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MA Design 2016 Dissertation project MarĂ­a F. Parejas

GoCreative 01

GoCreative, is a User-centred system that aims to encourage creativity in children aged 9 to 13 years old. The concept arises from the review of past and current research on the relation of education and creativity, in both local and global perspective.

As Rod Judkins proclaimed, ‘It is a common belief that creativity is something you are born with, and others can only envy. Wrong.

Creativity is a skill that everyone can learn.

People understand that to become skilled at tennis or skiing you have to put in hours of practice. The same is true of creativity.’1 Providing children with an environment where they can create and experiment with freedom is the first step to promote their engagement and foster their imagination.

1 Judkins, Rod, Change your mind: 57 ways to unlock your creative self (Canberra, ACT, Australia: Hardie Grant Books, 2013) p14.

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1 Background p.03

2 Storyboarding p.03

3 Conclusions p.03

4 References p.03

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Introduction: Child’s capacity to understand and manipulate the world is not a new interest but a subject that has been under research for decades, as it’s been stated in a conference on education that took place in Dublin in 2009: ‘The creative skills that children develop through the arts carry them towards new ideas, new experiences and new challenges, as well as offering personal satisfaction.

This is the intrinsic value of the arts and it should not be underestimated. Schools and society must develop our children to become happy, well-adjusted citizens, rather than pupils who can just pass a test and get through school.

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We must ensure that our children can think creatively, skilfully, and “outside the box”.’2 2 Creativity and the arts in the primary school. Discussion Document and Proceedings of the Consultative Conference on Education, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, Dublin 2009. Compilation and edition by Deirbhile Nic Craith. p.11

GoCreative GoCreative intends intents to answer the question: How can we promote the development of creative personalities?

Background 05

Abstract: We live in a time where, as Tan, O.S stated: ‘Societal needs are changing. As the world spins rapidly faster, organizations everywhere say they need people who can think creatively, communicate, and work in teams. People who have the ability to think creatively come up with novel solutions to problems, make connections in new and exciting ways, and brainstorm ideas are in high demand’.3 (2015).

Education in the 21st century, is a matter of constant research and investigation, from many different fields, such as sociology, psychology, science and design (among others) professionals are seeking for ways to improve children’s well being in the present and for the future.

As much as it it important to make sure that kids grow up through a healthy childhood, being able to enjoy and play, 3 Tan, O.S. ASIA PACIFIC EDUC. REV. (2015) 16: 161. doi:10.1007/s12564015-9377-6 p.161.

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it is important to provide them with the proper environment that will push them to develop problem solving skills, together with creativity and other skills that they will keep for life and apply into different scenarios and situations during adulthood.

As it is known, new jobs and possibilities of intervention in the business world emerge every day, learning how to think creatively would give today’s children better chances to succeed in tomorrow’s reality.

When setting the bases for GoCreative (researching on different ways to stimulate creativity in children) the findings where that among the many different approaches to encourage imaginative and inventive behaviour, ‘the Arts’ is an extremely broad field worth of deeper investigation and understanding. There for along the following pages, concepts such as ‘Children, Creativity, Arts and Education’ will be further developed.

‘Arts education is life-enhancing, is central to children’s development and is invaluable in stimulating creative thinking.

Indeed, arts education makes an important contribution to the wider goal of developing creativity in our society and economy.’4

4 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009. p.7

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‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.

For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.’5 5 Albert Einstein, What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck, (1929) October 26, The Saturday Evening Post, Start Page 17, Quote Page 117, Column 1, Saturday Evening Post Society, Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Essay: ‘Creativity is a complex and slippery concept. It has multiple meanings, and for anyone writing about creativity in an educational context it is necessary at the outset to acknowledge that an established, precise and universally accepted definition does not exist. There is broad acceptance that creativity involves in some way imaginative and inventive ways of thinking and doing, as a result of which something new comes into being.’ 6 The American Psychologist published an article in 1950 titled “Creativity” by J.P. Guilford, who developed a model for human intellect that made a distinction between “convergent” thinking (a single, correct solution to a problem) and “divergent” thinking (multiple solution, all of which could be correct and appropriate).

6 The Curriculum Joutnal.

ISSN09585176. British Curriculum Journal. 2000, p.146

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The research suggests that children are creative engines but schools place overwhelming emphasis on teaching them to solve problems correctly, not creatively. When education is skewed to the left brain, the right brain does not develop to achieve its potential.

