Carolina Rodriguez Baptista MAAI UAL
Ted Talk about the decline in creativity.
In 1968, George Land tested the creativity of 1,600 children aged 3-5 using a NASA-designed assessment. He re-tested the same group at ages 10 and 15, yielding remarkable results. Same test was given to 280,000 adults and the result was 2%.
Speech from 1997. Still applies to today.
Blurb from the post:
In this lecture-style presentation, John Cleese claims that creativity is not a special talent. People are either in an ‘open’ or ‘closed’ state of mind. The closed mode enables people to apply themselves to tasks with vigour and concentration; the open mode is more relaxed and conducive to creative thinking. Cleese talks about how leaders can induce an open mode in their team members and establish confidence in them to accept that there is a succession of learning steps on the road to total quality.
John Cleese on Creativity In Management. (2017). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g
On June 18th I sent to see a wonderful group of kids story tell through dance, lights and music. Zoonation Youth Company told a story about a world that was divided, the wall had been built by an AI Robot that dreamed of having real feelings. On one side was the Captain that controlled his half of the world through oppression and on the other side was controlled by a Queen Bee that gave Starburst to her group and drugged them to keep them in control. In the middle were two brothers who loved each other very much and did not want to join either side. At some point the older brother gets coerced into joining the Captain. The little brother gets coerced by the Queen Bee. I won’t say more to not give spoilers. I was most impressed by the way they told their story. The narrator was “Snow”, the AI Robot, a girl that danced to the rhythm of the music. If I had to choose a question it would be something like: How can we teach children about the polarisation happening in the world and make them aware that there are other possibilities? I was inspired at all the ways we can get our message across. A beautiful intervention.
“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” George Lois, American Art director, designer and author.
The author proposes a series of games to put in practice your creativity.
Games are divided into categories:
Convergent. People Watch. Challenge- Go to a public place, like a shopping center, a library and quickly write a short story for some different people you see walking about. Combine different traits and actions of your “characters” into one compelling story. Research done by NYU have determined that you’re more inclined to think creatively when you imagine yourself removed from a problem or situation. The act of people watching is one way to do it.
Divergent. List 100 Alternative uses. Challenge. Come up with a list of at least 100 alternative uses for a book. A doorstop, a hat, an umbrella. This allows you to think of the object in an entirely new light, simply because you’ll have to strain your brain to come up with a number of original ideas.
Lateral. Think Big to Small. Challenge. Pick something in your life that is simple on its face. Make a list of everything that makes that thing what it is. List all the smaller parts, then the smaller parts that make up those smaller parts. See how microscopic you can get with the details. There are an infinite number of things that influence and impact any larger thing right down to atoms and smaller molecules.
Aesthetic. Draw your face upside down. Challenge. Find a mirror and something to draw with then spend 10 minutes drawing a detailed portrait of your face upside down. Note the areas of struggle to draw most and why the change in perspective makes them so difficult to draw. Viewing familiar things from a new perspective (like being upside down) is an effective way to help you notice all the details you usually take for granted.
Emergent. Stretch out. Challenge. Take 5 minutes to really stretch out. You can do this by standing up or sitting down – simply move your body to loosen your muscles and connecting fibers. Then spend another 10 minutes sitting and relaxing while the benefits of al that stretching start to take shape.
The author says that by completing each activity you will have a better foundation for seeing the world with a more creative light.
Christensen, T. (2015). The Creativity Challenge. Simon and Schuster.
We need to recover our imagination. Creativity is thought of as an artistic trait only available to some when in fact it is available for all. We just need to regain it. My role will be as a moderator/ connector / collaborator for a research project on redefining creativity to adults, seeing its benefits and more importantly being able to teach how to use that muscle once again. This will be done by methods of improv, art and play.
WHAT?
We need to recover our imagination. Creativity is thought of as an artistic trait only available to some when in fact it is available for all. We just need to regain it.
How can we tackle the decline of creativity from childhood to adulthood?
What is creativity?
Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognice ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. (California State University, Northridge, 2019)
WHY this topic?
