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Education - Creativity - Thinking

A child's creative activity can help us learn more about what the child may be thinking or feeling – emotional intelligence. Creativity also fosters mental growth in children by providing opportunities for trying out new ideas, and new ways of thinking and problem-solving.

Why is visual thinking essential to creativity?

Visual thinking can help you to: See patterns and connections that others aren't even aware of. Envision new possibilities and ideas. Display the quality of your thinking. Learn new vocabulary or recycle words in a new context. Make cross curricular links, share knowledge and develop a narrative.

Additionally, creativity is also an important part of developing children's problem solving and innovative thinking.

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Workshops, small groups or one to one sessions use a variety of visual cues to explore issues, themes or topics. Storytelling or ‘story weaving’ can be a noninvasive way for children to explore their emotions, fears or doubts.

Using question prompts, metaphors, story cubes or games, the spiral of development starts, using the left and the right side of the brain to explore creativity.

Children are invited to explore their creativity using the story prompts, arts and crafts and developing literacy skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clarifying Creative Cognition

Defining Cognition

Cognition is thinking, and, in a finite sense, it is the ability of the brain to process, store, retrieve, and retain information. The use of memory is involved when calling forth information to use in the present or address a future situation. Recalling or remembering occurs in three ways, which are attention, orientation, and decision-making. These areas of cognition move from and between levels of complexity simultaneously, and seemingly without reason or even awareness.

The most advanced level of complexity is meta-cognition, which involves the knowledge and control people have over their own thinking and learning activities. Cognition and meta-cognition ultimately lead to comprehension, which is to have knowledge about a topic demonstrated through things said or actions and behaviors which are either fact-based or implied.

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Cognitive Development

In looking at our thinking more closely, we understand that we have thoughts, ideas, opinions, judgments, and feelings which impact our lives on a daily basis — sometimes moment to moment. These, in turn, influence our cognitive development and creativity, for to create something or be innovative, one needs to think consciously; or even sometimes, thinking occurs unconsciously.

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Explaining Creativity

Synonyms for the word creative explode from the thesaurus with words like “original,” “imaginative,” “inspired,” “artistic,” “inventive,” “resourceful,” “ingenious,” “innovative,” and “productive.” Those are a good deal of cognitive skills to convey the meaning of just one word, and this can cause confusion, as each word has a meaning of its own. However, cognitive development, in terms of one’s being creative, revolves around using imagination and being inventive, which in turn requires thinking about what one is thinking — metacognition.

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Defining Creativity

At one time, creativity was considered to be the function of the right brain hemisphere. This supported the concept that left-brain-dominant people were more analytical and less emotional. Emotion is considered to be an important factor in creativity, as is memory, or, really, the lack of it, when being creative. In an article on the anatomy of the creative brain at livestrong.com, author TraceyR related that the anatomy of creativity is a pattern of activation and suppression of communication pathways within the brain that allows for the emergence of novel thought. Ingredients for creative innovation include “divergent thinking” — the ability to see things differently in a way that improves upon convention.

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August 31, 2020 Rev. Dr. Marjorie S. Schiering artseducationhealthpeoplesciencestorieswellness

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Where the magic happens...

This is where we need to be. Creative thinking skills, motivation and expertise are all working together to stimulate creativity. 

Children have their unique emerging learning styles (audio, visual, kinesthetic, tactile etc.) or emerging learning disabilities, English as a Second Language or simply need a different environment to express themselves.

Visual cues, storyboards, story journeys and 'writing' a book are just some of the ways that language and creativity come together.

Using prompts for connecting ideas, pair-share, PBL (problem based learning) or supporting target areas of growth

Workshops

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A visual workshop , connecting words with thoughts and creativity.

This workshop is aimed at teachers, educators or parents with skills and strategies that can be transposed to the class or home.

No plans availableOnce there are plans available for purchase, you’ll see them here.
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