Creative Approaches: The Current Role of Creativity in todays society.

Creative Approaches are ways in which we teach education and core subjects creatively. I will be looking at the importance of this in todays society which links to The Montessori Method of play also and can give a bit more information behind the matter.
We have 4 main key thinkers:
1. Reggio Emilia who believed in 'unlimited creative potential'
2. Maria Montessori who created the Montessori method (more info on other post)
3. Highscope
4. Sir Ken Robinson


Reggio Emilia believes in trying something out and seeing what happens which involves making mistakes (Trial and error). It also requires a supportive environment to succeed.


Highscope allows children to develop their own daily schedule and learning interests with the facilitator (Teacher) who guides the process (exploring and discovering = creative enquiry).


Sir Ken Robinson is an expert in creativity. he challenges creativity and thought and led the British Governments 1998 process. He was also on the advisory committee on cultural/creative education.




Enquiry Based Learning:


This is where the learner enquires through their own mental and physical activities. This means creating a learning opportunity that will encourage them to think creatively through interest and curiosity. Learning from their mistakes and having space to reflect on their activities. It involves group planning and group discussion as well as individual analysis.
A Social - Constructivist approach is the 'five 'e's':

1. engage
2. explore
3. explain
4. elaborate
5. evaluate

We have 2 types of enqury: Creative  enquiry and Scientific enquiry:
Creative Enquiry involves risk taking activity which supports Reggio Emilias approach to creative learning.
Jeffrey(2006) considered that creative enquiry focuses on children asking questions about the world around them  - problem based, experiential learning.
Creative enquiry promotes confidence and the freedom for the creative thinkers.


Scientific enquiry is surrounded by innovation. It promotes technology and the economy. Innovation depends on science.
We also have 2 forms of play - creative play and scientific play:
Creative play is
Here we have the concept of the 'Little C' and the 'Big C'
Big C = the elite creative mind, the genius, the above average. Considered very creative.
Little C = The small matters, the every day problem solving activities.


Having creative approaches is very beneficial to the education system of today because it helps the learner use their creative skills and imagination to make learning more fun and memorable. It improves their independent thinking skills as well as their group work and motivates them to work practically and problem solve, similar to Vygotskys lone scientist theory.
There is a problem with creative approaches though which is the curriculum and its targets. There is simply not enough time for teachers to introduce creative approaches in their learning because they are given so many targets especially over the inspection period. They have to fill out so much paperwork and health and safety forms for the smallest things so is hard to do practical things all the time.
ESDGC (Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship)
Their aim is to promote pupils creative/critical thinking skills. It is part of the Estyn Inspection Framework. This has 7 key themes which are linked to activities for the pupils:
1) Choices and Decisions
2) Consumption of waste
3) Health
4) The Natural Environment
5) Wealth and Poverty
6) Climate Change
7) Identity and Culture

Einsteins on Creative Thinking: Music and the intuitive Art of Scientific Imagination.

"The greatest scientists are artists as well" - Albert Einstein, (Calaprice, 2000, 245)
Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14th, 1879.
Albert played the violin and the piano - it was his passion.
In 1905 he produced 4 research papers including E=MC2
In 1915 he completed the 'General Theory of Relativity' and in 1921 He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Einstein didn't produce his science based on science alone. He had strong feelings for art and music which not many people realise and this has made me view Einstein in a new light rather than a plain old scientist wearing a white lab coat and glasses. Einstein used intuition and inspiration.
He mainly used music for his inspiration. This is a genius level of creativity. The pure concept that thinking can be done with body and mind.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge!" (Calaprice, 2000, 22, 287, 10)


"If what is seen and experienced is portrayed in the language of logic then it is science. If its communicated through forms whose constructions are not accessible to the conscious mind but are recognised intuitively, then it is Art." (Calaprice, 2000, 271)
He uses images to solve his problems and found words later (Pais, 1982)
This makes me question, Could music have created the connection between time and space?
Einstein said Neil Bohr's work on the atom was "the highest form of musicality in the realm of thought" (Schilpp, 1979)
If we didn't have creativity, there would be math without music, science without imagery and knowledge without imagination!
How can we imagine and use initiative thought through words alone?

