1. The Parents’Role in the Development of Their Creative Children Professor Bonnie Cramond Department of Educational Psychology Director of the Torrance Center The University of Georgia

2. Parents Should Understand What creativity is. Who is creative. Why creativity is important. How to nurture creativity in their children.

3. Creativity is the generation of novel, useful ideas.

4. Creativity can be expressed in anything that people do—mathematics, language, art, sports, business, inventing, cooking, parenting, etc.

5. According to Torrance, “When a person has no learned or practiced solution to a problem, some degree of creativity is required”

6. Creativity is Like Intelligence in Several Ways Everyone has some It can be developed or stifled There are levels Bonnie Cramond The University of Georgia

7. People Who Study Creativity Often Look At 4 Ps

8. Some Characteristics of Creative Children EmotionalIntellectualPhysical Openness Curiosity Risk taking Strong self concept Persistence Courage Problem solving Fluency Flexibility Originality Elaboration Abstractness of Thought Transfer Perfect Pitch or other keen sense Eye hand coordination Visual memory High energy Body type Looks Size

9. In some cases the very qualities that cause creative individuals to have problems are the same ones that may facilitate their creative accomplishments.

10. We Should Be Interested in Developing Creativity for the Good of the Individual and the Society

11. Creative Expression Fosters Mental Health

12. By teaching children to express their emotions creatively, we help them… Learn to express themselves in positive ways Become more resilient to the stresses of modern life

13. Creativity Engages Children in Their Learning To Keep Them in School

14. Creativity is Necessary for Our Society Recent reports warn that our nation cannot retain its economic and scientific position in the competitive world with a work force that has mastered only minimum competencies 200914Cramond UGA

15. In a Recent Poll Conducted by 1,500 CEO's identified creativity, defined as the ability to make innovative decisions, as the single most important area of "leader competency."

17. Creativity helps prepare our children for their future… without knowing what it will be 17

18. Individuals At the Top of Their Fields are Both Intelligent and Creative They are imaginative and analytical They consume and produce knowledge “Imagination is more important than knowledge”” Albert Einstein

19. How Can We Nurture Creativity? Learn about creativity. Recognize the characteristics of creative children. Value creativity. Help children think.

20. We need to teach students how to think, not what to think 20

21. Based on the book by Robert & Michele Root-Bernstein Bonnie Cramond UGA Sparks of Genius The 13 Thinking Tools Of the World’s Most Creative People

22. + SPARKS OF GENIUS Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein interviewed artists and scientists at the top of their fields They used thirteen thought processes across disciplines That can be learned and practiced. 22

23. + 1. Observing

24. + What is it? CanteloupeLily

25. + What is this? http://gizmodo.com/5435880/what-is-this-the-years-most-mysterious-images Ice in a drink Teeth--3D computed tomography

26. + What is it? Roads and circular fields in the Egyptian desert, as photographed from the International Space Station. Thermal image of passing gas

27. + What is it? These are Martian dust devils-- miniature wind vortices— running over the soil of the Red Planet..—

28. “DISCOVERY CONSISTS OF SEEING WHAT EVERYONE HAS SEEN AND THINKING WHAT NOBODY HAD THOUGHT” biochemist, Szent-Györgyi

29. + http://z.about.com/d/i nventors/1/0/V/7/velcr o.jpg Burrs Velcro

30. + 2. Imaging 30 Imagine a day at the beach Close your eyes and try to conjure vivid images as I read this passage

31. + 3. Abstracting M EMOIR IN SIX WORDS Sum up your life (to date) in six words Crawl, step, run, step, crawl, lay. Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday. Broke. Payday... Didn't do what I should have. California, Pennsylvania, Jersey, Manhattan, Vancouver, Seattle. Half over but feels like new. Child, adult, wife, mom, widow, me. Don't even try to plan it. 31

32. + 4. Recognizing Patterns 32 "Recognizing patterns is one of humanity's greatest abilities. It is the basis of conscious awareness that brings cohesion to a chaotic world by allowing us to see contrast as well as similarity." -Maggie Macnab in "Decoding Design""Decoding Design"

33. Mathematics in Art

34. + Golden Section The Golden Section is a ratio based on a phi The Golden Section is also known as the Golden Mean, Golden Ratio and Divine Proportion. It is a ratio or proportion defined by the number Phi = 1.618033988749895

36. + 5. Forming Patterns 36

38. + 6. Using Analogies to Solve Problems 38

39. + 7. Body Thinking If you play a sport or a musical instrument, what happens if you think about what your body is doing? When stuck on a problem, Darwin walked, Einstein played the violin. Many great thinkers have used body movement to stimulate thought. 39

40. + 8. Empathizing 40 riding a light beam to conceptualize relativity IsamuIs Isamu Nogushi “Core” invited visitors to, “Put your hand inside and you will know what the inside of a stone feels like.” Einstein’s experience of riding a beam of light enabled him to con- ceptualize relativity.

41. + Synectics One step in the creative problem solving process of synectics is creating a personal analogy. For example, to solve the problem of how to ship apples without bruising them, an individual might think about how s/he would want to be shipped if s/he were an apple. 41

42. + 9. Dimensional Thinking I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michelangelo 42 An exotic n-sphere is a sphere from the point of view of topology. But it is not equivalent to a standard n-sphere from the point of view of differential calculus.

43. + 10. Modeling he Borromean rings consist of three topological circles which are linked and form a Brunnian link, i.e., removing any ring results in two unlinked rings.circles which are linked and form a Brunnian link, i.e., removing any ring results in two unlinked rings. 43 The Borromean rings consist of three topological circles which are linked and form a Brunnian link, i.e., removing any ring results in two unlinked rings

44. + 11. Playing Keri Mullis, nobel prize winner for discovering the Polymerase Chain Reaction, a technique which allows a small strand of DNA to be copied almost an infinite number of times, said that he discovered it while playing. He was driving along the California coastline, thinking of molecules like Tinkertoys, and they fell into place 44

45. + 12. Transforming Take a strip of paper, give it one twist and glue the ends together. Draw a line along the middle of the strip the entire length. Is the shape 2-dimensional or 3- dimensional? Cut the strip along the line in the middle. What do you get? Cut the new strip down the middle, what do you get? Investigate what happens when the strip has an odd or even number of half twists before joining and is then cut. Möbius strip 45

46. + M.C. Escher’s Artistic View of the Möbius Strip 46

47. + 13. Synthesizing Creative people combine thoughts, fields, senses, modes, etc. in the process and the result is experienced as a whole. 47

48. How Can You Best Advocate for Your Child? 2010Bonnie Cramond, UGA48 1.Begin by trying to partner with the school to meet the needs of gifted students (don’t begin with being adversarial). 2.Recognize that multiple voices have a greater impact (as long as they are not shrill). So, joining or starting a parent group can have long term benefits.

49. NAGC is A Resource for Advocacy: http://www.nagc.org 2010Bonnie Cramond, UGA49

50. Hoagie’s Gifted Education Page http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/parents.htm 2010Bonnie Cramond, UGA50

51. http://www.giftedjourney.com/ 2010Bonnie Cramond, UGA51

52. “There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.” Hodding Carter, Jr. 2010Bonnie Cramond, UGA52