Creative Thinking in a Standards-Based Classroom, Designed for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Teachers

1. Beyond Transformations:
Creative Thinking in a
Standards-Based Classroom
Presented by Betsey Kennedy

2. All materials fromAll materials from
this presentationthis presentation
can be found at:can be found at:
http://www.symbaloo.com/
mix/creativity7

3. Creativity Challenge:Creativity Challenge:
• Your Goal:Your Goal: Attach a lit candle to the
bulletin board so that wax cannot drip
onto the floor below.
• Your Materials:Your Materials:
– A candle
– A box of matches
– Thumbtacks

4. The Elements of CreativityThe Elements of Creativity

5. Creativity CreaturesCreativity Creatures

6. Thoughts about CreativityThoughts about Creativity
• Visit each statement poster.
• Place a sticker on the scale indicating
the amount to which you agree or
disagree with the statement.

7. Children are more creativeChildren are more creative
than adults.than adults.
• In a test developed for NASA to identify
innovative scientists and engineers:
– 98% of 5-year-olds tested at genius level on a
creativity scale.
– 30% of 10-year-olds scored at genius level.
– 12% of 15-year-olds
– 2% of adults
• Conclusion: Non-creative thinking is
learned.
Land & Jarman, 1992
TRUE
TRUE

8. Children with high IQ scoresChildren with high IQ scores
are most likely to achieveare most likely to achieve
success in adulthood.success in adulthood.
• 50 year study of 400 children showed that
Torrance’s creativity index predicted kids’
creative accomplishments as adults.
• The correlation to lifetime creative
accomplishment was more than three times
stronger for childhood creativity than
childhood IQ.
Torrance & Millar
Somewhat
SomewhatFALSE
FALSE

9. Measures of creativity show thatMeasures of creativity show that
Americans are becoming moreAmericans are becoming more
creative.creative.
• While intelligence scores tend to
increase by 10 points with each
generation, creativity, as measured by
the Torrance Tests of Creative
Thinking, has decreased over the last
20 years in all categories.
Kim, 2010
FALSE
FALSE

10. Countries that perform well onCountries that perform well on
international standardized tests alsointernational standardized tests also
perform well in studies of flexibleperform well in studies of flexible
thinking and entrepreneurship.thinking and entrepreneurship.
• Countries with the highest scores on the
Programme for International Student
Assessment, scored lower on measures of
entrepreneurship than did countries with
more modest scores.
• Conclusion: Practices that lead to high test
scores do not support flexible thinking.
Zhao, 2012
FALSE
FALSE

11. Creative jobs in AmericaCreative jobs in America
have fared better duringhave fared better during
the economic crisis.the economic crisis.
• The creative class lost fewer than 2%
of its jobs from 2008-2010 compared to
17% of blue collar and service sector
jobs.
• Creative class workers’ wages grew
4.4% while wages of blue collar
workers declined by 4.6%.
R. Florida, 2012
TRUE
TRUE

12. Creative thinking is best taughtCreative thinking is best taught
through visual or performing arts.through visual or performing arts.
• “Researchers say that creativity
should be taken out of the art room
and put into the homeroom.”
Bronson & Merryman, 2010
• The jobs that the majority of our
students will have as adults do not
exist today. Students must have the
creative thinking skills needed to match
any situation.
FALSE
FALSE

13. Competitions and rewardsCompetitions and rewards
help to encourage creativity.help to encourage creativity.
• Creativity suffers when people are
promised rewards for creative work,
or when learning conditions stress
competition and social comparison.
Hennessey & Amabile, 2010
• Candle Problem- Participants who were
offered financial rewards for quick
completion of task took longer to solve the
problem.
Glucksberg, 1962
FALSE
FALSE

14. People who practice creativePeople who practice creative
thinking become more creative.thinking become more creative.
• People who consistently practice
creative thinking are able to think more
creatively. Consistent habits gradually
change neurological patterns.
Jung, 2009
• Brain scans show differences between
trained musicians and nonmusicians
when asked to improvise a musical
piece.
Anasari & Berkowitz, 2010
TRUE
TRUE

15. Making Creativity a Part ofMaking Creativity a Part of
Life in Your ClassroomLife in Your Classroom

16. Hallway Game:Hallway Game:
Likes and DislikesLikes and Dislikes
• Likes and Dislikes Game
– Can you figure out the pattern of the
things Ms. Kennedy likes?
• Ms. Kennedy likes birds, but not eggs.
• Ms. Kennedy likes walls, but not windows.
• Ms. Kennedy likes pears, but not apples.

