Exploring parents views on their roles in their childrens creativity Dissertation

Exploring parents views on their roles in their childrens creativity development - Dissertation Example In today’s world,creativity is a quality that is becoming of great demand.In response to this, the NACCCE has advocated the incorporation of creativity in the curriculum of schools,knowing its significance in children’s growth and development and its value in helping them develop the necessary skills for their future. NACCCE claims that when children are exposed to environments where teachers’ creative abilities are engaged, these children are likely to develop creative abilities themselves (Jeffrey & Craft, 2001). In view of this, provision of environments or opportunities for creativity development also extends to the home setting. This paper intends to explore parental views on their children’s creativity development in both school and home settings. Literature Review Malaguzzi (1998), prominent educator and founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach in education, most appropriately expressed: Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled wit h a well-supported development of personal resources, including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known. Creativity seems to express itself though cognitive, affective and imaginative processes (p. 76). Some other accepted definitions of Creativity are as follows: the ability to see things in new ways; boundary breaking and going beyond the information given; thinking unconventionally; making something unique or original; and combining unrelated things into something new (Schirrmacher, 1988). Torrance (1965), a proponent in creativity research, defines creativity as the â€Å"process of sensing problems or gaps in information, forming ideas or hypotheses and communicating the results.† Schirrmacher (1988) explains that creativity may be explained in terms of product, process, skill set of personality traits or set of environmental conditions. As a product, it is viewed as a new invention, creation or thought, like the works of creative geniuses such as Mozart, Plato, G alileo, Newton and Einstein, among others. In this explanation, creativity seems to be elitist difficult to achieve for ordinary people (Schirrmacher, 1988). As a process, creativity is more inclusive, as coming up with a product is not a requirement and everyone can do creative processing that includes â€Å"thinking, speaking, playing, writing, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, experimenting with objects, transforming materials and manipulating ideas and objects.† (Schirrmacher, 1988). Engaging in the creative process brings a feeling of fulfillment to the person even if the creative expression does not result in a product. Creative individuals are identified by a set of personality traits. Researchers on creativity have come up with their own lists basing from their own research. Torrance (1962) has identified seven indicators of creativity as follows: curiosity, flexibility, sensitivity to problems, redefinition, self-feeling, originality and insight. Origin ally, these indicators were given to identify highly creative children. However, upon further analysis, such indicators likewise describe highly creative adults. Johnson (1972) has compiled a number of research in the field of creativity, and has come up with the main dimensions of creative achievement as intellectual leadership; sensitivity to problems; originality, ingenuity, unusualness; usefulness, appropriateness; and breadth. In terms of explaining creativity developing from a set of environmental conditions, it may be concluded that the greater one’s background of experiences with people, places, objects and life, in general, the greater the scope of possibilities to draw from in the expression of creativity. On the other hand, if one is naive and is not exposed to a variety of life experiences, his creative thinking may be limited to the small environment