Discussion of creativity in education should contain the content area designed for students who apply, alter, invent, exchange, share, create, construct, revise, design, observe, interpret, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. Art is not entirely left out of the discussion, though overlooked as a significant resource for enhancing the kinds of skills valued for 21st century learning. Consider how artists search for raw materials to use now or in the future, continually visualize possibilities, make associations and connections in creating and communication of their art work and in the context of large scale ideas, apply divergent thinking as a part of the creative process, regard multi-perspectives, invent methods or techniques, summon the senses, communicate with and through art, collaborate about or encourage participation, revise as part of the creating process, and evaluate. “Creativity is the driving force of innovation . . . And since creativity plays such a major role in the process of innovation, we might as well learn from the professionals whose life is creative by definition" (Wyssocky, 2017). Artists work collaboratively with scientists and engineers to solve problems of global concern in the present day. University programs exist for the purpose of bringing together unique qualities of mind with experts from fine and visual arts, engineering, and all the sciences such as the projects funded by Richard Loveless at Arizona State University (Nalls, 2016). The goal was to extend artists’ visionary capacities and scholarly abilities into wider spheres of influence in the futureYet, art is still considered peripherel in Missouri, nor is it listed as a core subject in roughly half of the United States (AEP, 2018) regardless of inclusion as subjects considered core ESSA (NAEA, 2015). .
“The arts are definitely an “outlet” [emphasis added] for creative expression, but creativity, the ability to make new things or think of new ideas, is not limited to the fine arts” (Sakai-Miller, 2016). True, though overlooking contributions of the arts in education has become a repeated view framed in context of innovation yet such a critical part of current global design and development. This disparity causes concern that art may be perceived as a craft class for assembling.
“There is no discipline that nurtures and sparks the cognitive ability to imagine, and unleashes creativity and innovation, more than arts and culture. There is no approach that breaks barriers, connects across cultural differences, and engages our shared values more than arts and culture. There is no investment that connects us to each other, moves us to action, and strengthens our ability to make collective choices more than arts and culture” (Friedenwald-Fishman, 2011). Well said.
My pedagogy evolves to meet education goals though empathy skills have remained a constant because art is naturally predisposed to multi-perspective. Recently, I advocated for visual literacy skills in our new art curriculum, critical to art content and context interpretations and meanings at variance in an increasingly image-filled world. Visual literacy bridges communication and cultural diversity necessary for empathetic thinking that contributes to ideation and associative thinking in collaboration. Our art students have the potential through collaboration, the behaviors of creating, and "empathetic design" to devise inventive solutions (Sakai-Miller, 2016).
Collaboration has been a focus of instruction in K-5 art that reveals a need for instruction and student growth. Providing opportunities to learn how to listen, ask questions, know how to start and end a conversation, clarify, have patience, and understand feelings and views are ongoing. Development of these skills are crucial because ". . . today the capacity to innovate is linked to the ability to connect with others and with a facility for communication and collaboration" (NEA, n.d.). Students and I collaborated this year to redesign the art room as a Creative Studio with "connectedness", reconfigured tables, expanding space to add flexible seating and provide more student choice. The environmental change has made a positive impact on communication and collaboration. Instruction has changed as well, to introduce more open ended projects that incorporate the 4Cs and integrate technology. We began to problem-solve with wishful thinking, brainstorming, and sketching, for idea generating. We will add the SCAMPER method of idea generation though it would have worked well in our art room redesign (Sakai-Miller, 2016).
Technology has been the missing link for several years in art. My decision to stop using lack of tech resources as an inhibitor started a liberating pedagogy shift for me and more importantly my students. My technology skills are at best limited with Google and fraught with frustration, but my students and the education technology courses have taught me an incredible amount of skills this year. With open ended projects and technology, I want to nurture student development of skills to solve a creative problem in many different ways, to explore, discover, ask questions, make associations, and learn to be comfortable with the unpredictable to embrace change.
My goal is to include technology in student projects and gain skills and experience to begin creating open ended projects. Last week I managed to create and assign two google classroom projects to 4th and 5th grades, facilitate a student created Google Slides presentation in 5th grade, guide students through VoiceThread tutorials in 5th grade, engage three 5th grade classes in an ongoing mind map with Bubbl.us, and facilitate a student authored tutorial on weaving, all while recording assessments, taking inventory, photographing and downloading images to several sites, processing with students, helping students who come in at recess to catch up on missed art days, and teaching 125 students a day. It is a challenge to plan projects with deep learning but I have found that the quiet solitude of early evening hours at school are my most industriuous.
We have explored a little in the past, and are trying new things for the future. Student created videos such as Modern City https://animoto.com/play/GO8QH8369zKCFp0xQQGZFw, or Ocean Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voa4CDML_gc or Weaving Tips (work in progress) designed by special ed students to reinforce growth mindset, showcases work to audiences and activates learning.
My 2nd grade students will be exploring the art of Jackson Pollock, taking squirt bottles outside with large swaths of cloth, kicking off our shoes, and applying paint much like the revolutionary modern artist who involved music in the action of painting. I used VoiceThread to add my GarageBand recording(https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/10732542/62527426). Our 2nd grade end the school year to collaborate using Garageband and collaborate with our music teacher to author our own music for action painting.
Project #2 will combine ipads for imagery with Google Classroom and SeeSaw https://app.seesaw.me/#/class/class.114ae92f-6b80-4538-9d97-7f4edf90788b in an Artist Statement assignment that guides students through the writing process and ends with a reflection (see images below) to meet curriculum goal of interpreting art experiences. Students are now collaborating in "workshops" to brainstorm and share skills to enhance the assignment after it was revealed that "we don't ever have time to explore skills." Several students have chosen to use VoiceThread and we have completed VoiceThread collaboration tutorials (see image below). GIven the limited time available, art students have approximately 10 classes to implement projects. This is further complicated by unavailable technology during MAP testing.
I liked the graphic look of Voki, and explored use for Kindergarten and 1st grade as a tool to inform about watercolor (see image below).
I am also very interested in using Tinkercad with 5th grade next year to construct a functional 3d form out of white filament that can be painted with acrylic paint (see image below).
Project #3 will include collaboration to generate ideas through mind mapping https://bubbl.us/NDY0ODk2MS84OTIyMjc5LzM1MmM1MGUzM2ViMTgzNWZjZjgyYTlhY2EwZTJkNWQ4-X student choice in collaborative creative projects, ipad and Google Slides to document our progress for an audience of parents, teachers and students on the 5th grade Graduation Celebration Day,
Friedenwald-Fishman, E. (2011). No Art? No Social Change. No Innovation Economy. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/no_art_no_social_change._no_innovation_economy#bio-footer
National Art Education Association (2015). Legislative Updates. Retrieved from: https://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/essa-every-student-succeeds-act
Nalls, G. (2016). The Man Who Changed How Artists and Scientists Work Together. Retrieved from:http://nautil.us/blog/the-man-who-changed-how-artists-and-scientists-work-together
National Education Association, (n.d.) Preparing 21st Century Students for a Global Economy. Retrieved from: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Sakai-Miller, S. (2016) Innovation Age Learning: Empowering Students by Empowering Teachers. Eugene, OR: ISTE.
Wyssocky, L. (2017). What Companies Can Learn From Artists to Improve Innovation. Retrieved from: http://www.creativitypost.com/authors/profile/197/LWyssocky