Discusses the importance of a sense of wonder in young children's social and emotional development. Offers ideas for ways in which parents and teachers can help create, nourish, and sustain a sense of wonder in children. (GLR)

In a course entitled "Introduction to Parageography," offered at the University of Texas at Austin, students study classic literary works in which authors create imaginary landscapes, then create and document their own imaginary worlds. The purpose is to get students to use and develop their creative imaginations. Student response has…

Discusses effects on graduate sociology education of trends emphasizing quantitative methods and the positivist tradition at the expense of social theory and interpretive sociology. Argues that failure to develop sociology's interpretive tradition has allowed the style and intellectual creativity of sociological work to suffer. Urges greater…

Ideas for the development of creative exploration in mathematics are offered, including games to play in class (e.g., card games and tangrams), competitions (sample problems), clubs and math evenings (math relays and treasure hunts), projects (possible topics in patchwork quilting, art, and music), and math camps. (DB)

Seven principles are presented for improving creative thinking, based on assumptions of creativity as a perceptual shift resulting from a metamorphic mental image. Principles include (1) the future initiates and pulls creative thought; (2) initial fact finding is best postponed; (3) problem redefinition is often retrospective; and (4) metaphors…

Summarizes several creative strategies to increase students' awareness of, and commitment to, constructive values in a classroom setting. These simple exercises include brainstorming and reverse brainstorming, imagining consequences, analogical thinking, empathy, questioning and discussion, and problem-solving approaches. (MLH)

The number of American businesses exploded in the 1970s and 1980s, not necessarily because Americans had become more creative but because various conditions converged to present economically creative people with greater opportunities. The American economy is expected to face more change and challenges during the next 20 years as the American…

The use of Montessori sensorial materials presents challenges for classroom practitioners. These materials are designed to assist a child's development by leading the child, through use and manipulation, toward eventual mental abstraction of the concepts related to the materials. The questions of when and how to intervene in the child's activities…

The drawn ideas of inventors Edison and Bell are analyzed in a systematic way to help understand the inventive process and how inventors think. By storing sketches on a computer the researchers have been able to recreate the probable lines of reasoning used by the inventors. (KR)

An interdisciplinary arts curriculum at Columbia College (Illinois) offers young arts professionals an opportunity to deepen creative exploration while preparing for administrative and teaching careers. The program offers collaborative teaching and classes that include students with many individual specialties. Five studio courses concentrate on…

Some school critics blame democracy for fostering waste and unhappy workers. Making reconstruction of our economic system the educational reform agenda removes chance to redress many social problems or reenvision democracy. Public education reform must embrace a kind of democracy that values full and free discussion by all school community…

Uses a systems approach to creativity to study one student as that person learned to make art in an university-level introductory sculpture class. Shows ways that the class was an open system that modeled and encouraged artistic creativity and provided constraints and opportunities for the student to construct knowledge. (DSK)

Tackles Arnold Packer's assertion that U.S. workers' productivity has declined in recent years. The quality of education in developed nations is only loosely coupled to national economic health. Many educators and economists are increasingly skeptical of the notion that better schools mean a more prosperous nation. (MLH)

This study compares scores on the Alternate Uses Test of 19 Australian children (ages 4 to 12) with severe visual impairments, and 19 controls. Comparison of mean scores revealed no significant differences between groups, however, the range of scores reflected in the standard deviations were higher for those with visual impairments. (CR)

Defines and describes cyber-collaboration as the process by which disparate-appearing components wired to the Internet (e.g., libraries, publishers, bookstores) deliberately move beyond their boundaries and merge so that mutually beneficial improvements occur. Discusses technological juxtaposition, creative collaboration, and opportunities for…