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…

Discusses the importance of imagination and the power of stories. Draws on insights gained from visits with children growing up in difficult environments, and shares examples from the author's own works written for young adults. (AEF)

Transcripts from three problem-solving discussions involving eight or fewer social scientists were analyzed by nonlinear regression to determine whether the groups' productivity was chaotic over time. It was shown that the productivity was chaotic, correlated with the number of active discussion threads, and dependent on the discussion…

Argues that realist researchers regard serendipitous events in research with suspicion, resulting in the lack of analysis of the role of serendipity in the generation of research ideas. Analyzes the significance and impact of serendipity in the process of a case study. Deliberates the problematic nature of constructing research stories. (DSK)

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…

Recounts Polynesian legends and folktales as examples of how the informal knowledge passed on through shared traditional stories can broaden children's worldviews and contribute to a culture vision. Maintains that reading, telling, discussing, and making creative interpretations of folklore are one way to share the intimate side of a culture.…

Describes the Talents Unlimited Program, implemented in an elementary school in southwest England, which provides a framework for developing creative- and critical-thinking skills. Describes an evaluation that found that 5-year olds taught with this approach performed better on specific critical- and creative-thinking skills tasks than did peers.…

Describes two assignments that help students realize the dialectic between parts (how one part affects the understanding of all other parts) by having students create their own photographs and physical structures, combine the parts in various way, and consider (in their written papers) the difference it makes. (SR)

Thirty-four gifted children in Louisiana and 34 from Connecticut were administered the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory (KTCPI). The KTCPI included the What Kind of Person Are You (WKOPAY) subtest, a measure of creative striving. Perfectionistic traits were negatively correlated with…