When children engage in play, they develop essential skills like creativity, flexibility, imagination, and problem-solving. Children who engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) activities also build similar skills. Both play and STEAM enable children to ask questions, try different solutions, and develop explanations for…

The present study investigates how emerging/young and established/expert artists create artwork, paying special attention to modifications in the art-making process. Here, "process modification" is the means by which artists generate new artistic concepts by modifying elements of their previous artwork. To examine whether emerging…

Just as students should leave their Foundational year of art with a beginning sense of composition, color, value, and materials, so should they be cultivating their creative capacities. With the equipment exercised and the waters tested, students will be prepared to continue their journey; for it is the interplay of personal experience, social…

In this Instructional Resource, Denmead and Brown consider how "Ruffneck Constructivists," an exhibition curated by Kara Walker at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Pennsylvania, can disturb and provoke young creatives and art education more broadly. For this exhibition, Walker draws on the figure that MC Lyte…

While creativity is discussed as a core competence for talented people around the world in the twenty-first century, its exhibition is determined by one's character. Creativity and character education, therefore, should not be considered as separate matters, but the systematically related matters, and exhibition of creativity, can be carried away…

This article examines how arts-based informal learning spaces engage young people at the intersection of creativity and technology. We conducted case studies of four youth media arts organizations to understand how teaching is defined and realized in these contexts. We find that teaching is a distributed act that sits at the intersection of…

Art teachers are renowned for their claims that the creative properties of their senior secondary pupils' artworks occur as a result of the realisation of a creative process. Drawing on my recent ethnographic studies in senior art classrooms in Sydney, Australia, and Illinois, USA, I uncover a sociological, rather than a psychological explanation…

The author discusses the role of the visual arts in helping people deal creatively with their struggles while enhancing their creative abilities. Lists of media, materials, techniques, events, names of artists, art careers, and modes of expression are included. (CL)

This report identifies how involvement with the arts provides unparalleled opportunities for learning that enables young people to reach for and attain higher levels of achievement. The research provides examples of and evidence why the arts should be more widely recognized for their current and potential contributions to the improvement of U.S.…

Recounts a personal experience as a first grader to illustrate the point that teachers must remember to encourage rather than stifle students' creativity. (NH)

A self-taught artist describes the creative process and a technique for developing one's intuitive drawing ability. The article identifies seven basic motifs derived from natural forms and illustrates how these motifs are used in the artist's work. (DB)

This study investigated differences in verbal and artistic creative achievements among 6-year-old children. Creative-capacity level differentiation was analyzed, and factors which determine individual and group differences were determined. Results confirm a great differentiation of creative capacity levels and suggest that pedagogic factors are…

A teaher of emotionally disturbed students describes language, science, dramatics, and art activities to help students redirect their creative energy. The importance of structuring the activities for success is emphasized. (CL)

Studied the relationship between performance of challenging out-of-school activities and real-world talent in art, drama, social leadership, and dance in four separate studies of high school students (total n=222) in grades 9 through 12. The strong relationship between predictor and criterion in each of the four domains demonstrated the concurrent…

This paper attempts to make explicit some assumptions about the creative abilities of people with developmental disabilities, and offers constructive strategies for replacing negative ideas and attitudes with positive attitudes. The paper points out that: a high degree of artistic ability can coexist with considerable impairments in other areas of…