Children do not remain creative engines for long.

Their creativity often starts to diminish early and this downward trend continues throughout their school years into adulthood. 7 As it can be easily deduced from Guilford statement, it is neccesary or even fundamental, the precence of support and encouragement from adults (parents, teachers, family) if we want to build a society that fosters children’s creativity.

7 Guilford, J. P. Creativity. American Psychologist, (1950). 5(9), 444454. Retrieved from http://search. proquest.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/ docview/614253760?accountid=14711

According to UNESCO, ‘the encouragement of creativity from an early age is one of the best guarantees of growth in a healthy environment of self-esteem and mutual respect - critical ingredients for building a culture of peace.’8 8 Ashfaq Ishaq, Prosperity and Peace through Art. A paper for the 2006 UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (2006) http:// portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/ 28777/11286123971Ashfaq_Ishaq.htm/ Ashfaq%2BIshaq.htm

The importance given to the environment in which children grow up, finds its magnitude in the direct influence that it has on the way that they learn and the skills they develop. As M.A Runco said in 1996: ‘A child identified as highly creative in early life may or may not consistently show creativity later on. [...] This uneven development may result from the fact that certain traits and talents develop at different rates and are influenced by each individual’s environment and life chances.’9 9 M.A. Runco, Creativity from Childhood through Adulthood: The Developmental Issues (New Directions for Child Development No. 72). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (Ed.) (1996).

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As its been mentioned before ‘creativity’ is a complex concept and it doesn’t exist a precise and universally accepted definition for it. In order to clarify a bit more the meaning that the word ‘creativity’ takes in the current essay it is accurate to make reference again to the conference that took place in Dublin in 2009, where the following was formulated: ‘From a wide range of literature, and other forms of evidence through which it is possible to gain insight into the nature of the creative process, it is apparent that “relevant criteria but no definitive criteria” exist for creativity. Relevant criteria include a sense of curiosity and wonder, inventiveness, flexibility, exploratory behaviour, imagination and originality. A capacity to take risks, to tolerate ambiguity and break boundaries, along with an openness to experience and a freshness of perception are also widely regarded as fundamental features of creativity.’10 10 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009.p.7

When it comes to children we could easily agree on the fact that they dance, sing, draw and play in a very spontaneous and natural way, as if they would be the mere embodiment of humans creativity. In fact, as Vlad Petre Glaveanu stated in his article about children and creativity in 2011: ‘There seems to be a strongly held conviction that children are much more free and creative in their expression than adults’.

Surprisingly this perception is not shared by all professionals and researchers, in fact he continued his article saying that: at a theoretical level though there is considerable scepticism whether creativity, as defined by modern science, can be applied to children and that the reasons for this are not altogether dismissible.

Along his article Vlad Petre exposes a very interesting discussion on how different theories stand in favour or against the notion and acceptance of children as able of ‘true’ creative expression.

He explains the different

reasons that each one of the sides rely on to support their beliefs. He then concludes that even though it is hard to summarise centuries of thought on creativity, psychology of the 1950 contributed greatly to imposing a new perspective on creativity, in which each and every individual is creative, and this capacity we are born with can and should be educated. Furthermore, he says that ‘The way young children depict the world, especially at pre-school age, is a constant source of amazement and delight for parents and teachers, for adults as a whole. Their “freshness” of perspective, their “boldness” in breaking with realism and “easiness” to disregard social conventions makes children’s drawings, for example, a perfect illustration of what creativity really is.’11 We could say that children and artist present a few similarities, on one hand the enjoyment of the task 11 Vlad Petre Glaveanu Children and creativity: a most (un)likely pair? 2011

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is quite easy to perceive in both cases, as well as the willingness to bend the rules of common conventions and the employment of a series of means that allow them to express ideas and emotions.

Now, could we say that ‘child’s enjoyment come from the real awareness of what they have created? Does their apparent disregard of norms and traditions reflect any knowledge of what this means? Is the experience of invention understood the same? All of these questions reveal one major aspect that seems to characterise the adult’s creative process but not child’s, and that’s intentionality.’ 12 (Vlad Petre Glaveanu, 2011) GoCreative, intends to try and help parents guiding their kids on gradually adding intentionality to their creative actions. For that reason the project is focused on such a narrow age group, 9 to 13 years old.

