A long term, ever broadening search for ideas from multiple disciplines strengthens creative thinking for many gifted young people, especially if the search is guided by the evolving interests of the individual. Instead of asking students to delve deeply into a particular topic, encourage them to allow one point of study to suggest others, and…

Current theoretical approaches regarding the development of creativity support the view that gathering diversified experience over years is an ideal medium for creative thinking. This study examined the role of practice conditions in the development of creative behavior in team ball sports. Twelve trainers selected the most creative and the least…

Creative and critical thinking have been identified by Isaksen, Dorval, and Treffinger (2000) as the ability to "perceive gaps, challenges, or concerns; think of many varied or unusual possibilities; or elaborate and extend alternatives," as well as make meaningful connections that include analyzing, evaluating, and developing options.…

In his 1982 response to the myth that "creativity is too difficult to measure," Dr. Joe Khatena (a long-time contributor to the literature on creativity), characterized creativity as the "most exciting dimension of mental functioning." Building on a three-dimensional view of creativity (emphasizing the "individual," the "environment," and the…

Creativity assessment commonly uses open-ended divergent thinking tasks. The typical methods for scoring these tasks (uniqueness scoring and subjective ratings) are time-intensive, however, so it is impractical for researchers to include divergent thinking as an ancillary construct. The present research evaluated snapshot scoring of divergent…

Thinking Journey is introduced as a mode of science instruction based on a specially designed discussion between students and teachers in the context of an imaginary journey. The paper elaborates the rationale of this mode and its specific features: enculturation into science, analytical observation, multiple perspectives of the subject and…

In this article, the author shares how his fourth-grade students' creative thinking concerning a long-standing research problem stimulated changes in his instructional strategies. He begins by providing an example which illustrates that the standard tool of democracy, the plurality vote, suffers serious deficiencies: "The winner can be the…

This article describes an approach to general music where assignments in music improvisation and composition are embedded into the curriculum, that is, creative assignments are given as an outgrowth of curriculum content and directly related to instruction and activities in conceptual learning and skill development in the classroom. Such an…

In an ever changing society of the 21st century, there is a demand to equip students with meta competences going beyond cognitive knowledge. Education, therefore, needs a transition from transferring knowledge to developing individual potentials with the help of constructivist learning. Advantages of constructivist learning, and criteria for its…

Most business communication classes teach students to use a writing process to compose effective documents. Students practice the process by applying it to various types of writing with various purposes-reports, presentations, bad news letters, persuasive memos, etc. However, unless students practice that process in other contexts outside of the…

This updated edition of the bestselling book on the brain's natural learning process brings new research results and applications in a power-packed teacher tool kit. Rita Smilkstein shows teachers how to create and deliver curricula that help students become the motivated, successful, and natural learners they were born to be. Updated features…

It's no secret that American higher education is facing a daunting set of challenges. While public opinion surveys show that the public thinks a collegiate education is more important than ever, states across the country are reducing financial resources for their public colleges and universities--which are, in turn, eliminating programs or raising…

Objective: Two studies were performed to assess both divergent and convergent thinking in adults with ADHD. Method: The first study compared the problem-solving abilities of healthy participants (N = 144) and unmedicated adults with ADHD (N = 144). In the second study, problem-solving abilities of adults with diagnosed ADHD (N = 22) were examined…

This study combines theories related to collective learning and theories related to mathematical creativity to investigate the notion of collective mathematical creativity in elementary school classrooms. Collective learning takes place when mathematical ideas and actions, initially stemming from an individual, are built upon and reworked,…

In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in…