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…

To investigate the cognitive processes underlying creative inspiration, we tested the extent to which viewing or copying prior examples impacted creative output in art. In Experiment 1, undergraduates made drawings under three conditions: (a) copying an artist's drawing, then producing an original drawing; (b) producing an original drawing without…

Art educators are concerned with exposing their students to contemporary art making practices. They aim to create fresh lessons that expand their understandings of art in today's world while highlighting the importance of imagination. With a personal interest in performance and street art (art forms that have gained popularity in recent years),…

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…

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…

This paper utilises a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways in which teachers shape the creation of children's artwork in educational contexts. Reflexive ethnography and a bottom up approach to discourse analysis are used to analyse a range of qualitative data including photographs, observational notes and audio recordings collected from a Year…

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)

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)

Asserts that the copying of artworks does not stunt a child's creative development; rather it can serve children, as it did many great artists, as a useful tool for the development of the technical and aesthetic skills necessary for creative expression. (SJL)

Five articles on art education for the gifted touch on topics which include identifying artistic talent, encouraging aesthetic development, using art as a means of visual communication, career decision making for the artistic student, and creative learning and teaching through sketchbooks. (SB)

Presented are several approaches to motivate students who are reluctant to get involved in art projects: experimental, creative competition, mechanical, utilitarian, complementary (interdependent), illusory, rhythmical, and the creatures and caricature approach. (KC)

Twenty-eight profoundly hearing-impaired children were exposed to either a traditional approach to art education or a curriculum designed to develop creative abilities. Following 12 weeks of classes, the experimental group of children, aged 8-10, showed significant improvement on flexibility and originality. (Author/JDD)

Finger painting is often regarded as the epitome of free expression for children. However, a careful review of the history of Ruth Shaw's finger-painting system reveals that it was dominated by specific techniques and stylistic conventions taught without a critical understanding of art history or appreciation. (IS)

The document presents information on activities designed to foster growth in creativity and upper level thinking of secondary gifted students. An introductory section covers instructional models, including Guilford's Structure-of-Intellect Model and Krathwohl's Affective Taxonomical Model. Activities are described in terms of objectives,…