Developing character strengths in early childhood has attracted increased attention all around the world in recent years. Nevertheless, very few studies have examined teachers' awareness and practices concerning character strengths. The present study aimed to discover early childhood teachers' awareness of children's character strengths and…

In this article we show how students' productive struggle on a mathematical task can lead to collective mathematical creativity. We use observable (co)actions and interactions from a video record that features three Grade 6 students in a problem-solving session to document the emergence of collective creativity leading to a solution. We discuss…

Dealing with problem-solving has been a growing challenge in teaching engineering and over the career of these professionals. To increase the ability to understand a problem and consequently improve the quality of the solutions, an exercise was proposed to students of an MBA program, and they have experienced some challenges on interpreting…

Sometimes teachers just have to go for it. Breathe and expect the unexpected. A leap of faith can be quite liberating, especially for a new Headteacher of a "Requires Improvement" school. Watching staff and children work tirelessly to improve, the author realised that teachers had to be risk takers, problem-solvers and learners, just as…

This article reports on resistance in primary schools, more specific grade five learners as perceived by teachers. A qualitative phenomenological interpretative approach was followed utilising focus group discussions and individual interviews. Participants included 14 teachers, purposefully selected from three private and three public schools in…

The dictionary definition of constraint is one-sided, solely restrictive. The problem-solving definition is two-sided. Constraints come in pairs. One retains its restrictive function, precluding something specific; the other directs search for its substitute. The paired constraint model is applied to both domain and classroom. I discuss the…

The ability to memorize facts is not enough to equip students to solve problems or navigate an evolving world. If we educate young people to become flexible, metacognitive thinkers--and model that behavior for them--they will understand how to adapt their learning and successfully find their way in new territory. This book shows school leaders how…

The principal aim of this study is to consider the competencies of the modern teacher. To understand 21st-century instructional skills, we researched the following issues: students' skills; levels of teachers' professional growth; teachers' pedagogical culture; pedagogical innovations, and 21st-century teaching competencies. [For complete volume,…

This study compared the creative outcomes in student work resulting from two pedagogical approaches to creative problem solving activities. A secondary goal was to validate the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) as a means of assessing creativity. Linear models for problem solving and design processes serve as the current paradigm in classroom…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of teaching a specific creative problem solving model to preservice teachers. The study included 74 participants, 67 females and 7 males enrolled in an undergraduate educational psychology course in a Mid-western university. In a 2 x 2 full factorial design, participants were randomly…

Sociodrama is presented as a structured, yet flexible, method of encouraging the use of creative thinking to examine a difficult problem. An example illustrates the steps involved in putting sociodrama into action. Production techniques useful in sociodrama include the soliloquy, double, role reversal, magic shop, unity of opposites, and audience…

Using an approach based on a Harvard study that found "when the whole body is involved, the number of brain cells brought to the learning activity doubles," the author offers over one hundred kinesthetic activities for classroom use. Activities are organized by content area, include directions for number of players, objective, and…

Creativity requires application and balancing of three abilities--the synthetic, the analytic, and the practical. Teachers should serve as creativity role models, encourage questioning of assumptions, allow mistakes, encourage sensible risk taking, design creative assignments and assessments, let students define problems, and reward creative ideas…

This study examined how experienced teachers use their complex knowledge structure to find and solve problems in the classroom. Of 30 teachers and teacher trainees, the experienced teachers imposed an experiential structure on lesson content, spent less time planning, and focused on general concerns rather than specific problems. (PB)

Because of the nature of their subject, technology teachers have found ways to make learning active and exciting, often through new activities and projects that have real-world relevance. As technology fields grow, the success of technology teachers is tied in with innovation rather than the accomplishments of the past. This book provides a…