12 Vlad Petre Glaveanu, 2011. p20

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At the age of 9 most children are already self sufficient to make certain decisions and develop their own projects without needing much help from adults. The idea is to provide them with a proper workspace, tools, materials and suggested activities that would promote their engagement with creativity and imagination. All the activities proposed by GoCreative should all have a plan of action with some directions for the kids to be able to follow instructions; all of these not without presenting at the same time different options from the ones they can choose in which way they would be solving each one of the tasks. The activities should also bring to the kids life some implicit knowledge, or meaning that they would acquire while ‘playing’, for then being able to apply it in future and diverse life situations.

The goals of GoCreative can be sustained by this reference to (once more time) the conference about creativity and the arts that took place

in Dublin in 2009, where the following has been said: ’The arts instil in our pupils the habits of mind that last a lifetime; analytical skills, the ability to solve problems, perseverance and a drive for excellence. The creative skills children develop through the arts carry them toward new ideas, new experiences and new challenges, as well as offering personal satisfaction.

This is the intrinsic value of the arts and it should not be underestimated.’13 Based on the previously referenced research studies, we could say then that ‘creativity’ as such, it is seen as being multifaceted and also capable of being developed through different modes of communication and expression. We could also say that it is possible to apply creativity in a variety of contexts and that it is relevant to everyone and to everyday life embracing both individual and collaborative activities.

13 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009. p.15

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‘Dichotomous relationship between outmoded views of work and play is no longer sustainable in a society in which the boundaries between different categories of activity and modes of engagement are becoming increasingly flexible. However, beyond the world of early learning some powerful stereotypes persist. Work is frequently regarded as a disciplined, demanding, rational, serious form of adult occupation while play is often characterized as a childhood pursuit that is undisciplined, undemanding, intuitive and frivolous. As new information communications technologies impact on every aspect of daily living the edges become blurred between work and non-work and between leisure and learning. So too do the boundaries between home, school, university and workplace become less clearly delineated. A combination of sites -real and virtualoffers new, creative opportunities for individuals to make imaginative connections between strands of their lives that might be identified as leisure, learning and work. At different periods in a person’s life there are likely to be changes in the balance of time devoted to each of these strands...

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Play ...In order to exploit the contribution of play to support the development of creativity it seems more appropriate to view play as an attitude and process, rather than an activity,.

This shifts the focus away from play as a specific category of behaviour and towards the nature and quality of an individual’s engagements with ideas, feelings and materials.’14 14 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009.p.16

After making explicit such ideas about the relationship between play and creativity it is possible to distinguish two not minor stereotypes: the first one, would be the notion of playing as something trivial, that it would exclusively be part of childhood until it is replaced in adulthood by the serious concerns of work. The second one would be that somehow, many perceive play as a frivolous alternative to learning rather than a powerful vehicle for active learning. ‘It is true that with increasing age an individual’s opportunity to learn through direct experience is very often replaced by given information and received facts. Evidence gained through sense impressions is often mistrusted in favour of predetermined outcomes. Unfortunately, such approaches increasingly apply to the education of young children. Thus prescribed procedures and preconceived ideas squash the spirit of self-motivated exploration fuelled by curiosity and, as a result, imaginative possibilities for learning dwindle.’15 After this words, we can get a closer understanding of why it is important to encourage children on adopting a behaviour that involves all at once, learn, play, creativity, imagination. Hoping that this would help them build the flexibility they will need to adapt more easily to the evolution of our society.

play = work 15 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009.p.17

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‘...by increasing opportunities for everyone to develop their creative potential in different ways through day-to-day activities there will develop a greater number of individuals from whom the peaks of creative output are possible.’16 16 Neelima Chopra, (2015) Supporting creativity and imagination in early years, p.2

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In various different contexts many researchers have set their attention on different aspects of the relationship between play and imaginative activity. In general lines it could be said that people who realize their creative potential are most likely to mix their inner world with the actual tangible world. This interaction between inner and outer worlds is easily seen when we observe children at play.

Children make use of real objects in the tangible world, but they meanings these objects, which derive from the world of their own imagination.