Creativity declines after childhood, as Linda Phillips (Art teacher for 27 + years) told me in an interview: “When they’re three and four a line can represent a subway station with you know thousands of people standing on the platform. They’re so conceptual about that age and then as they get older they become more aware of their environment, they’re much more self-critical.” Karen Maeyens, (Design director of Educational Experience at the Hesperides University) states her biggest struggle is the level of creativity in the teachers. When asked, she said: “What I would find most valuable is a method where I can push teachers to work the creativity muscle.” She also stated: “We need to give them tools to awaken their creativity, people are scared to make mistakes, scared that they are being judged therefore do not take creative risks.”
“What we have concluded,” wrote Land, “is that non- creative behavior is learned”
HOW
Picasso said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”.
My role will be as a moderator/ connector / collaborator for the start of a research project on redefining creativity to adults, seeing its benefits and more importantly being able to teach how to use that muscle once again.
STAKEHOLDERS
Everyone has access to creativity, and it’s unfair to believe that only certain individuals possess that “talent.” Creativity exists within all of us; it’s just a matter of nurturing and developing it. Initially, my focus will be on adults who consider themselves “non-creative.” However, my long-term goal is to expand these activities and support to individuals at all levels. I envision providing access to public libraries, senior citizens’ homes, public and private schools, refugee centers, and more. Access to creativity should be available to everyone.
Some of the experts I have Spoken to so far are:
– Karen Maeyens, Design Director of Educational Experience at Universidad de Hesperides
– Linda Phillips, Art teacher for 27+ years
– April Stout, Director of Teaching and learning at American School of Madrid
– Isabel Navarro – Director of CREATE Foundation. An NGO that looks to help nurture a society whose citizens are capable of creating projects and innovating without fear of failing.
I have interviews set up with:
Other experts I hope to interview:
I have chosen three methodologies for my interventions. I have decided that at least two elements of each of these need to be included in my interventions.
Play. “Play is essential to develop social skills and adult problem-solving skills” (Brown and Vaughan, 2009).
Improvisation. “Improvising invites us to lighten up and look around. It offers alternatives to the controlling way many of us try to lead our lives. It requires that we say yes and be helpful rather than argumentative: it offers us a chance to do things differently.” (Patricia Ryan Madson, 2005).
Arts. “Arts and creativity cultivates well-being and helps young learners create connections between subjects.” (Richardson, 2020)
Based on evidence we need to focus on being Consistent, finding the time to do it and creating a habit.
Richard Reynolds mentioned the challenge of making workshop attendees develop a habit out of the content. Karen Maeyens struggles with getting teachers to apply workshop tools in their classes. April Stout provides support to teachers in implementing creativity techniques. Some teachers enjoyed the workshops but lacked time or compensation to incorporate new methodologies. Developing creativity requires consistent practice, similar to going to the gym. A habit needs to be formed.
INTERVENTIONS
I have developed one main intervention based on learnings from my first intervention, interviews and book research.
INTERVENTION 1 (MAY 4)
CORE INTERVENTION
21 day Creativity Challenge.
Objective: Trust, habit, reflection.
Activity: Send simple daily improv and play task
Audience: 20-60 year olds volunteers. (defined as “non-creative’)
Measurement: Survey and daily reflections.
When: June15.
My potential Hurdles:
– Stakeholders could lose interest- same as getting in shape.
– Creativity is often associated with art so people that consider themselves non-artistic might not see the value.
WHAT IF I Succeed.
If I succeed I believe we will have people that are:
I see this work as a catalyst for the change, by combining methodologies that could work better together.
