submit work to external
  shows or contests
• Attempt to use a combination of intrinsic and
  extrinsic motivators

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Environment Creativity

• Environmental Variable Affecting Creativity
• The Context of Work
• Task Constraints
• Evaluation
• Competition
• Cooperation
• Home Climate
• Role Models
• School Climate

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Putting It All TogetherFostering a Creative
Spirit
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Personal Philosophy of Teaching

• All children can learn. The challenge is to
  find the right key to unlock the door.
• I believe children learn when they are actively
  engaged in the process. I believe that children
  need to be given the right tools and strategies
  and be exposed to different ways of
  conceptualizing and comprehending material.
  Children need t0 draw on their prior knowledge
  and experienced in a n effort to conceptualize
  new information and store such information in a
  manner that is easily retrieved. It is therefore
  crucial that students be provided with numerous
  opportunities to learn new information in a
  variety of ways.
• I believe that learning should be an adventure
  and that children should be filled with
  excitement when they enter the classroom. My job
  is to restore their joy of learning by finding
  the key that will unlock the door and provide
  them with the greatest adventure of all-
  Learning!

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Reflections

• I believe that Sternberg presents some very
  important ideas in cultivating creativity in
  children. Just as with learning children need to
  be given the right tools and strategies in order
  to develop their own creative styles.
• Further children need to have the knowledge and
  experience which allows then to conceptualize a
  new idea and make that idea a reality.
• I believe that environment is important not only
  to learning but also to creativity and it is
  important to create environments that allow
  students the freedom to express themselves

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Resources

• Book Review
• http//cispom.boisestate.edu/murli/cps/bookrevs/st
  ernberg.html
• Sternberg Homepage
• http//www.yale.edu/rjsternberg/
• Practical Intelligence for School
• http//www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/PIFS.htm