Creative Pedagogy

Creative Pedagogy is the science and art of creative teaching.^[1] It is a sub-field of Pedagogy, opposed to Critical pedagogy (just as creative thinking for example in Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking is opposed to critical thinking). Creative Pedagogy teaches learners how to learn creatively, become creators of themselves and creators of their future.

Disambiguation

Creative Pedagogy should be differentiated (disambiguated) from Creative Education that is usually associated with teaching creativity as a subject (see Creative Education Foundation). Creative Pedagogy, on the contrary, can be applied to ANY subject, whether it is Math, Science, Language, or Economics and Finance. To some extent, one can state that subject does not matter, methodology (type of pedagogy) does: that’s why the introduction of creative methodologies changes the process of teaching/learning.

Definition

The founder of Creative Pedagogy, Dr. Andrei Aleinikov, defined it in the form of formula of invention – a strict word pattern used to describe inventions for patenting in technology:

“Creative pedagogy that includes educational influence on the learner for acquisition of certain study material (subject) [as pedagogy in general] and differing from the above by the fact that in order to achieve higher efficiency of learning, the pedagogical influence is provided on the background of centrifugal above-the-criticism mutual activity in which the learner is raised from the object of [pedagogical] influence to the rank of a creative person, while the traditional (basic) study material is transformed from the subject to learn into the means of achieving some creative goal, and the extra study material includes the description and demonstration of the heuristic methods and techniques.”^[2]

The concept of Creative Pedagogy got noticed and cited by numerous educators - see external links below. The authors of Encyclopedic Dictionary not only included an article on Creative Pedagogy, but also commented on its unusual form – the formula of invention.^[3]

Etymology

See Pedagogy and Creativity

Goal (Mission)

The goal of Creative Pedagogy is to transform ANY subject class (course, program, school) into a creative teaching process that would produce creative learners (life learners) – much more efficient learners than those produced by traditional school. This transformation of the traditional class (course, program, school) is called “creative orientation.”

Discussion

A typical objection to the introduction of Creative Pedagogy is the following, “Every pedagogy is creative.” A good answer to this is, “Yes, to some extent. But what is the rate of creativity?”

Despite the slogans and inspiring practices of the great educators of the past like Jan Amos Komensky, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Rudolf Steiner, Lev Vygotsky, Maria Montessori, Anton Makarenko, etc.), despite the wishes of parents and guardians, the type of pedagogy depends on the requirements of the society.

• When society needed a follower (in ancient times), there existed methods (pre-pedagogy) to train followers (“Do after me! Do as I do!”). It was good enough to produce hunters, fishermen, gatherers, warriors, etc.
• When society needed speakers (Ancient Greek studios), there existed pedagogy oriented at the upbringing of a speaker in rhetoric classes, in public discussions (and when Socrates introduced a new methodology, now known as Socratic method of teaching, he was sentenced to death).
• When society needed more craftsmen or workers, there appeared technical schools and pedagogies for technical teaching.
• When society needed more knowledgeable professionals, like engineers, doctors, and teachers, there appeared pedagogy of knowledge acquisition (schools, colleges).
• When in the XX century it turned out that existing ways of teaching and problem solving were not sufficient for the needs of society, there appeared problem-oriented education and schools for Creative problem solving. Creative Pedagogy grew out of them.

All these types of pedagogy exist and co-exist in contemporary Pedagogy, but this century has been many times called the Century of Creativity and Innovation. Society needs more and more creative people. The emergence and growth of the Creative Class^[4] is a reality. That’s why there appeared Creative Pedagogy as pedagogy aiming at the upbringing of a creator (a creative person) capable of meeting the constantly growing complexity and accelerating development of the society.^[5]

Creative Pedagogy embraced the research in the field of creativity (Graham Wallas, Alex Osborn, J.P. Guilford, Sid Parnes, Ellis Paul Torrance, etc.) and put it into the classroom to improve the teaching/learning process. Creative Pedagogy is the result of applying the studies of creative process to the education process itself.

