I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few weeks exploring the web looking for writings on creativity and students with special needs. Guess what? Not much there. I can find examples of art activities to do with students with disabilities, which is fine, but the arts are only one area in which … Continue reading
Science is all about logic, right? And scientists are those folks who spent high school wearing pocket protectors and too-short pants, aren’t they? Wrong again. The reality of science, and scientific creativity, is so much messier and more wonderful than the stereotypes of movie nerds or geniuses with computer-logic brains. The We Are Science celebration … Continue reading
Recently, The New York Times has been publishing the results of its Found Poetry contest for students. This is a grand opportunity to introduce students to the poetic form of found poetry and to share exceptional examples of work done by high school students. Found poetry takes words and phrases from existing texts, rearranges them … Continue reading
It is a classic line: If the teacher is bored, we have a problem! In this guest post, Melanie Carbine describes a math lesson that is an example of both creative teaching, and teaching for creativity. Like many creative activities, it emerged from a moment of need. Here’s Melanie. I had a month substituting for … Continue reading
My visit to Chinese schools has left me with amazing memories and a sense of scale that has changed forever my sense of “big.” The train stations were enormous. The cities were enormous. The schools were enormous, well organized, and full of bright-eyed students eager to try out their English on visitors. I loved the … Continue reading
One of the basic principles of creativity is that it often entails looking at something in a new way. Flexible thinking can help us look at something from another person’s point of view, from another angle, with another purpose, or in another form. One way we can help students think flexibly is by asking them … Continue reading
Warning! The Scale of the Universe is addictive. You may have trouble pulling yourself away from this fascinating exploration of size, scale, and relationships. It takes a moment to load, but once it does, it presents items in order of size, from quantum foam at 1X10-35 meters, past microbes, ants, giant earthworms, the Titanic, and … Continue reading
Today I welcome guest blogger Holli Weaver. When she told me about this activity I just knew it needed to be shared, so I’m thrilled that she was willing to step in to the guest-blogger role. So, with thanks, here’s Holli. During a unit on Earth Science, my third graders engaged in a creative project … Continue reading
I love TED. I love it because when I have a few free minutes I can learn about no end of fascinating things. But I love it even more because sometimes TED brings me moments of mind-boggling delight. Here is one of them. It is a human kaleidoscope celebrating the “Power of X” to multiply … Continue reading
A few years ago Dallas Clayton wrote a book for his son, all about dreaming big. But no one wanted to publish it. Fortunately for us, Dallas Clayton is not easily daunted, and the phenomenon of An Awesome Book was born. Wait! Don’t read on. Go back and click on that link. Read the book … Continue reading
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