Reference list
American Montessori Society. (2013). History of Montessori Education. Amshq.org; American Montessori Society. https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/History-of-Montessori
Aulive. (2019). Free online creativity test – TestMyCreativity. Testmycreativity.com. http://www.testmycreativity.com/
Big Wind Blows Game – Group games, team games, ice breakers. (n.d.). Https://Www.group-Games.com. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.group-games.com/ice-breakers/big-wind-blows-game.html
Borchardt, S. (2014, June 6). Unlearning to Learn – year end LILA summit 2014. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/97547671
California State University, Northridge. (2019). What is creativity? Csun.edu. http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm
Cremer, D. D., Bianzino, N. M., & Falk, B. (2023, April 13). How Generative AI Could Disrupt Creative Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/04/how-generative-ai-could-disrupt-creative-work?tpcc=orgsocial_edit&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram
Cunff, A.-L. L. (2019a, July 24). The science of curiosity: why we keep asking “why.” Ness Labs. https://nesslabs.com/science-of-curiosity
Cunff, A.-L. L. (2019b, October 16). Combinational creativity: the myth of originality. Ness Labs. https://nesslabs.com/combinational-creativity
Design Thinking for Libraries. (n.d.). Design Thinking for Libraries. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from http://designthinkingforlibraries.com
Flinders, S. (2022, January 20). Mental health. The Nuffield Trust. https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/mental-health-indicator-update
Gouinlock, J. S. (2019). John Dewey | American philosopher and educator. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey
Hopkins, R. (2018, September 21). Kyung Hee Kim on “The Creativity Crisis”. Rob Hopkins. https://www.robhopkins.net/2018/09/20/kyung-hee-kim-on-the-creativity-crisis/
Ivcevic Pringle Ph.D., Z. (2020, June 9). Creativity Can Be Taught. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/creativity-the-art-and-science/202006/creativity-can-be-taught
Jennifer Aaker. (n.d.). Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/jennifer-aaker
Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2015). Creative Confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. W. Collins.
Kerr, B. (2023, April 19). Creativity – Research on the creative process. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/creativity/Research-on-the-creative-process
Leis, R. (n.d.). Without Popular Education There Will Be no True Society. TEXT. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.dvv-international.de/en/adult-education-and-development/editions/aed-762011/popular-education-and-reflect/without-popular-education-there-will-be-no-true-society
Naomi Bagdonas. (n.d.). Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/naomi-joanne-bagdonas
Notes, P. (2023). Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education: Key Concepts. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODuEY2Kfs4
Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education: Key Concepts – PHILO-notes. (2023, March 23). https://philonotes.com/2023/03/paulo-freires-philosophy-of-education-key-concepts
pmdtemp. (2015, September 1). Flex Your Creativity Muscle – PMD Group. PMD Group – Credit Union Marketing and Advertising. https://www.pmdgrp.com/flex-your-creativity-muscle/
PNTV: Constructive Living by David K. Reynolds (#68). (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDbLXlVmS4I
Project Zero. (n.d.). Thinking Palette : Artful Thinking. Pzartfulthinking.org. http://pzartfulthinking.org/?page_id=2
PZ’s Thinking Routines Toolbox | Project Zero. (n.d.). Pz.harvard.edu. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines#ExploringArtImagesandObjects
Richardson, J. (2020, October 12). The importance of art and creativity in a child’s development. University of the Arts London. https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/short-courses/stories/the-importance-of-art-and-creativity-in-a-childs-development
See how the future of jobs is changing in the age of AI. (n.d.). World Economic Forum. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/future-of-jobs-in-the-age-of-ai-sustainability-and-deglobalization/
Spencer, J. (2019, February 12). 7 Ways to Inspire Divergent Thinking in the Classroom. John Spencer. https://spencerauthor.com/divergent-thinking/
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Tan, C.-Y., Chuah, C.-Q., Lee, S.-T., & Tan, C.-S. (2021). Being Creative Makes You Happier: The Positive Effect of Creativity on Subjective Well-Being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7244. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147244
TEDx Talks. (2011). TEDxTucson George Land The Failure Of Success. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKMq-rYtnc
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The Link Between Creativity and Happiness (How Does It Work?). (2021, August 2). Tracking Happiness. https://www.trackinghappiness.com/link-between-creativity-and-happiness/
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Wilshire, A. (n.d.). Great Design Thinkers: Tim Brown on Design Thinking. Designlab.com. Retrieved May 8, 2023, from https://designlab.com/blog/great-design-thinking-tim-brown-ideo/#:~:text=He%20is%20best%20known%20for
KH Kim, educational psychologist writes this insightful book based in research in the decline of creativity in America since the 1990s. Bellow are notes from the book.
America’s relationship with Creativity.
