Fourteen people who knew Buckminster Fuller as students, neighbors, and co-workers offer remembrances of his personality. They remember especially his ability to communicate with and inspire people of diverse ages, educations, and backgrounds. (IS)

The ability to take a playful outlook is important to creative thought, but too often schools recognize the legitimacy of structured games only, squelching creative play. Schools should cultivate natural playfulness so that children can adapt to our fast-changing world and learn to create new rules. (Author/WD)

By encouraging students to use their minds in new ways, consciousness education enhances awareness and creativity. Examples include using guided cognitive imagery to introduce new material and using dreams for introducing students to poetry. (Author/MLF)

The article focuses on the applications of the GENESA model (a life sized model of the geometry of a biological cell) in the enhancement of the creative processes during the stages of incubation, illumination, and verification, with emphasis primarily on the phase of incubation/imagery through potential illumination. (SBH)

The steps involved in creative problem solving (CPS) are described, and suggestions are made for incorporating CPS into instruction for gifted and talented students. (CL)

Three studies with overlapping participant populations evaluated Amabile's componential model of creativity, which postulates three major creativity components: (1) skills specific to the task domain, (2) general (cross-domain) creativity-relevant skills, and (3) task motivation. Findings of the three studies support Amabile's model. (DB)

The paper discusses the iterative nature of problem solving; operant analysis of the response repertoire available in a problem situation; the likelihood of reaching a solution versus escaping from the situation; and the relationship between exiting with solution and exiting without solution, modeled on catastrophe theory. (JDD)

This paper first reviews existing models of creative problem solving in art and then proposes the Model for Idea Inception and Image Development in Art. This model consists of five stages: (1) associative exploration; (2) problem parameter exploration; (3) multiple focus exploration; (4) primary focus exploration; and (5) refinement. (Author/DB)

This discussion examines elements of intrapersonal dialog (the self, the other, and the relationship) which can enhance personal creativity. (DB)

The lack of a common understanding of the construct of creative thinking is noted, and the cognitive spiral model is presented, which conceptualizes creative thinking as an integral component of all cognitive processing. This article details the synthesis of a definition and the structure of a model of cognitive processing. (Author/DB)

Discusses the requirements of information retrieval systems to support creative thinking as well as more convergent thinking. Highlights include the nature of creative thinking; similarity relationships; serendipity; machine processing of similarities; high order knowledge representation; and fuzzy and parallel information retrieval. (Contains 34…

Argues that Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso possessed similar artistic thought processes, maintaining that their influential discoveries (relativity theory and cubist painting), which launched 20th-century modernism, were amazingly similar in concept. (SR)

In their new book, "Genius Denied" (2004), Jan and Bob Davidson paint a bleak picture of the educational scene for gifted and talented children in the United States. They also do a thorough job of presenting and describing the many school programs and services available and the good research bases for those programs and services. What…

The paper will discuss research insights into student academic goals. Cognitive psychologists have found that effective goal setting procedures involves establishing specific and challenging learning objectives. Students who set difficult goals must be persistent while facing the risk of potential failure that could diminish their intrinsic…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Teaching 21st Century Skills: What Does It Look Like in Practice? (Nancy Walser); (2) Getting and Spending: Schools and Districts Share Lessons on the Effective Uses of…