We could also say that Intuitive responses are central dimensions of the processes of creativity, reaffirming how important insights into experience can be gained through ways of human functioning other than linear, logical, rational patterns of behaviour. ‘Contrary to popular belief, it is precisely this mode of functioning that allows creative connections to be made in such fields as science, technology, 20

mathematics and business [...] Whatever form imaginative activity takes it is always generative and leads to an outcome that is original. For this to be achieved it is essential for the individual to be engaged in ways of thinking or doing that allow unusual connections to be made between ideas, objects, materials and processes. This requires a freshness of vision; a capacity to see familiar things from different perspectives, to envisage alternatives, to break conventional boundaries and to transcend routines.’(Runco,1996)17 When considering young children, it is appropriate to adopt a broad, democratic definition of creativity. In this way, every child can be considered to have creative potential and to be capable of creative expression. It is important to consider what might constitute ‘originality’ in

17 M.A. Runco, (1996). p.20

the work of a young child.

After all, only a child prodigy could be expected to come up with something new and valuable to society. Instead, each child’s creative abilities can be related to his/her personal stage of development.

For example, it could be said that a young child’s work may be adaptive and original for that particular child and/or in relation to children in their class or age group. Another idea for adapting the notion of creativity to suit young children is to put the emphasis on the creative process, rather than to judge the quality of their ‘products’. This is because young children may not have developed all the skills they need to achieve a successful creative outcome.

A similar point is made

by Malaguzzi, who says: ‘Creativity becomes more visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve in various fields of doing and understanding.’18 18 MALAGUZZI, L. (1993). ‘History, ideas, and basic philosophy: an interview with Lella Gandini.’ In: EDWARDS, C., GANDINI, L. and FORMAN, G. (Eds) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach – Advanced Reflections. Second edn. Greenwich, CT: Ablex Publishing. p.77

Creative behaviour could be considered to require willingness to tolerate uncertainty and a capacity to cope with a degree of ambiguity. in order to allow alternative ideas and ways of working with materials to be explored the situations must remain fluid for sufficiently long periods of time. Risks have to be taken; sometimes decisions will inevitably lead to dead ends.

In those cases failure should be considered an experience.

Assuming that experiences of this nature should help to promote learning dispositions like: concentration, perseverance and a determination. All of them qualities that would get anyone a step closer to succeed in adulthood.

For creativity to flourish in an educational setting it is necessary for learners to be actively involved in the process of their own learning. Accounts of creative behaviour in diverse situations all reinforce a fundamental feature: engagement.

‘Knowledge is not divorced from “knowers”, where personal feeling, spontaneity and intuitive responses are encouraged’.19

and successively reconstruct our personal view of the world through the nature and quality of the relationships we develop with ideas, people, events and the material world. Furthermore it could also be said that in order to enable imaginative connections to be made between past and present experience, from an early age children need to be presented with rich opportunities that will allow them to engage with the world in different ways.

They also need to be taught how to reflect upon them from unfamiliar perspectives, giving them freedom to make their own decisions and to play and create at their own pace.

By adopting this sentence compiled by Deirbhile Nic Craith, in relation to learning, we could say that adults are crucial in the support of young children’s creative development.

Such adults should be aware that each one of us construct 19 Creativity and the arts in the primary school, Dublin 2009.p.20

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‘...Freedom that is necessary for experimentation towards greater control over ideas, materials, tools and processes through the organization of which intentions are realized. Throughout activities of this kind, children require the empathetic support of adults who understand the unpredictable pace of progress and the “messy” nature of creative thought an action.’20 20 ANNA CRAFT Creative Thinking in the Early Years of Education, Early Years (2003) 23:2, 143-154, DOI: 0.1080/09575140303105 p.148.

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The family houses visited or analysed through pictures sent by the different families, where in located in places as diverse as possible, two in Norway, two in England, one in Italy, another one in France, three in Argentina and the last one in Austria. All of them as well from very different economical backgrounds and traditions. The data bases is broader in variety than in quantity, because the whole point of the observation activity was to discover which similarities and differences where to be found in the diverse scenarios.

It was a surprise to notice that against what was expected at the beginning of this investigation and even though the amount of information collected is not enough of a parameter to make any affirmations, the observed environments and families had more things in common than not. All objects of study where families with at leas one child aged 9 to 13 years old.

