In attempting to balance the requirements of social structure and the empowering initiative of creativity in children, numerous obstacles must be confronted, including insecurity; fear of uncertainty; ritualistic problem solving; dogmatic, dichotomous thinking; inner resourcelessness; lack of playfulness; restricted affect; forcing premature…

The article describes an inservice teacher training program which is teaching Brazilian teachers to (1) be more aware of their own creativity, (2) creativity enhancing techniques and exercises to use in the classroom, (3) basic concepts about creative thinking and problem solving, and (4) increased awareness of obstacles to creative development.…

A clinical psychologist recounts her childhood efforts to develop creatively despite the discouragements of many of the adults in her world. (DB)

Three major ways that mentors influence their proteges are by heightening anticipation, deepening expectations, and helping proteges keep their creativity going. The role of mentor relationships is to find and highlight what makes the protege special and valuable and to facilitate the expression of this essence and the actualization of the…

This article examines characteristics of the young creative child, offers suggestions to encourage the development of creativity, and reviews potential problems associated with creative children. Suggestions include giving freedom and encouragement, using appropriate questioning techniques, and providing opportunities for creative thinking. (JDD)

The synectics model is an exciting strategy for development of thinking skills for gifted and creative children. The three-phase strategy teaches about direct analogy, personal analogy, and symbolic analogy. (CB)

The Schmerenbeck Educational Centre (Parktown, South Africa) provides comprehensive educational services to gifted, talented, and creative students of all races. Program costs, talent identification and such educational programs as Microscapes (integrative activities), Project Plus (contact, core, acceleration, enrichment, and self-study courses),…

The Russell C. Gordon Elementary School (Nova Scotia, Canada) offers the Enriched Students Program (ESP) for academically gifted students. ESP goals include: fostering and developing individual interests of students; initiating higher level thinking skills; strengthening task commitment; stimulating creativity; promoting leadership qualities; and…

This article offers guidelines for developing a national climate for creativity and invention. It recalls the post-Sputnik climate in the United States and notes evidence of Japan's increasing commitment to creativity. It recommends encouraging students to imagine themselves as inventors, providing early training in inventing skills, and…

This article describes one poet/teacher's program to explore and cultivate student creativity, intuition, and imagination through a series of visual, verbal, and psychological exercises. Visualization, free-writing, association, variations on other poets' work, and memory mapping are among the creativity exercises employed prior to actual writing…

An enrichment program developed for sixth-grade gifted students combined creative problem solving with future studies in a way that would simulate real life crisis problem solving. The program involved forecasting problems of the future requiring evacuation of Earth, assuming roles on a spaceship, and simulating crises as the spaceship traveled to…

After participating in a 4-week demonstration project focusing on enriching skills in cognition, memory, convergent and divergent thinking, creativity, and problem solving, 68 potentially gifted 4- and 5- year-olds (many from culturally-diverse and/or low socioeconomic backgrounds) made significant gains in their ability to reason with figures and…

A project of the Talented and Gifted Program in Torrington, Connecticut, is described. The project involved classroom teachers, the gifted teacher, art teacher, and physical education teacher leading fourth-grade students in developing a life-size skeleton, a tape-recorded narration explaining the skeletal system, and a song. (JDD)