Despite the presence of a widening participation agenda, people with criminal convictions face a number of barriers accessing and participating in higher education (Office for Students, 2019). This may be due to unspent criminal convictions (Unlock, 2018), limited confidence and self-esteem (Champion and Noble, 2016), a lack of previous…

Earlier studies using psychometric tests have documented declines in creativity over the past several decades. Our study investigated whether and how this apparent trend would replicate through a qualitative investigation using an authentic nontest measure of creativity. Three-hundred and fifty-four visual artworks and 50 creative writing works…

In spite of views that children's writing development is in large part a linguistic complex process involved in their engagement within and across social activities in and out of school, the literature is scant on the wide range of semiotic resources that children may draw on to animate their poetry writing and performances. Drawing from a case…

It is important to find the means by which struggling writers can find success in the English Language Arts. For students struggling with reading and writing, the visual arts may be a way of accessing and expressing their ideas and ultimately opening up a world of creative possibilities. This article explores drawing and painting as a pre-writing…

Since 2004, the author has been facilitating a creative writing program for teenagers at the historic Paul Robeson House, centrally located in the urban community of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Begun as an intensive five-day summer workshop, Teen Writers Academy has expanded to offer ten-session Saturday workshops during the spring, two…

Effects of creativity instruction on creative writing of 49 learning disabled intermediate students were examined. Analysis of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking scores revealed that Ss in the experimental group made significantly greater scores than a control group on the creative thinking variables on the verbal (written expression) subtests.…

This study examined the creative process through insights offered by 25 artists and writers. The study concludes that the conception of the creative process as a transitional sphere is useful, but there also appear to be creators who mine internal, even autistic, territory and others whose creativity is energized by the external sociopolitical…

This study compared the relative effectiveness of fantasy induction, intrinsic motivation induction, and combined fantasy/intrinsic motivation induction upon creative writing performance of 100 freshmen college students. All three methods enhanced the creativity of the students' poetry writing, with the conjunctive approach exhibiting no more…

Discusses young teenagers' adoption of animal personas in their creative writing classes, and the way these classroom activities follow Montessori principles. Considers both the role of imagination in the animal identification and the psychological and pedagogical significance of the underlying development of unconscious kinship with Earth and its…

Two studies involving 60 graduate and undergraduate students explored the role of structured imagination in story creation. Results indicate representational knowledge was an important influence on story meaning and originality and that meaningful and original stories were more likely to contain abstract concepts than were nonmeaningful and…

Responding to a definition of creativity, 449 Chinese language teachers identified imagination foremost, followed by inspiration and original ideas as a component of effective writing. Teachers identified developing student confidence and providing an open atmosphere as essential means of fostering creativity. The majority of teachers, however,…

This research attempted to identify categories of cognitive development existing in creative writing samples (written by over 5000 gifted children ages 9-18) that provide a basis for developmental analysis. Four categories with three levels of development in each were identified: (1) self, (2) others, (3) problem solving, and (4) abstractness of…

A study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between problem discovery and the assessed originality of the written product, and to determine whether problem-solving behavior is observable in student writers. Results indicated a relationship between problem finding and the originality of the product. (HOD)

Creative writers (n=20) were interviewed to explore relationships between creativity and the creator's life as a parent and/or spouse. The experience of confronting family-related gender expectations influenced many writers. Writers reported benefits from the family's social support alongside restrictions on the solitude and time necessary for…

This paper describes the creative activity of two first graders and identifies moments of creative activity that reflect the integration of strands of experience. Children's and adults' creativity are compared. Topics include: (1) the role of novelty in art; (2) the creative act as an interaction of individual, product, and culture; and (3) the…