{"id":2794,"date":"2014-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stonebridge-blog.positive-dedicated.net2\/teaching-assistants-and-education\/helping-children-to-be-creative-2"},"modified":"2020-11-26T12:27:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T12:27:14","slug":"helping-children-to-be-creative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/teaching-assistant\/helping-children-to-be-creative\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Children to be Creative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Creativity is the residue of time wasted\u2019<\/i><\/b> decided Einstein whose theory of relativity revolutionised physics.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
If this statement is true it would appear to present a dilemma to those involved in the formal education of children \u2013 surely one aim of education is to ignite and then fan the spark of creativity but with large class sizes and targets to reach, few teachers and teaching assistants<\/a> would feel they had the luxury of encouraging children to \u2018waste time\u2019.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cognitive scientists observing creative behaviour have identified 4 stages in the process:<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Preparation<\/li>\n
  2. Incubation<\/li>\n
  3. Illumination<\/li>\n
  4. Verification<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    The preparation stage of hard work and study is not often acknowledged but is a vital foundation for the flashes of illumination to follow.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    It\u2019s the incubation stage which I find most fascinating – it links the preparation to the illumination but in itself appears to involve the least activity.<\/b><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    \u2018It\u2019s when you give up, go away and do something else. It turns out that this isn\u2019t skiving, rather it is when your unconscious brain does its work\u2019<\/i> writes Lindsey Winship in TES.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Psychologist Peter Lovatt found that higher scores were gained in the ability to think laterally after subjects engaged in a dance session.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Other research in which jazz musicians were asked to improvise whilst their brain activity was monitored using an MRI scanner showed an increase in activity in the area of the brain associated with self-expression, alongside a marked decrease in activity in the part of the brain associated with self-monitoring, judging and correcting.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    By getting rid of inhibitions the brain is given the freedom to suggest unconventional solutions \u2013 to think in a way it had not previously \u2013 to be creative.<\/b><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Neuro scientist Mark Beeman found that showing a clip of Robin Williams stand-up comedy boosted the success rate of solving insight puzzles by 20%.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Psychologist Dr Isen found that those who had just watched a session of T.V. bloopers were more able to find creative solutions to a problem than those who had watched a film about maths.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    So what is happening in this \u2018incubation\u2019 period or in Einstein\u2019s words \u2018time wasted\u2019?<\/b><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    The lack of focus allows the cortex to relax and tune into associations produced in the right hemisphere of the brain responsible for divergent or lateral thinking.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    The challenge for those working with children is to create an environment where they can shed their inhibitions and feel free to experiment with self-expression.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Trust in the process of creativity would give the educator the confidence to allow the child to lose focus for a while, knowing that this leads to increased productivity.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    My husband has kept and reared chickens from childhood and regularly buys hatching eggs (eggs produced by chickens kept alongside a cockerel). I could fry them and they would be like any other fried egg but the magic happens when he puts them in an incubator and leaves them in gentle heat and mild moisture for 3 weeks.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    You could look at those eggs every day and be completely oblivious to any change or growth. About halfway through the incubation period he does what he calls \u2018candling the eggs\u2019 using a special torch which when shone into the egg in a darkened room, illuminates the contents of the egg, showing the developing chick inside. This peek into an otherwise secret world never fails to cause excitement and wonder in family and guests alike. I couldn\u2019t help but be reminded of this phenomena when reading of the creative journey.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    We can\u2019t see into little minds and brains and no \u2018candling torch\u2019 exists to reveal the growth which is taking place within. We have to provide safety and security along with the warmth of approval and encouragement, assured in the knowledge that \u2018time wasted\u2019 will indeed bear fruit – the precious residue of creativity.<\/b><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    http:\/\/www.creativitypost.com\/psychology\/creativity_and_iq._what_is_divergent_thinking_how_is_it_helped_by_slee<\/a><\/div>\n

    http:\/\/www.tes.co.uk\/article.aspx?storyCode=6439368<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    — Beth Nicholls<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    &amp;nbsp; &amp;lsquo;Creativity is the residue of time wasted&amp;rsquo; decided Einstein whose theory of relativity revolutionised physics. &amp;nbsp; If this statement is true it would appear to present a dilemma to those involved in the formal education of children…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[244,243,168],"class_list":["post-2794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-assistant","tag-creativity","tag-einstein","tag-teaching-assistant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2794"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16899,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions\/16899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stonebridge.uk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}