University of Massachusets Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Critical and Creative Tinking Capstones Critical and Creative Tinking Program Collection Spring 5-26-2013 Applied Creativity: Tools Toward Transformation: An Undergraduate Curriculum Teryl Cartwright UMass Boston, APPLIED CREATIVITY: TOOLS TOWARD TRANSFORMATION AN UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM by Teryl Cartwright © SYNTHESIS MASTER OF ARTS CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON May 2013 Advisor: Professor Peter Taylor Abstract: The greatest barrier to creative thinking may be the current definition. If creativity is believed to be an unconscious, undefinable process, a competitive and comparative hierarchy or even limited to specific domains, then the pursuit of creativity may be sene as an overwhelming endeavor. I believe everyone is creative, not just a few “out of the box” individuals. We are not limited to sleeping on a problem or getting into a relaxed, happy state in order to enhance creative thinking. I also believe that creative and critical thinking can be applied tot each creativity so I am offering an innovative curriculum for my new theory.L ike Roger Von Oech, I believe that there is a “team” within us that personifies our four kinds of creativity. By adapting a systems thinking management model, the four kinds of creativity thaIt believe we can incrementally increase and use are as follows: inventor, pioneer, engineer and diplomat. We may have preferences or more fully developed one of these multiple creativities, but I believe all four are present and are equally important—these are not styles or dispositions that can be separated or ranked. It is not enough to invent ideas, we need to have the complementary skills to implement, refine and share them as well. To teach practical and self -actualized creativity beyond brainstorming, individual and collaborative activities must be utilized along with appreciative inquiry and ethical service. Through “adopting, adapting and creating” thinking tools, creativity can be accessible and fully realized in any person or situation. Because the Critical and Creativity Thinking program at UMass Boston transformed my creativity, this is my effort to thank them and do the same. To Jeremy Szteiter, Delores Gallo and Peter Taylor Three Encouragers iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter ................................................................................................................................. Page INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 1. INVENTING A THEORY OF CREATIVITY........................................................................4 Theoretical Origins and Influences of Creativity..............................................................4 Chart 1: Organizational Lifecycle..................................................................................13 Personal Origins and Influences of Creativity................................................................15 My New Theory of Origins and Influences of Creativity...............................................25 Chart 2: Creativity Theory Ideas....................................................................................37 2. PIONEERING FOUR KINDS OF CREATIVITY EDUCATION.........................................38 Theoretical Teaching for Four Kinds of Creativity.........................................................38 Practical Teaching for Four Kinds of Creativity.............................................................49 3. ENGINEERING A NEW CREATIVITY CURRICULUM..................................................54 Sample Syllabus for Students........................................................................................54 Personal Introduction to the Curriculum Activities and Design......................................68 Curriculum for the Instructor.........................................................................................71 4. DIPLOMATICALLY CONNECTING CONSTTI UENCY .................................................96 APPENDICES........................................................................................................................ 108 Grading Rubric 1......................................................................................................... 108 Grading Rubric 2......................................................................................................... 109 4 Creativities Rubric.................................................................................................... 110 iv 4 Rs Rubric ................................................................................................................. 111 ASTL Tools ................................................................................................................ 112 ASTL Individual Reflection........................................................................................ 113 Beulah Louis Henry Reading....................................................................................... 114 “Giving Up Reflection”............................................................................................... 116 Adopt, Adapt, Create: Modeling of Skills.................................................................... 118 Adopt, Adapt, Create: My Personal Stories to Share.................................................... 120 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................... 