Standards in art education contradict the nature of art: the unexpected, the imagined, the explorations and creative discoveries. What must be communicated is the importance of the arts and aesthetic education, the nurture of informed understanding of art, and meaningful standards that emerge intrinsically and are not imposed extrinsically (SK)

Elementary teachers (n=9) saw giftedness as having the common characteristic of creativity. However, in nominating students to gifted programs, teachers focused on classroom performance more than creativity. Thus, their observations more closely matched official definitions rather than their personal concepts, and they had not worked to align the…

A number of college publications editors and designers share their secrets for coping with writer's block and other forms of creative anxiety. Suggested techniques include a change of scenery, guarding one's time, sharing ideas with others, thorough research, and organization. (MSE)

As part of the first phase of a longitudinal study, interviews were conducted with nine high school seniors who had demonstrated high creative productivity while participating in an elementary Talented and Gifted program. Commonly experienced were a desire for creative outlets in high school, difficult junior high years, and constancy of…

The depressed economies in countries such as Australia have led governments to view education as a means to serve the national economic interest, with the result that art education receives a low priority in the curriculum and in education budgets. Argues that the arts can serve as a key to educational reform and enhancement. (MDM)

Two children (ages four and five) with mild developmental delays and no appropriate toy play were trained individually on one topography for each toy. Previously reinforced topographies of toy play were then placed on extinction, resulting in the induction of untrained topographies. (Author/DB)

Studies the basic principles of strategic interaction to a written task, retaining the properties of group work, inventive outcome, and hidden agenda. In an attempt to stimulate students to engage in more realistic communication in a written activity, students in a French class wrote letters to students in a Spanish class. (13 references) (LB)

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…