This paper outlines the processes of creating a 'Storymaker Wheel', a creativity evaluation tool conceptualised with input from a children's book author, a children's book illustrator, academics and teachers, for teachers and pupils to use to support and develop their creative writing. It documents the ways in which teachers and pupils engaged…

With increasing concerns in the UK about the positive mental well-being and flourishing of children, this research, using drama and creative writing with primary school teachers, children and a theatre company, looks at the links between creative processes and children's well-being. This pedagogy applies a capability approach and we use this lens…

In evaluating some of Heaney's prose writings about the art of poetry -- what I have called his 'Poetics' -- the paper explores how those ideas could enhance the teaching of poetry in the upper post-primary schools. The paper is divided into four closely interconnected sections. The first section evaluates Heaney's thoughts about the potential…

In this study, we explored the structure of pupils' creativity in primary education following the Amusement Park Theory, by investigating undiscovered linkages between the domains of writing, mathematics, and drawing. More specifically, we examined: (a) whether some domains and general thematic areas are more closely related to each other than to…

There is a persistent "gender gap" in boys' literacy in the United Kingdom. This article reports on one technology-based intervention that may aid teachers in supporting boys to develop creativity within their writing. Boys from a Year 3 class used Minecraft -- a sandbox computer game -- to create virtual worlds that might help them to…

Research literature focused on Black boys along the K-6 pathway objectifies them and results in their developmental capabilities and capacities being ignored while their acts of self-definition are impeded. This is evidenced by researchers solely focusing upon external factors and/or using adult-completed surveys and datasets as sources for data.…

This article offers a case study account of a garden-themed poetry writing project run by a creative writing organisation in partnership with a class of 9-10-year-old children from a London primary school. I explore the concept of creativity which framed the five-week project and analyse the different ways in which the creative practitioner worked…

Creativity and giftedness are frequently associated, and schools may use measures of creativity for identifying gifted and talented students. The researchers examined three aspects of elementary student creativity: (a) the relationship between a teacher's rating of student creativity and rubric-scored student writing samples, (b) group differences…

The primary goal of our study was to investigate the importance of originality in divergent thinking (DT) tests and to determine whether originality is the best reflection of creativity. To accomplish this, we cross-validated the DT test and creative writing task rating by consensual assessment technique (CAT). Thirty-seven elementary school…

A total of 114 3rd- and 6th-graders from a suburban elementary school participated in a study examining the influence of implicit self-theories on rated creativity in the domains of art and literature in a quasi-experiment. Creativity was measured via the Consensual Assessment Technique. Participants were divided into two groups and received…

This article describes a teacher-research project in which a class of fifth-grade English language learners demonstrated that learning about photography and using it as inspiration for their creative writing authenticated their writing task, helped them bring their outside-school worlds inside school, increased their enthusiasm for writing, and…

Nationwide budget cuts have forced many public school systems to significantly reduce opportunities for engaging in creative arts in the classroom despite the fact that such programs are associated with positive child outcomes. To address this deficit, we developed and executed the "Afterschool Creative Expression Program" (ASCEP) and…

In the course of normal classroom lessons, 103 students (median 11.10 years) were asked to spend 15 min writing "anything you can think of" about the number 50 on a blank page. The products were independently scored by 2 specialist art teachers and 2 specialist mathematics teachers on criteria relevant to their specialisations.…

For any curriculum area that entails writing, digital storytelling could transform students' perceptions of and their actual abilities to express themselves through the written word. The use of two Web sites has helped the students of one school go from staring apprehensively at blank pages to eagerly publishing stories.

In an effort to understand how children's literacy is affected by their life experiences, this article analyses the natural disposition of children to engage in musical activities that connect them to previous experiences and allow them to build new thoughts. Music is inherent to children's experiences and is related to sounds heard everyday,…