Employs Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Nightingale," and the many lessons within it to help music educators design learning experiences that foster the development of musical expression. Conveys that without musical expression students' music will be mechanical, not unique and meaningful. (CMK)

Describes a summer institute curriculum used with 27 middle school students with disabilities who were identified as gifted in the visual arts, performing arts, engineering, or life sciences. The curriculum was real world, multidisciplinary, and problem based. Using a creative problem-solving process, students identified problems, developed…

A study investigated whether rotating three-dimensional objects using virtual reality would affect flexible thinking in 14 children (ages 8-11) with hearing impairments. Children played virtual 3-D Tetris individually, 15 minutes once weekly over 3 months. Before-and-after testing showed significantly improved flexible thinking in the experimental…

This article examines the theory and practice of developing futures study for high ability students. It provides a brief history of the development of futures study, examines why futuristic thinking is particularly applicable to high ability students, and discusses specific strategies for developing futuristic thinking. (Contains references.)…

A study involving 35 Hong Kong undergraduates tested the Regulatory Focus Theory, which maintains that people may focus on achieving positive outcomes (have a promotion focus) or on avoiding negative ones (have a prevention focus). Results indicate the prevention focus group is more likely to join a competition. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A study examined domain specificity and domain generality of creativity in 109 second-graders. Children exhibited a range of creative abilities across different domains, rather than a uniform creative ability in diverse domains. Divergent thinking measures did not predict creative performance in at least two of three domains assessed in the study.…

When faced with real-world problems, students devise accurate, logical, and creative solutions using skills connecting to different subject areas. Students are intrigued by assignments involving preservation of species and design of environmentally friendly products and transit systems. Problem-based learning depends on coaching, modeling, and…

Authors were conducting research in different disciplines and carrying it out by apparently different methods. This combined paper is a reaction to their mutual discovery that the theories used by each to examine the data have interesting similarities. The two projects studied encouraged creative strategies and evaluative reflection in the…

Outlines exercises for high school and college students that use student-written poems, published adult poems, and synectics (a game-like forced comparison between dissimilar objects) to help students understand the writer's most powerful comparison device: metaphor. (SR)

This article discusses how creative thinking can be encouraged in students through such classic tools as brainstorming and the productive thinking elements of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. It describes how fairy tales can be used to foster these thinking skills and suggests classroom activities. (Contains two references.) (CR)

National Board Certification is intended to indicate that "a teacher is judged by his or her peers as one who is accomplished, makes sound professional judgments about students' best interests, and acts effectively on those judgments." This author, the first National Board Certified Art Teacher in Georgia, offers a first-hand perspective…

The importance of thinking for language learning has been recognized for some time. ELT activities which encourage active mental processing have become increasingly common. However, there is evidence that the use of such activities has still not become widespread in a number of ELT situations. One reason for this may be lack of awareness about how…

This study used the recently revised Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and a variety of validated creativity measures to replicate a classic finding--that sensing-intuition predicts creativity--and to evaluate whether the other MBTI scales add to the prediction of creativity. 94 undergraduates completed the MBTI (form M self-scorable) and…

This study examined whether divergent thinking test scores obtained from engineering students during college predicted creative work activities fifteen years later. Results showed that a subscore of the "Owens Creativity Test", which assesses divergent thinking about mechanical objects, correlated significantly with self-ratings of…

The purpose of this research is to undertake a comparative analysis of policy and practice in initial teacher education (ITE) in two parts of the United Kingdom. Although the education systems of England and Scotland have been characterised as experiencing considerable autonomy since the Act of Union in 1707, the new context of political…