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Observation & interviewes Through the observation of 10 different and diverse environments in which children live and play (with more specificity “homes�) it was inevitable to notice that event though there is usually in every home a specific area allocated for the kids to play, (and of course apart from the fact that in most 21st century families children have permission of access and use of most rooms in the family house) they don’t usually count with furniture and or spaces that they can modify as they please.

Some of the characteristics observed where the following: 1) In every observed house the children had an individual room or a shared room with only one other sibling. Room in which they where allowed to move furniture around and in a way design their space, but they hadn’t have the choice of selecting said furniture. In most cases the furniture was selected and bought by the parents, in two cases it was provided by some other family member like grandparents.

2) In every case of study the children were aloud to enter every room in the house.

3) Most of the kids had desks in their room, also all of them said they would use them specifically to do their homework.

4) The space that most children said they would prefer to use in case thy where about to draw or carry on with some sort of creative activity (that would require tools and sufficient space for it to be developed) is the kitchen’s or dinning room’s table.

5) Most parents said that they struggle when it comes to get their kids to feel motivated about other activities that are not related with TV, smartphones, computers or other sorts of technology like video games. Except for the two families in Norway, the one in Austria and one case in Argentina.

6) Only one of the childre, aged 12, answered that he prefers to do activities related with creativity, when they where asked if they would prefer that rather than watching TV or playing video games. He also said that he also likes to play video games an hour a day anyway.

7) Most families where conformed by a mum, a dad and one to 3 kids. Two of the families where conformed with a single mum and 2 children.

8) When Parents where told about GoCreative and asked if they would like to count with something like this to encourage their kids on doing more imaginative related activities that would foster their creativity and help improving their problem solving skills, the answer was yes. Only one dad said that in his opinion ‘kids should spend all day outside playing with sticks’.

Unfortunately, given the time to conclude with the current module of the MA program, it was not possible to research on the relation between creativity and nature, and the benefits of learning from that combination. So, we’ll go back to the original idea, bearing in mind the previously detailed information.21 21 The identity of people interviewed during this stage will remain anonymous under voted decision.

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‘The mind needs to meander and roam.

‘The mind needs to meander and roam. With freedom it ends up in unusual places, creating new worlds, new ideas ,new inventions’.22Along his book ‘Change your mind’, Rod Judkins writes that to live a creative life you would need to be liberated from being sensible. He says that it is necessary to enjoy doing something for the mere pleasure of doing it, and not because it has to be done, not because is the logical or rational thing to do. From his perspective, the purpose of 22 R Judkins, Change your mind. pp. 40-56

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doing something should be the pleasure that you will get from doing it. Even though most of the consulted articles sustain that we live in a left-brain orientated society, and that we are encouraged to think in words and numbers; there is a strong belief that the more creative a person is, the more visually they think. Language and numbers are linear, one word follows an other, one sentence follows another and on and on, being strictly forced to think in a logical, linear way. Visual thinking (right-brain thinking) is much more fluid and increases inspiration. This

is why for young children the stimulus for creative activity is very often the direct manipulation of materials and objects.

‘At the commencement of an activity children need to be guided and supported to maximize opportunities to explore the creative potential of unfamiliar materials and ideas. They require encouragement, to increase confidence to be inventive, and sufficient time to “play with ideas” and to “toy with materials”. 23 23 RUNCO, M.A. (2003) p.48

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it ends up in unusual places, orlds w w e n g n i creat

new ideas, new inventions.’

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Recognising the importance of developing the full potential of the creativity in children’s capacity to be expressive and responsive, to think critically and to learn how to learn, GoCreative celebrates the uniqueness of the child and is designed to nurture the child in all dimensions of his or her life. It seeks to enrich the child’s life and to lay the foundations for happiness and fulfilment in adult life.

GoCreative

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Storyboarding 29

The main intention is to provide parents with a system that will present a menu of a wide range of activities that enable the child to develop sensory awareness, enhance sensibilities and allow them a particular way to explore and create.