Art VS Science debate!

The Art VS Science debate is constantly debated about, its something we cant quite agree on because there are different aspects to these subjects which sometimes work without the other and some that don't.
One key thinker in this debate is Aristotle. He divided up the subject areas and asked 'Does one work without the other?'
Aside from Aristotle, Einstein had the best argument for this debate. I'm going to start with a quote of his, "The best science requires creating thinking" (requires innovation).
"Artists must attain mastery over their medium" - Einstein.
The best performers at any field of work will have a mixture of creativity and discipline which proves arts and science go hand in hand.
We all want our children to enter the world independently as creative scientific thinkers. Why can we not have art and science? Why must it be either/or?
'The Ideal Situation' would be a mixture of the both to produce better performers in education.
There are of course different aspects of science, as I said above, that can work without art/technology and some that cant.
Pure science is the result of technology produced, what a certain technology has led to.
Hard Science works alone but can lead to technology driven work for evidence, for example.
Technology on the other hand is impossible without science-based research.
There are also differences in the opinions of the public and the scientists of what science actually is. We ask 'What is Creativity?' in university but not 'What is Science?'
The public sees science as technology advances such as new TV's or Radios.
The Scientists see science as things like the Maxwell theory, the Quantum theory etc.
There is one type of technology, 'Empirical technology'  which is not based on science at all  but in fact may lead to scientific work being carried out of major importance.

Creativity: The Current Role of Creativity in Todays Society.

Firstly we need to determine what exactly creativity is or what we perceive it to be.
What is Creativity?
Creativity is everything we are as a person. It is our intelligence, our personality, our views and opinions, our feelings, our imagination, our culture and our education all rolled into one.
We all have a different view as to what creativity is. The term we use to explain these different views on creativity is 'Rhetorics'.
There are 9 different types of Rhetorics:
1.The Creative Genius
2. Democratic and political creativity
3. Ubiquitous creativity
4. Creativity for social good.
5. Creativity as an economic imperative
6. Play and Creativity
7. Creativity and Cognition
8. The Creative affordances or technology
9. The Creative classroom

The Montessori method.

"I have studied the child. I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it and that is what is called the Montessori method." quote from Dr. Maria Montessori.

Dr.Maria Montessori worked at a Mental Asylum in Rome caring for children. Through watching the children playing with bread and manipulating the bread into what they wanted, Montessori thought that if she could get something the could play with and manipulate, thy might develop better skills. She was influenced by Edouard Seguin's work on sensory education and was the first to put his work into practice. She designed practical developmental materials for the children in the asylum and within these more complex materials were a series of tasks that Montessori believed helped the children control their own errors and understandings.

This is the idea of children working freely but with joy and responsibility, as individuals, in an environment where the children can be more active, using their hands and doing physical things. Its a more effective way for them to learn at their own pace. It is hands on, visual, practical learning!

The Montessori Method educates children on life skills and expects them to be able to help with the cooking, washing/cleaning at home, learning to dress/undress themselves. One of those learning blocks in education is learning how to get a long with different people of different ages. Throughout life you are surrounded by different people of all ages especially in higher education. Montessori believed that a classroom with a multi-age setting works best because it is similar to a family setting which makes individual learning comfortable.

The children perform self-directed learning where they make their own decisions such as how they spend their time, what they do in that time and what there are learning. This doesn't mean their free to waste time. The adults are in the classroom to make sure the child is using their time well and are working on things that they need to work on to progress throughout the different levels of the education system.

There are different activities that can be used in this method. The children freely play with the items placed around the classroom by the teacher and manipulate these items but are learning independently at the same time.

An example of a mathematical method is using a sequence of different diameter cylinders and slotting them in to the different sized spaces. Montessori believed that these kind of physical tasks educated the child's eye to recognise mathematical sequences. Children learn by doing.

The children are practising life skills at an early age meaning the children learn to be in charge of their own learning and this is something they can use for the rest of their lives. The result of the Montessori method is that the children leave school with skills such as calmer problem solving, solid social skills, solid academic skills and the eagerness to learn new things!