124 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I need first to thank God for the inspiration and answered prayer; I’m glad for receiving renewed joy and some sense of purpose for my future. I also wish to thank my parents, Dave and Joyce, and my children, Josh and Rebekah, for being my supports on either side; you know the challenges I had to overcome and helped me still have fun. Thanks to all of my family, past and present, for your encouragign support. I’d like to acknowledge the patience and humor from my church family too. No other workplace I know of would allow me such complete freedom and trust to try out unproven ideas with such a sense of adventure. I’m grateful for my friend Marsha Hall, project manager at Alternative Education Publishing for proofing the initial draft and Dr. Rebecca Scheirer, Administrator of the Doctor of Ministry program at Wesley Theological Seminary for being my final copy editor.T hanks go out to my writing buddies, Mary Lou, Constance and Faheem andb est wishes also to my many classmates that brightened my experience. Finally, a thank you is humbly given to the faculty of CCT for your encouragement and teaching. I appreciate your perseverance and belief inm e. vi INTRODUCTION “Part One: Graduate education is not merely an avenue for personal growth, job advancement or bragging rights. I would like to pursue a graduate degree in order to be inspired by professors and classmates with similar interests as Ic omplete the challenge it offers. While I have tried to develop critical and creative thinking skills on my own through several individual graduate classes, I would like to learn more about these topics through the unique approach offered at the University of Massachusetts…”(From my initial application essay to the Critical and Creative Thinking Master’s Degree program, 2011 ) Every writer will tell you that the worst rejection letter is not the pitying or condescending, not the offhand or the almost, iti s the one that the publishers do not even bother to write. I had applied to the Critical and Creative Thinking Master’s Degree program in September of 2011, but less than two weeks from the start of the 2012 spring semester in which I had asked admittance, I still had not heard anything about my status. When I finally had the courage to ask, I found out that my application been accidently misplaced and had not even made it to the CCT Program for consideration. That was on a Friday and yet somehow my paperwork was located. The CCT admission committee convened during that weekend on my behalf and expedited my application process; they went the “extra mile.” I was accepted and admitted into the program by that following Monday. I do not know whom to thank besides Jeremy Szteiter, Assistant Director of the CCT program, for a second chance, or even how to begin, but a thesis is a start. 1 “Part Two: I have a passion for learning and teaching creative and critical thinking skills. With a balanced approach between both, each complements and enhances the other… It takes more than reading books by current authors to develop thinking skills… this piecemeal approach is not enough. I would like to accept and work through the formal discipline of a structured graduate degree… I know that creativity is as much a learned skill as critical thinking and that a systematic approach to creative thought does not take away the “a-ha” moment, but gives it more chances to appear. “Making a difference” requires different thinking and I would like to have the fully developed insights, attitudes and skills to dream, think and most importantly, do this with your help.” (From my second required application essay to CCT program) Journeys often come full circle, even if we are not the same as when we started. The goal of my degree was to not journey alone, but to have some encouragement and growth along the way and finally make a difference if I could to the very program that made a difference in me. There is an idea of “paying back” and “paying forward” what you have received in the positive. In creativity, I feel there are responsibilities to use this inherent quality to serve and help others. The extra mile had to come from me this time. Even acknowledging that sometimes I can never repay and must accept different kinds of grace, in this instance I felt I had to try. In the Critical and Creative Thinking program (also known as CCT), I’ve been asked to form a governing question, the purpose of my thesis, a personal guidepost to my path so that others understand what I am doing, for whom and why. This is my final version: “What ideas and work of other people and of my own are needed to design an introductory undergraduate level course honoring CCT and synthesizing my learning experiences (without too closely mimicking the graduate CCT tools and concepts) so that 2 students will be encouraged to continue their own learning at UMass by taking some graduate CCT courses or even completing the entire degree program?” The structure of my actual curriculum copies the actual courses and travels through them in the exact sequence as I had completed them within my own degree. Some of the actual assignments I did are re-used, this time as teaching tools for others. But critically important to me, some of the actual people that were a part of my education are in the thesis too, given credit or mentioned, so that they would know they mattered. I was blessed and I will miss them. For a moment we were on the same path, sharing ideas and future plans. No matter the road ahead or when it diverges, this was a special time worth recognizing and appreciating. So many in life are too busy, seeing this as just a degree or a rung on the ladder. But I know life is short and I am thankful for the “present.” I have been “alone in the wilderness,” so I hope the roads now are filled with encouragement, with people giving time even with little to spare and finally, with some celebrations of goals met with others. This is my opportunity to admit that creating my own theory of creativity would not have been possible without the creative people that encouraged and inspired me to be a better person along the way. Thanks for being there. 3