This article presents a general theory for developing creative productivity in young learners by examining interactions among: the learner (abilities, interests, learning styles); the curriculum (content and methodology of a discipline, structure of a discipline, appeal to the imagination); and the teacher (knowledge of the discipline,…

Abstracting (eliminating details from a complex perceptual field to reveal underlying structures) is described as a tool of thought for developing creativity and inventiveness. The paper argues that the skill of abstracting is transferable between arts and sciences, and provides a preliminary model to teaching abstracting in a multidisciplinary…

Argues that the arts are basic to educational development, as they provide the tools and skills that are central to early language development including story, metaphor, rhyme and rhythm, binary structuring and mediation, image formation from words, affective abstraction, and others that underlie more complex learning. (Author)

Argues that the arts provide a powerful means with which to promote future-oriented learning because they involve nonverbal, symbolic ways of knowing, thinking and communicating. Suggests that the arts in the emergent curriculum promote central education skills of discovery, pursuit, self-awareness, personal communication, social interaction,…