America became a beacon for freedom and opportunity. She calls founding innovators people like: Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren. All these innovators set the foundation of entrepeneurial legal systems that minimized corruption while protecting intellectual property. Early education in the US from parents and teachers reflected values important to American creativity, intelectual diversity, curiosity, risk taking and nonconformity. Entrepeneurship culture emerged and encouraged exponential innovation and economic growth.
Competition for Creativity
Russia launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, America humiliated, education and scientists came under scrutiny. As a result of this competition America boosted their spending on R&D to the highest level in history. During the 1960s, the education system followed suit investing heavily in Science and engineering, children wanted to learn these subjects, not simply get good grades, but to create something unique. To conquer space.
Causes for Decline
Education
Asian students 15 years and older consistently attain higher grades in reading, math and science that US students the same age. Asian success has made Americans reevaluate their education system. They decided to take action to try to fix this. Bill Clinton called for a national education standard in 1997, George W Bush announced No child left behind (NCLB) and Barack Obama announced the Common Core State Standards with a grant to a program called Race to the Top as a continuation of NCLB. It’s goal is that all students receive higher education, closing achievement gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. “The schools are rewarded or punished through federal funds, and NCLB has become the most controlling and intrusive federal educational policy in American History.” It has become a test centric society.
There are state mandated standardiwed tests and they don”t measure things like creativity, so this becomes unimportant in the classroom. Teachers need their kids to get good grades so they can continue having their funding so they teach to the test. The test does not measure innovation or creativity so they don’t teach that.
This leaves disadvantaged kids further behind. They have no time for creativity and cannot participate in enriched programs, they are not allowed since they do not get the grades in the common core subjects.
If education only focuses in tests it ignores developing the whole child, it inhibits teachers from incorporating multiple intelligences (music-smart, body-smart, picture- smart, people – smart, etc).
All this takes on more problems such as depending on federal funding makes everything more bureaucratic, which limits schools autonomy and makes them less responsive to their students needs and more about complying with requirements from the government.
According to KH KIM we need to create a creative culture, called a CAT (climate, attitude and thinking skills) to achieve innovation.
KH Kim finds that high intelligence isn’t necessary to win a Nobel prize but you do need creativity. High intelligence and creativity are not the same.
The challenges she encounters with teaching creativity is the belief of what children and adults believe is creativity. Only a flash of brilliance from gods or geniuses, if they believe only artists are creative, they might not even try to explore their own creative potential.
She developed a science to teach creativity:
1. Cultivate Creative Climates.
2. Nurture Creative Attitudes.
3. Develop Creative – Thinking Skills.
Creative Climates are controlled by parents and teachers. Climates include both physical and psychological surroundings.
Attitudes are the ways individuals react to the climates.
The Six Sun Attitudes. For curious optimists, which enable creative thinking.
Eight Storm Attitudes. These help you become resilient hard workers.
The Eight Space Attitudes. These you become defiant dreamers.
Inbox (narrow and deep) includes traditional ways of thinking. To gain or evaluate knowledge and skills. It is essential for developing expertise- mastering a subject by understanding and applying knowledge and skills. Requires memorisation, comprehension, application, critical thinking.
Outbox Thinking (quick and broad). It is when we imagine diverse possibilities. Is divergent or outside the box thinking that seeks non conforming ideas. It generates fluent, flexible and novel ideas.
Newbox Thinking combines elements of previous thinking and transforms them into a new creation. It uses zoom and wide angle lenses to uniquely combine unrelated ideas and transform them into a creation. It ensures both uniqueness and usefulness so it can be recogniced as an innovation by others.
The 4S Chart
If parents and educators learn to cultivate the 4S climates that nurture children’s 4S attitudes at home and in school- rather than fostering un-creative climates that minimise children’s creative potential- they can greatly increase future innovation.
“Creativity has to power to transform the good to the best, and history has sown that all it takes is a few parents and educators to make striking advances.”
Kim, K.-H. (2016). The creativity challenge : how we can recapture American innovation. Prometheus Books.
Older Questions:
How can we tackle the Creativity Decline from Childhood to Adulthood?
How can we reawaken creativity when it declines as we grow into adults?
What happens when there is a decline in creativity as we grow into adults and what can we do to reawaken it?
