Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-30T05:14:28.735Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Early Experiences and Creativity: An Ecological Perspective

from SECTION ONE - CREATIVITY AND REASON IN CHILDHOOD AND THE SCHOOLS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

By
Cynthia Paris  and
Diane Crossan Lawler
Edited by
James C. Kaufman  and
John Baer
Cynthia Paris
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
Diane Crossan Lawler
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
John Baer
Affiliation:
Rider University, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

Diane's art studio is located at the center of a school building that houses a diverse population of children from four years old through eighth grade. The studio is physically and philosophically central to the work that takes place in the building yet intentionally designed as a space apart. When Diane meets with children before their first visit to the studio, she starts the process of defining what is different there and what is possible there and welcomes them into a context and culture that nurtures, honors, and supports the creative process. From that point forward, each time children approach the door to the studio, she quietly asks them to pause and think about this question: Are you ready to be artists? This moment of focus marks the physical and psychological boundary between this space and many others in a child's life.

The space communicates this clearly to children. Materials and tools are arranged to stimulate eyes and mind and are accessible to the children. “Is all this stuff for kids to use?” some will ask. Yes, children's planning, doing and meaning-making happen here.

Shelves with work-in-progress are clearly visible. Thinking and doing are not time bound by class periods. Children have time for finding and re-finding the intention of their work and defining and redefining problems encountered as Diane introduces new information, new strategies and new ways of thinking. Children critique their work against their initial intentions and practice decision making as they determine when a piece of work is complete.

“Is there really a rabbit in here?” Claude Monet, the studio rabbit, does indeed live here and moves around the studio freely while the children work. He plays a critical role in creating and maintaining a climate of calm and focus and where all children, all work, and a rabbit are respected and safe.

Each time children enter the studio, knowledge about themselves and their worlds and flexible, generative, and critical thinking not only coexist but also thrive and grow here. “This place is different.”

As we consider the development of creativity and the acquisition of knowledge and analytic skills in early childhood we do so from an ecological perspective. Simply put, context matters. A child develops within interacting environmental systems made up of particular individuals and communities within institutions and overarching societal norms.

Type
Chapter
Information
Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development , pp. 33 - 51
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alliance for Childhood. (2010). Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative. Retrieved from www.allianceforchildhood.org/standards
Amabile, T. M., & Hennessey, B. A. (1992). The motivation for creativity in children. In Pittman, T. & Boggiano, A. (Eds.), Achievement and motivation: A social developmental perspective (pp. 54–74). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association. (1993). Violence and youth: Psychology's response. Vol. 1: Summary report. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Baer, J. (1997). Creative teachers, creative students. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. & Morris, P. A. (1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In Lerner, R. M. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (5th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 993–1028). Series editor: Damon, W.. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1973). Beyond the information given. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Carlsson-Paige, N. & Levin, D.E. (1987). The war play dilemma: Balancing needs and values in the early childhood classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2006). Troubling images of teaching in No Child Left Behind. Harvard Educational Review, (76)4, 668–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craft, A., Cremin, T., Burnard, P., & Chappell, K. (2007). Developing creative learning through possibility thinking with children aged 3–7. In Craft, A., Cremin, T., & Burnard, P. (Eds.), Creative learning 3–11. London: Trentham.Google Scholar
Craft, A., McConnon, L., & Matthews, A. (2012). Child-initiated play and professional creativity: Enabling four-year-olds’ possibility thinking. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7(1), 48–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cremin, T., Burnard, P., & Craft, A. (2006). Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1, 108–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996/2013). Creativity: The psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Cuffaro, H. (1995). Experimenting with the world: John Dewey and the early childhood classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
DeVries, R., Zan, B., Hildebrant, C., Edmiaston, R., & Sales, C., Eds. (2002). Developing constructivist early childhood education. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1934/1958). Art as experience. New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons.Google Scholar
Education Scotland. (2013). Creativity across learning 3–18. Retrieved from www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/Creativity3to18_tcm4-814361.pdf
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G., Eds. (1998). The hundred languages of children. Greenwich, CT: Ablex.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bond. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilford, J. P. (1956). The structure of intellect. Psychological Bulletin, 53, 267–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Guilford, J. P., & Hoepfner, R. (1971). The analysis of intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hatch, J. A. (2002). Accountability shovedown: Resisting the standards movement in early childhood education. Phi Delta Kappan, 82, 457–462.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Berk, L. E. & Singer, D. (2008). A mandate for playful learning in preschool: Presenting the evidence. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, J. & Russ, S. (2012). Pretend play, creativity, and emotion regulation in children. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 6, 175–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamii, C. (1985). Young children reinvent arithmetic. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Levin, D. E. (2013). Beyond remote-controlled childhood: Teaching young children in the media age. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.Google Scholar
McDonough, P. (2009). TV viewing among kids at an eight-year high. Nielsen Newswire October 26. (As cited in Levin, D. E. [2013]. Beyond remote-controlled childhood: Teaching young children in the media age. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.)
Miller, E. & Almon, J. (2009). Crisis in the kindergarten: Why children need to play in school. College Park, MD: Alliance for Childhood.Google Scholar
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2008). Principles and standards for school mathematics, 5th printing. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
National Research Council. (2012).A framework for K–12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K–12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Nell, M. L., Drew, W. F., with Bush, D. E. (2013). From play to practice. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.Google Scholar
NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: For states, By states. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Nielsen Company Three Screen Report. 1st Quarter 2010. What consumers watch: Technology enhances the video experience HDTV, timeshifting, broadband and smartphones contribute to higher levels of video viewing. Retrieved from http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsen/en_us/documents/pdf/Three%20Screen%20Reports/Nielsen_Three%20Screen%20Report_Q12010.PDF
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, (2002). Pub. L. No. 107–110, § 115,Stat. 1425. Retrieved from www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html
Perry, S. (1995). If…. Venice, CA: Children's Library Press.Google Scholar
Runco, M. A. (2006). The development of children's creativity. In Spodek, Bernard & Saracho, Olivia (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 121–131). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Runco, M. A. & Johns, D. J. (2002). Parents’ and teachers’ implicit theories of children's creativity: A cross-cultural perspective, Creativity Research Journal, 14(3 & 4), 427–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, D. G. & Singer, J. L. (1990). The house of make believe: Children's play and the developing imagination. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sutton-Smith, B. (1992). The role of toys in the instigation of playful creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 5(1), 3–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torrance, E. P. (1966). The Torrance tests of creative thinking: Norms-technical manual. Lexington, MA: Personal Press.Google Scholar
Torrance, E. P. (1974). The Torrance tests of creative thinking: Norms-technical manual. Princeton, NJ: Personal Press.Google Scholar
Torrance, E. P. (1990). The Torrance tests of creative thinking: Norms-technical manual. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Service.Google Scholar
Torrance, E. P. (1998). The Torrance tests of creative thinking: Norms-technical manual. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Service.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×