Creativity in Education and Learning: A Guide for Teachers and Educators [Paperback]

 

 

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(as reviewed by Edward J. Katz, UNC Asheville, 2001)

Arthur J. Cropley is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Hamburg and has written extensively on creativity and lifelong learning. This book offers a concise introduction to basic concepts of creativity and to the cognitive processes involved in creative thinking. Most of the book is devoted to surveying important early and contemporary creativity research and is clearly organized, with chapters focused on cognitive processes, the role of personality, creativity in children and adults, and the testing of creativity. Later chapters address the fostering of creativity in elementary and secondary schools, as well as in higher education. Each chapter is set off with a useful summary of the key points to follow and the book concludes with nearly twenty pages of references.

Cropley defines creativity, in a broad and practical way, as the "production of novelty," so as to encompass both "ordinary" or "everyday" creativity and what he terms the "sublime creativity" of acclaimed artists, writers, and scientists. He is interested specifically in the individual cognitive abilities and the environmental factors that facilitate creative production.

In Chapter 5, Fostering Creativity in Educational Settings, and Chapter 6, Creativity in Higher Education, Cropley argues what is by now a familiar refrain: we need to promote creative thinking in our educational institutions because we are living in a rapidly changing and increasingly global world. However, even if he does essentially echo the educational, political, and business establishment on the centrality of developing creativity in our young people, Cropley goes a step further in relating and critiquing the research on which these calls for reform are based. His discussions of independent learning, problem-based curricula, and the characteristics of the active student-teacher relationship are worth reading. He also provides an extensive questionnaire for teachers interested in evaluating their own classroom pedagogy.

Cropley does a nice, if rather terse, job of pointing out the ways in which our schools and universities are often not ideally shaped to promote student creativity. For example, he notes that, when asked about the importance of fostering creativity in the classroom, ninety-six percent of teachers said it was essential; but in actual practice, the majority of teachers, from grade two through college, tended to react negatively to the students who behaved in ways associated with creative cognitive processes or personality traits. Faced with large classes and expected to deliver the curriculum efficiently, many teachers find that orderly student behaviour and structured course materials offer them practical advantages that pedagogical experimentation may not. Moreover, many educators and administrators believe that universities drive curricular and pedagogical developments at all levels, but even here there is much that militates against fostering creativity. At the university level, admission criteria often reward students assessed according to conventional criteria; curricula are often overly specialized and disciplinary in focus, which discourages innovation across disciplines; faculty are frequently untrained in the pedagogies that promote active learning; grant funding goes to researchers with proven track-records, putting young scholars and scientists with new ideas at a competitive disadvantage. Both individuals and institutions, it seems, are caught between their desire to nurture the creative spirit and their concern for what might happen if they did.

For readers in search of depth, Cropley's book may not fit the bill, but it is a very good introduction for those interested in the basic issues and developments in this field. And for those who are casting about for more detail, he can point them in the right direction.

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