Information societies--and life in general--require a host of skills beyond those found in the traditional school curriculum. Yet nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, educators are still looking for clarity on what these skills are and a comprehensive, whole-school model that explains how to teach and develop them; how to observe…

Universal Design (UD) involves the creation of accessible, flexible products that are functional for a wide population of users. Our problem-based learning exercise challenges student teams to create products and services guided by the principles of UD. After teams generate their new product concept, a spokesperson from each team pitches it in…

The "communication effect" is what happens when we saturate our classrooms with authentic communication, which occurs when students use language to build up ideas and do meaningful things. For starters, authentic communication deepens and increases language development, learning of content concepts and skills, rigor and engagement,…

Middle level educators around the country aim to create a classroom environment and a way of teaching that is developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable for every student. One way to ensure this is to include instruction that promotes creativity. This article offers guiding principles and shares instructional lessons that…

Research documents that the arts boost learning, build confidence, and motivate students to participate in class. How do we keep the performing arts alive in this era of increased accountability and decreased funding? Rekha S. Rajan sets the stage for a creative and practical solution with detailed, concrete examples of how to integrate the…

Describes a creative writing class in which students were encouraged to journey backwards into themselves and their own creativity. (FL)

Twenty skills are identified and illustrated by example activities which should help the student receive, organize, and analyze data; manipulate it at a symbolic or model level; and treat it in imaginative ways through purposeful distortion and fantasy. (CL)

Discusses the use of tea parties to stimulate children to use their creativity to plan, organize, and think about the materials they would need. Considers the use of riddles and gives examples of tea parties from literature, including fantasy books. (LRW)

Discusses why junior high school students like comic books and examines how comic book art and visual narrative can be used in education. Copying comic book art can teach students several useful art techniques. Suggestions for using visual narratives to study science fiction, literature, folklore, and art history are included. (AM)

Most of this early childhood unit on toys provides suggestions for toy-making activities in the areas of art, games, music, science, math, creative dramatics, language arts, social studies, cooking and bulletin boards. It also suggests resources (such as field trips and persons with special knowledge of toys). Special emphasis is placed on…

Presents a series of classroom exercises and activities that stimulate children's creativity through the use of visualization. Discusses procedures for guided imagery and offers some examples of "trips" to imaginary places. Proposes visualization as a warm-up exercise before art lessons. (DR)

The article presents three activities designed to create new images, restructure ideas, and try out new ways of thinking for primary-aged gifted children. (PHR)

Argues that teaching for poetic thought develops not only poets and lovers of poetry, but also readers, dreamers, and doers. Offers suggestions on how it is done.(FL)

Ideas for teaching children about creativity and its importance are offered in this article. Ingredients for developing creativity skills are presented and suggested projects are discussed. (DF)