Drawing: as a main activity that will allow children

Based on the various research studies like the ones that have been previously referenced along this essay, we could affirm that to develop the ability to communicate visually the child should be provided with the opportunity to “make� art in two and three dimensional areas.

and imaginative ideas as well as an awareness of

This is why GoCreative sets its focus into generating integrated learning experiences for children, as well as providing them with an adequate supply of resources, including materials and tools, that is essential to encourage enthusiasm and interest.

form and change a material imaginatively and to

Here is a list that cointains the description of different categories that GoCreative presents as a main structure for the upcoming kits to be designed: 30

fibre: based on the intention of encouraging children

to clarify thought and communication for creation and expression. Paint and colour: will suggest activities for an appreciation and understanding of colour leading to expression of experience, interests

colour in their own work and crafted and designed objects. Print: which will aim to encourage a focus on inventive and functional graphic process. Work with clay, will provide children with opportunities to

design and make objects. Construction activities: will provide them with opportunities to explore the media of 3D balance and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of particular structures. Fabric and

to explore some of the design process in craft and to appraise various craft materials.

This desk is the foundation element of GoCreative’s concept development. It is a piece of furniture that will grow in time with the purchase of additional items that can be integrated to the original skeleton. The proposal is to build a system composed by different products, all of them orientated towards the main objective which is encouraging children’s creativity.

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‘Once that we begin to imagine other possibilities, we cultivate a lively and authentic curiosity for the world. The development of curiosity and wonder creates a personal and social consciousness that is necessary for living in our culturally diverse world’.24 24 Maxine Greene, Releasing imagination. (1995), p. 2

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Essentially, we could say that GoCreative aims to release children’s imagination, because as we can tell form Maxine Greene’s words, this is a really important feature in today’s culturally diverse world.

The sketches in these pages show how the product grows with the additional pieces, said pieces can be interlocked in different compositions according to the user preferences.

When purchased, each item will contain materials, instructions and different ideas for activities and projects.

With every kit, children will be given the possibility of creating and experimenting with new challenges that will foster divergent thinking while improving their problem solving skills. The activities will as well look into involving or offering active participation.

Some examples that will show the type of activities that GoCreative intends to promote can be found along the current section.

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Desk: 1120 x 70. x 76h cm.

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Box 1: 18 x 16 cm.

Box 2: 18 x 24 cm.

To materialize the concept that it’s been described throughout this project, a small system composed by a main piece and four separated smaller items has been designed. At this point it is appropriate to highlight the

Box 3: 18 x 32 cm.

fact that this is only a first approach and that it is looking into being further developed.

Hopefully GoCreative could count in the future with a broad family of products from which the users could choose to mix and match them, accordingly

Box 4: 18 x 40 cm.

All boxes: 18 cm h

to their preferences. All the items to be designed in the future should share aesthetic and functional features. Some of the considered ideas include: Stools/chairs, drawers and shelves, easels or other extensions.

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All the different parts of the desk can be cut or machined from a single 8ft x 4ft sheet of 18mm birch plywood. This particular

type of wood, has been chosen because it gives a smart and professional look to the product, which means that even after childhood the user can still keep and enjoy the product. The pieces can be ‘Flat Packed’. And the fixings are all hidden from the view, with an easy to assemble system.

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An other remarkable attribute of GoCreative’s desk, is that its design permits to contain and distribute in a very efficient way one roll of paper on each side of the table. This allows various combinations, for example: white and tracing paper, different colours paper, kraft paper, or other sorts of paper.

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As previously said, with the purchase of the additional items that interlock with the desk, children will be able to choose from a list of different activities from the GoCreative website.

Each activity will include the most important materials that are necessary to complete the projects, and a booklet with instructions and info-graphics to follow. An example of these instructions is given in the following lines.

Activity: Giant Bubble blowing.

Materials: Two wooden dowels 36 inches long, 1/2 inch in diameter.

Two small eyelet screws.

Tape measure and scissors.

Two lengths of cotton string: 100 inches long and 65 inches long. Two metal washers (for adding weight to the string).

Small container for the bubble liquid.

Instructions: 1. Screw the eyelet loops into one end of each dowel 38

stick.

2. Measure and cut two lengths of cotton string. One should be 100 inches long.

The other should be 65 inches long. Tie the end of the 100 inch string to one of the eyelets. Next, thread two washers on to the 100 inch length of string. Then, tie the other end of the 100 inch string to the other eyelet on the other dowel.

3. Now take the 65 inch long piece of string and tie the end of it to one of the eyelet loops. Tie the other length of string to the other eyelet. The giant bubble maker is now ready to use 4. To make giant bubbles: Put the eyelet ends of the dowels close together and lower them into the bubble liquid so the entire length of the strings are submerged.