17. Hallway Game:Hallway Game:
Word AssociationsWord Associations
• Commonyms
– What do these three words have in
common?
Doors Pictures Eye GlassesDoors Pictures Eye Glasses
• Word Associations Game
– Can you think of a fourth word that is
related to these three ?
Wagon Stand AidWagon Stand Aid

18. Hallway Game:Hallway Game:
Alternative Uses andAlternative Uses and
Creative ConnectionsCreative Connections
• Alternative Uses
– Choose an item in the hallway, students
list alternative uses for that item
(Example: A floor tile could be used as a fan, a
plate, a raft for a mouse, etc.)
• Creative Connections
– Choose any two items, students explain
how one item is like the other

19. Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:
SynecticsSynectics
1. Select a word or phrase that your
class has been studying (examples:
heat, vibration, current)
2. Select a seemingly unrelated word or
object.
Random Word Generator: http://creativitygames.net/random-word-generator
3. Students list similarities between the
two words.

20. Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:
SynecticsSynectics
Sample from Lisa Rogers, King Springs Elementary

21. Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:
Useful JunkUseful Junk
• Choose a random object and ask students to
develop a list of ways this object could have
been used by historical figures (or book
characters).
– How might Paul Revere have used this
piece of wrapping paper?
– How might Lewis and Clark have used
this piece of twine?
– How might a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail
have used this paper clip?

22. Unusual Assignments:Unusual Assignments:
Useful JunkUseful Junk
• Working on building students’ originality? Try
playing Scratch with “Useful Junk” questions.
– Students are given a few minutes to list as many
uses for the object as possible. At the end of the
available time, students share their list with their
tablemates. Any idea that appears on more than
one list gets “scratched.” Ideas that no one else
listed are considered original. (The rules of this
game are very similar to Scattergories.)

23. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
In the Past / In the FutureIn the Past / In the Future
• Students are given a picture and asked to
use their scientific knowledge to explain what
probably happened in the recent or distant
past or will happen in the future.

24. 1. Show an image of an
unknown object. Allow
students to examine it
and ask questions about
it.
2. Answer some questions,
and provide new clues
about the object every
few days until students
have determined what the
object is.
Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Object MysteriesObject Mysteries

25. Clue 1: This object can be
opened and closed.
Clue 2: This object would most
likely have been found in a
kitchen.
Clue 3: Sugar used
to be sold in a cone
shape like this.
Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Object MysteriesObject Mysteries
Good place to find odd objects:
http://jas-townsend.com/index.php?cPath=7

26. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
SCAMPERSCAMPER
•help people to think differently about a
problem area and enhances creativity
•use this technique to solve a problem,
create something new, or improve
something that is existing

27. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
SCAMPERSCAMPER
S Substitute What or who can be used instead? What other
ingredients, place, or time? Other material? Other
Process? Other power? Other place? Other approach?
Other sounds?
C Combine What materials, features, processes, people, products, or
components can be combined?
A Adapt Is there anything that can be changed? What else is like
this? What could be copied?
M Modify, Magnify,
or Minify
Can you change the meaning, color, motion, sound,
smell, form, or shape? Can you distort it?
P Put to Other
Uses
Are there new ways to use or reuse it? Is there another
market?
E Eliminate Can you reduce time, effort, or cost? Can you remove
part of it?
R Rearrange Can you interchange components or patterns? Can you
change the pace or schedule? Can it be reversed?

28. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
SCAMPERSCAMPER
• SCAMPER-like picture books:
– Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root
– If I Built a Car and If I Built a House by Chris
Van Dusen
– A New Improved Santa by Patricia Rae Wolff

29. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
SCAMPERSCAMPER
Examples:
•3rd
Grade- SCAMPER the
school’s recycling program
•4th
Grade- SCAMPER
the Conestoga Wagon
•5th
Grade- SCAMPER a
beach house to stand up
to weathering and erosion

30. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving
• method for approaching a problem or a
challenge in an imaginative and
innovative way
• includes divergent and convergent
thinking
• extensive research backing this
method has been done

31. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving
1. Objective (Mess) Finding:
Select a problem.
2. Fact Finding:
List what you know.
3. Problem Finding:
What is the real problem?
4. Idea Finding:
Brainstorm ideas.
5. Solution Finding:
How will you evaluate your ideas? Which is best?
6. Acceptance Finding:
Find ways to put ideas into action.

32. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving
• You have just moved into a new house,
and you love it! Unfortunately, the house
gets extremely hot in the summer, and
your air conditioning is causing the
electrical bill to go through the roof! What
should you do?

33. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving
• You have a big assignment due today, but
right before you leave for school you see
that your little sister dropped it in the fish
tank, and it’s soaked! You used the last of
the printer ink last night and you only
have 5 minutes before you have to leave
for school! What should you do?

34. Unusual Assignments :Unusual Assignments :
Creative Problem SolvingCreative Problem Solving
• During the Cold War, the Soviet Union
attempted to take control of Berlin by
creating a blockade that prevented
needed supplies from getting to people
living in parts of Berlin controlled by the
United States, France, and England.
What should the United States do?

35. All materials fromAll materials from
this presentationthis presentation
can be found at:can be found at:
http://www.symbaloo.com/
mix/creativity7