How can we recover creativity in our everyday lives?
How can we become creative adults?
My plan is to have a CORE intervention: 21 day Creativity Challenge.
At the same time I would like to explore other smaller interventions that could help delve deeper into my findings from the 21 day Creativity Challenge. patterns and learning from the 21 day Creativity Challenge will be used in other interventions. Our objective is to help attendees feel more comfortable with making mistakes. We want to liberate creativity from the end result. Don’t think about the end result but enjoy and learn from the process.
Objective: Trust, habit, reflection.
Activity: Send simple daily creative tasks based on improv and play (no drawing required).
Audience: 20-60 year olds volunteers. (defined as “non-creative’). Targeted to anyone who “teaches”- parents, educators, friends.
Measurement: Survey and daily reflections.
When: Start on June15. Develop a list of games by the end of May, recruit volunteers by beginning of June.
2. Continuity Creativity Workshop
Objective: Trust, collaboration, Problem Solving, risk taking, making mistakes, reflection.
Activity: Practice improv games and Team art projects. Different from 21 day challenge- this intervention will use ART, but will be in person to make people feel more confident.
Audience: Group of adults (max 8 people). Ideally also people that consider themselves “non- creatives”.
Measurement: Survey at beginning and end of challenge. Reflections.
When: Ongoing. Two before June 15 and two during summer. One already done- follow link to see results.
Link to Blog Post describing results of intervention.
3. Ask the Experts
Objective: Trust, credibility to project, unlearn the meaning of creativity.
Activity: Ask a group of experts two questions and record them.
– How do you define creativity?
– How can people introduce creativity in their daily life? Can you give us one trick?
Audience: Adults that consider themselves “Non Creative” but want to train their creativity muscle.
End Result: Create a series of small videos and distribute through social media.
When: Ongoing. Have already started contacting experts.
4. “Let’s Create” Social Media Campaign (like Let’s Move MO campaign)
Objective: Awareness of when creativity is limited. Tools of how to overcome that. Empathy.
Activity: Social Media Campaign with daily or weekly tips.
Audience: Adults that consider themselves “Non Creative” but want to train their creativity muscle.
End Result: Post daily or weekly exercises on IG. Include phrases that limit your creativity to create awareness. Interview people that tell the story of when they were limited creatively and what effect it had on them. Create empathy with the public.
Measurement: See Engagement from followers
When: Launch after other campaigns to use what worked best from other interventions.
5. Adult Children’s book. Let’s Unpack Creativity.
Objective: Awareness through illustrations.
Activity: Create Illustrations that tell stories of when in life we are limited creatively. Work with storyteller writer Carolina Paoli to develop the story.
Audience: Adults that consider themselves non-creative.
Measurement: Engagement with the book.
When: Finish Illustrations and text by the end of October.
6. Cross Generational workshops. This is just a germ of an idea. Would love to develop workshops with young and elders connecting both generations through creativity. Maybe phase 2 of this project.
Conducted by Carolina Rodriguez Baptista and Herb Singe
My first intervention was conducted on Thursday May 4th at London College of Communications. It was an hour long workshop with 6 students from UAL.
Obective of the Intervention was to test if improv games and artistic games caused an effect on students. Changed their moods, helped them resolve a challenge they had. Our goal was to establish: TRUST, CONNECTION, LOOK AT THINGS FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. Did the activities help you resolve issues and use the creativity muscle?
STEP 1
Students were given a two question survey before the workshop started:
Answers:
STEP 2
Students played games based on improvisation and in art during the course of an hour. Games were:
STEP 3
After the hour was finished students were asked to fill out second survey.
All participants shared their email and will be surveyed after two weeks. Results will be posted here.
Other findings
After the workshop we also had a reflection conversation where we asked participants to state if a particular game resonated with them and asked how they could use it in their current problem or daily life. All responded that the games made them happy and lighter. The concept of levity was discussed and welcomed. Some wanted to keep their art pieces. We asked wether the improv games were harder to do, if they felt more uncomfortable. . In other circumstances they would have not liked it, but because of the small group they felt at ease.
We sent a survey to the 6 participants, 4 responded the survey. Their responses: