Creativity, the ability to produce novel and appropriate work, is one of humanity's most important traits. The concept applies to historic novelty, generating ideas and artefacts that arise for the first time in human history, and to individual novelty; ideas and artefacts new to the person who creates them. Despite its importance, creativity is…

Creativity is seen as important to society by the current Prime Minister and the Department for Education and Skills and is present in curriculum documents applying from birth to 16 years old but with various shades of meaning. Unfortunately, the term creativity is used in English education and the larger society without a clear definition. The…

Busy educators find it difficult to work creatively in conditions imposed by ill-conceived, politically charged reform initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act. In order to keep up with research findings, emerging theories and practical recommendations in the creativity literature, they need accessible, highly condensed distillations of…

In an age of greater government control and direction of schools, and yet simultaneously a greater devolution of responsibility, there is an international literature suggesting that many in leadership positions feel so pressured that they are seeking early retirement, or simply not coming forward in the first place (e.g. Gronn, 2003; Fullan,…

Background: The argument put forward in this paper is that we should reorganize the existing framework most often used to describe creativity, which relies on person, process, product, and place. Aim: To that end a new hierarchical model is proposed. This accomplishes several things: It re-organizes the existing categories of research and…

This article addresses dimensions of contemporary policy that are influencing art teaching and learning. In the light of recent policy, and its challenges to creativity, art educators have been placed in the position where we need to make trouble through a re-definition and extension of professional responsibility. In response to negative impacts…

A transformation is occurring that will have a major impact on how academic science is done and how scientists are trained. That transformation--driven by declining federal funds, as well as by the rising cost of technology and the need for costly, labor-intensive interdisciplinary approaches--is from small science to big science. It is…

Panchito's Necropolis explores children's talk about musical thinking through the study of their reflections on their own improvised music. He accepts the possibility that children's discourse on music is the beginning of their philosophizing about music, an idea that is related to the larger issue of how to develop a music education perspective…

This study explored Ndebele culture of Zimbabwe's views of giftedness. Using questionnaire narratives, data were collected from thirty Zimbabwean teachers and lecturers of Ndebele cultural background. The study established that Ndebele culture views giftedness as an unusually outstanding ability blessed in an individual from birth, which manifests…

Judge Harry T. Roman, an electrical engineer and inventor, has selected the best of the crop in the 2006/2007 Tech Directions Inventors Award Competition. The challenge this year called on students to slow the filling of landfills by devising uses for discarded plastic water, juice, soda, and sports-drink bottles. Judge Roman noted "many common…

This paper represents the final layer of analysis carried out in a study investigating the conceptions of and approaches to creativity of three expert specialist dance teachers within late primary age dance education in the UK. This research journeyed through a number of phases culminating in an analysis of the pedagogical dilemmas encountered by…

To succeed in college, career and life in the 21st century, students must be supported in mastering both content and skills. This Implementation Guide presents state leaders, policymakers and/or district and school leaders with assessment tactics and examples to assist in statewide 21st century skills initiatives. The Partnership for 21st Century…

The goals of higher education often entail the development of students' character. Rarely, however, are these character development goals connected to the unique design and delivery of distance education programs. Additionally, the research literature that explores the character development aspects of distance education is sparse. Thus the purpose…

Fifteen 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade teachers from five school districts each taught two sections of science--one with a Science-Technology-Society (STS) approach and the other with a more traditional textbook approach in which basic science concepts were the major organizers. Local, current, and personally relevant issues provided the context and…

Whether the aim has been to understand the nature of creativity or to determine its development, researchers have formulated a number of measures of creativity. A glut of results and conclusions actually hinders an educational understanding of the term creativity. The most widely known tests of creativity incorporate divergent-thinking, as opposed…