As The Encyclopedia of Creativity article on Humane Creativity states, "Creative Pedagogy, as a trend in science, generalizes and explains everything from music and art classes to creatively-oriented courses so thoroughly gathered and precisely described by Alex Osborn."^[6] Creative Pedagogy generalizes:

• art (creativity) classes
• technical creativity
• psychology of creativity
• Creative Problem Solving
• creatively-oriented courses

The next natural step after the creation of Creative Pedagogy was to check whether the theory and practice of creative teaching is teachable. Creative MetaPedagogy – the science and art of teaching teachers how to teach creatively appeared in 1990-1992.^[7][8]

Some examples of the first Creative Pedagogy applications

• Creatively-oriented Linguistics, Military Institute, Moscow, Russia, 1984-92
• Creative Management, Center for Creative Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, 1990-1992
• Word Origins and Usage (ENG2210), Effective Communication (COM1110), Psychology of Creativity (PSY3390), Foundations of Creative Education (EDU6625), Troy University, Montgomery, Alabama, 1994-2006.

By 2006, Creative Pedagogy and Creative MetaPedagogy in the form of numerous programs for teachers, managers, educational and business leaders, spread from the U.S.A. to Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. In Russia, where it was published first, it also received further development as "collective creative pedagogy" by I.P. Ivanov. A very interesting statement about the goal of creative pedagogy can be found in the work of TRIZ specialists B. Zlotin and A. Zusman, "Creative pedagogy is an attempt to replace the battle between the teacher and students with the child's struggle for self-perfection. The teacher is the child's assistant and ally in this struggle."^[9] Creative pedagogy borrowed from TRIZ one of its most powerful methods - Ideal Final Result (IFR) to create the model of Ideal Education, Ideal Teacher and Ideal Learner.

The term Creative pedagogy becomes well spread - it is used for monograph titles and programs names. The concept is studied and taught at the university level (see further reading list).

References

1. ^ Aleinikov, A. G. (1989). On Creative Pedagogy. Higher Education Bulletin, 12, 29-34 (russ. Алейников А.Г. О креативной педагогике. Вестник высшей школы. 1989, 12, 29-34)
2. ^ Aleinikov, A. G. (1989). On Creative Pedagogy. Higher Education Bulletin, 12, 29-34 (russ. Алейников А.Г. О креативной педагогике. Вестник высшей школы. 1989, 12, 29-34)
3. ^ Popov, V.V. (1995) Creative Pedagogy. In the Encyclopedic Dictionary “Technical Creativity: theory, methodology, practice.” A.I. Polovinkin, V.V. Popov. (Eds). Moscow: Logos, 165-167 (russ. Попов В.В. Креативная педагогика. В энциклопедическом словаре "Техническое творчество: теория, методология, практика". (Под ред. А.И. Половинкина, В.В. Попова). - М.: Изд-во "Логос", 1995, 165-167)
4. ^ Florida, R. (2003). The Rise of the Creative Class, North Melbourne, Australia: Pluto Press.
5. ^ Aleinikov, A. G. (1990) Creative Pedagogy and Creative MetaPedagogy, The Progress of Education, Vol. LXV, No. 12, 274-280
6. ^ Aleinikov A. (1999), Humane Creativity, Encyclopedia of Creativity, Mark A. Runco and Steven R. Pritzker (Eds.), San Diego, London…: Academic Press, Vol. 1, 837-844
7. ^ Aleinikov, A. G. (1990) Creative Pedagogy and Creative MetaPedagogy, The Progress of Education, Vol. LXV, No. 12, 274-280
8. ^ Aleinikov, A.G. (1992). Creative metapedagogy: D-day. Alma-Mater. Higher Education Bulletin, 1992, 1, 34-39 (russ. Алейников А.Г. Креативная мета-педагогика. Время “Ч”. Alma Mater// Вестник высшей школы. 1992, 1, 34-39)
9. ^ Zlotin, B. and Zusman, A. (2005). TRIZ and Pedagogy, Ideation International, Inc.

Further reading

1. Creative Pedagogy: methodology, theory, practice (2002). Ju.G. Kruglov (Ed.), Moscow: Center "Alfa" (russ. Креативная педагогика: методология, теория, практика (2002). Под ред. Ю.Г. Круглова. – М.: МГОПУ им. М.А. Шолохова, изд. центр «Альфа»).
2. Morozov, A.V. and Chernilevsky, D.V. (2004). Creative pedagogy and psychology. Academic Project (russ. Морозов А.В. Чернилевский Д.В. (2004). Креативная педагогика и психология, Академический проект).

External links

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