Education Commons^™

Introduction To Creativity: A Lecture And Curriculum Framework For Students Who Identify Themselves As Creative, Miriam Kelley

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project focuses on the creative person, process, product and press- the 4Ps of creativity as articulated by Rhodes (1961). A curricular framework was developed with an emphasis on enhancing the abilities of those who already identify themselves as creative, specifically undergraduate Freshmen and Sophomores looking to study various fields of Design at the university level. The objective of the framework is to not only identify the innate processes that may have led these students to identify themselves as creative- thereby choosing their major- but also to allow them to recognize, improve and be deliberate in those processes, to enhance …

A Basic Qualitative Study Investigating The Implementation Of Constructivist Teaching Practices In A K-2 Art Classroom, Carly Schrader

Art Education Projects

Abstract

This basic qualitative research examined the question, “What aspects of constructivism can be found in a kindergarten through second grade art classroom?” Over an eight to ten week period, I investigated a kindergarten, first, and second grade class of an elementary art teacher who did not identify herself as a constructivist teacher, but claimed to incorporate as many constructivist aspects as possible. I interpreted the data collected through a constructivist lens in order to record the implementation of aspects of constructivist practices and explore the variety of verbal and visual responses of the teacher and students. Data collection methods …

Qualitative Action Research On The Benefits Of Adding Humor And Aspects Of Play In An Elementary Art Education Classroom With Sixth Graders, Kelly Macagnone

Art Education Projects

This qualitative action research study explored the benefits of using humor and aspects of play as teaching strategies in the art classroom. This study was conducted in a small Catholic elementary school located in Western New York. One sixth grade class, composed of nine students, participated in this study. Data was collected and analyzed a period of ten weeks. Conducted through the theory of constructivism, students were engaged and encouraged to construct deep understandings of important concepts in the art classroom through the tools of humor and play. My focus was how the students’ perceived humor and play in the …

A Case Study Investigating How Art Education Fosters Collaboration In An Urban Environment Through The Lens Of Public Pedagogy, Tracy Fox

Art Education Projects

This case study examines how one particular after-school arts program in an urban environment bridges the gap between a university campus and the community it serves, creating opportunities for collaboration via the arts. The study was conducted at a community center run by Buffalo State.

Over the course of the study, ten interviews were conducted with a variety of people connected to the Community Arts Center’s (CAC) arts programs, including partners in the public arts initiative. The data was collected and analyzed over the course of eight weeks through the lens of Henry Giroux’s public pedagogy, which focuses on educational …

A Basic Qualitative Study Investigating How Middle School Art Teachers In Urban And Suburban Settings Employ Aspects Of Multiculturalism, Teresa J. Burgio

Art Education Projects

Abstract

I began this qualitative study on multicultural education in the classroom because I wanted to find out how art teachers implement multiculturalism and also how students react. I also wanted to learn what resources are used and strategies for this type of teaching. I chose an urban middle school with a sixth grade art class and a suburban middle school with a seventh grade art class. I taught as a substitute at these schools and these teachers informed me they teach multiculturalism in the art room. Both teachers are experienced and have been teaching art for over 15 years. …

Creative Classrooms To Teach And Learn Grammar Lessons For Middle School Students With The Design Of Tim, Christina M. Belesovski (Demarco)

Master's Projects

Project Abstract

Creative Classrooms to Teach and Learn Grammar Lessons for Middle School Students with the Design of TIM

This project focuses on creating a classroom as a learning environment to help to teach Middle school students at the level of 8^th grade lessons on grammar. Also incorporated in this project will be the emphasis on the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning (TIM).

E. Paul Torrance, better known as “the father of creativity” was quoted once saying, “tomorrow’s world will be vastly different for today’s children. They will do kinds of work that do not exist now. …

Project Learning In Science: 6th Graders’ Scientific Investigations, Mary Shea Ph. D., Brian Shea

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This article describes the rationale for an enhanced inquiry approach to science education that authentically integrates content knowledge and application skills in a middle school science curriculum. Such pedagogy ensures students’ attainment of national and state standards for learning science and multiple literacies (e.g. language arts and technology) recognized as tools for science achievement; it also provides developmentally appropriate instruction aligned with characteristics of young adolescent learners. Two projects are described; in both, students research, experiment, construct, create, compose, and report, integrating multiple complex skills in ways that simulate real world science investigation. Results demonstrate that students recognize their work …

Advances In Technology In Continuing Education: Who Should Foot The Bill?, Matthew Hanson

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

Every continuing education unit must be on the forefront of the technology boom in order to remain attractive to students as well as best prepare students to enter the work force. Unfortunately, there is a significant cost associated with each new technological advancement. A significant debate has recently sparked over who should foot the bill for technological advancements. This work applies the Array of Higher Education Benefits (IHEP, 1998) as well as other relevant literature to the debate over who should foot the bill for the inevitable technological advancements. The benefits of higher education extend well beyond the individual receiving …

The Role Of Genre In Reflective Practice: Tracing The Development Of A Beginning Teacher's Journaling Practice, Heidi L. Hallman, Amy Adam

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

In this article, a teacher educator and a first-year teacher identify the role that genre, in a rhetorical sense, plays in reflective practice. As reflection in teacher education has been criticized for its potential to reinforce prior attitudes and dispositions within pre-service and beginning teachers, we see how meta-knowledge of genre is important to beginning teachers’ successful practice of reflection. Throughout this article, we draw on examples from one beginning teacher’s journaling practice as a way to illustrate that multiple genres of reflection co-exist within teachers’ reflective practice.

Creative Environments, Jamie M. Sanchez

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is the result of the teaching and learning that occurred in a high school elective class called Creative Environments at Khartoum American School in Sudan. The students of this class were introduced to creative studies, creative problem solving, and design. Through an array of thoughtful lesson planning, the students gained essential skills that prepared them in redesigning a purposeless area on their school campus into a place that sparks creativity and builds community.

Communicating Creativity: A Workshop And Communication Tools For Teaching And Consulting In Creativity, Stephen J. Hammond

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project developed tools to support a consulting practice integrating the author’s interests in creative process, design and organizational strategy. The focus is on educating students and clients about creativity, creative thinking, design and innovation. Design thinking concepts of user feedback and rapid prototyping were used during the project. The resulting products are materials for a multi-day graduate level workshop for design students, a creativity website including blogging capability and a four minute educational video aimed at helping establish an Aerospace Technology Center in Northern Illinois.

A Qualitative Case Study Of The Aesthetic Development Of First Grade Students Through A Constructivist Lens, Brittney Kern

Art Education Projects

Aesthetics is sometimes overlooked in the elementary art curriculum. I wanted my students to gain the skills needed to have more mature aesthetic responses to artwork. I chose to embark on this research to expand first grade students’ aesthetic abilities and to learn how to best teach aesthetics to young children.

As the participants’ teacher, I acted as both a participant and an observer in this study. To triangulate the data, I administered two student questionnaires, one at the beginning of the study and another at the end; I observed and recorded field notes of the students as they worked …

Qualitative Narrative Research Investigating The Value Of Visual Art Education Captured Through The Stories Of High School Students Labeled At-Risk, Leah C. Peca

Art Education Projects

My personal and professional experiences in education led me to develop a unique perspective on the value of the visual arts. Existing literature about the impact of visual art education on students is written primarily from the point of view of educators and researchers. I wondered what the stories of high school students who have been labeled at-risk might reveal about their visual art experiences. As a participant-observer, I studied my own students using a postmodern approach to qualitative narrative research. I chose six students, three of whom were labeled at-risk, to share their stories and opinions about their visual …

A Basic Qualitative Study Investigating How Art Teachers Employ Visual Culture In Teaching Art, Eric M. Kyre

Art Education Projects

With my background in Graphic Design, I wondered how the images and structures of visual culture were understood and used inside the art classroom. I analyzed 32 of 40 anonymous questionnaires returned from select art teachers throughout western New York. The questions used were geared toward finding the participants’ definitions and knowledge of visual culture, how they felt visual culture affected their students, and how they could teach using visual culture. I compared these anonymous responses to the data from observations and semi-structured interviews of a middle and secondary art teacher who said they used visual culture in their art …

A Qualitative Case Study: Adults As Contributing Factors To Artistic And Aesthetic Development In Early Childhood, Caitlin M. White

Art Education Projects

Abstract

This qualitative case study investigated the question, “What insights can be gained by examining the role of parents and preschool teachers as contributing factors to artistic and aesthetic development in early childhood?” To build a foundation for this study, my review of literature gave a detailed account of past research that substantiates the benefits of the arts in early childhood development, the role of adults as vital to the enhancement of artistic and aesthetic development in early childhood, and the influence that home and preschool environments have on the artistic and aesthetic development of young children. The participants of …

Parentage Analysis And Conservation Genetics Educational Material For The Eastern Hellbender Salamander, Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis Alleganiensis, Sarah A. Chudyk

Master's Projects

Populations of the Eastern hellbender salamander, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis, are declining, making this a species of special concern in New York State and under consideration for Federal Endangered Species listing. As a result of this decline, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Buffalo Zoo initiated a headstarting program with an egg mass found in the Allegheny River drainage. The juveniles being raised by the Zoo will be released back into the watershed and so understanding the genetic diversity and parentage of these hellbenders will inform the reintroduction efforts. Furthermore, in order to determine how to …

The Effects Of Children Properly Utilizing Cps Tools In The Classroom, Theresa Lyness

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

It is my responsibility as an educator to prepare students by teaching them how to think and not what to think. This project focuses on the importance of teaching our youth creative ways to solve problems and use creativity in a more meaningful way to assist with richer thinking. This project provides students with some necessary tools in order to help them become lifelong learners and problem solvers. It provides students with necessary tools and skills needed for success in the 21^st century. The project includes an introduction to Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process and tools for different age …

Improv(Ing) Students: Teaching Improvisation To High School Students To Increase Creative And Critical Thinking, Beth D. Slazak

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project focuses on teaching High School students improvisational techniques to increase their creative and critical thinking skills. This covers tools of Creative Problem Solving, rules and concepts of improvisational theater, and affective thinking skills. The finished project includes lesson plans, a workbook, and a video that will assist students and educators in teaching these skills.

S.M.I.L.E. (Success Means Initiating Life Everyday), Charisma C. Dupree

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Abstract:

Motivation exists as an important aspect of our lives. Motivation comes in two main forms, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. No matter the type motivation employed, at some point we all experience motivation to help achieve our goals and in order to reach success in any capacity. The use of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) can also help in the process of motivation and succeeding. When the going gets tough, it is imperative to SMILE – Success Means Initiating Life Everyday.

Fostering Creativity Within The Classroom, Donna C. Crossman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT

This project focuses deliberately bringing humor, magic, and Creative Problem Solving (CPS) tools into the classroom. The author aims to encourage creative talent by providing children with a refuge from the conventional limitations of the world and accepting their divergence while embracing their creative talents. The underlying techniques and skills for stimulating creativity within the classroom are examined and best ways to foster creativity within the educational systems are identified. The author focused on the following questions: (a) How might humor create a classroom community? (b) How might magic engage and create a positive learning environment for second grade …