5. Slowly raise the dowels out of the bubble liquid, while doing this make sure you keep the dowels close together, until the strings have completely emerged from the

solution.

6. Then, slowly spread the strings apart by separating the dowels. You will see a bubble wall, or bubble sheet, appear in the triangle area of the strings.

7. Slowly back up by walking backwards swiftly. If you have a breeze, the bubble will emerge from the strings.

8. To close up the bubble to allow it to detach to the strings, you gently swoop the dowels ends up and close together again to “close� the triangle opening.

Recipe for the Giant Bubble Solution: 10 cups of warm water (distilled water is best).

1 cup of Dawn dishwashing detergent (best to get the clear color).

1/2 cup of corn syrup (or glycerin).

Preparation:

The bubble solution should last a while. Give it a try the very next day after making it but save it when you are done.

Mixing it in a plastic container with a lid is a wonderful idea to then store it in the same container.

The next time you decide to make bubbles the solution will work even better, it gives wonderful results after letting the solution sit for over two weeks.

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Mix all the ingredients gently.

Do not introduce bubbles while mixing. Here is the secret: The bubble liquid gets better the longer it sits! It should marinate overnight at least.

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Go creative will also propose a series of activities that encourage the use of different materials that can be found around the home.

Recycling is a good habit to promote in young children, at the same time it requires a total change of perspective to give things a different purpose than the one they originally had. In these cases the approach will be to suggest ideas and provide the kids with templates and materials like threads and other elements that would help creating a variety of structures or decorations, like the bunting exemplified in these pages.

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Even though GoCreative intends to promote arts, as well as crafts and imagination, all the projects and activities will be based on a “learn by experience� policy. This would mean that the real target behind every possible outcome of this project, aims to give children the chance of learning in a fun way, concepts, skills, and knowledge that they will keep for life.

Activities like for example: building and then releasing fire-lanterns, would be an effective way of introducing them to different cultures and the physics behind the functionality of the lantern.

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Image recovered from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141137723@N08/26398064726/in/photostream/

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‘Probably the most important skill that children can learn is how to learn... Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.’25 25 Roger Lewin. Observing the brain through cat’s eyes. (1974) published in The Saturday Review, October 5, 1974, pp. 54-57.

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Image recovered form: http://widegroup.net/thinking-outside-the-box-how-far-can-you-go/

Creativity is an important human characteristic.

It is perhaps best thought of as a process, requiring a mixture of ingredients, including personality traits, abilities and skills. Providing a creative environment can help young children to develop their creativity, helping children to build up their skills through play.

GoCreative

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Conclusions 47

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To conclude, I would like to say that after reflecting on all the articles, researches, videos and books that gave structure to this project; I understood how important it is the part that adults play on encouraging and guiding children through the process of getting involved and engaged with creative activities.

As it is of our human nature, we are creatures that learn from example, and for that reason the more creative the environment in which we grow up, the more creative we will be. Not being always the case but mostly, we could say that the just mentioned environment would be having a great influence on the life choices that we make as grown ups.

I decided to conceptualize GoCreative in a way that with further development it could be presented to professionals in education, to try and get it tested on a group of children.

With the hope of it to be a useful tool for further research on the subject of creativity related to play, and learning experiences.

With the time given for this project, I have chosen to focus on creating a system and designing the way of presenting it in this book, by generating images that could be applied in the future to a GoCreative website.

This could be the next step, opening possibilities to share their outcomes of the purchased products, as well as the looks of their bespoke desks. They could also interact among each other, contributing to keep the flow of creativity by exchanging new ideas and projects.

Last but not least, I would like to add, that after conversations with people involved with different areas of art; there was positive feedback on the proposal and design of the table. Especially on the paper dispenser feature.

This gave me the understanding that GoCreative could be expanded into adult and professional use, instead of being pointed towards a specific age bracket.

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References 51

1) Alber Einstein. What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck (1929) October 26, The Saturday Evening Post, Start Page 17, Quote Page 117, Column 1, Saturday Evening Post Society, Indianapolis, Indiana.

2) ANNA CRAFT Creative Thinking in the Early Years of Education, Early Years (2003) 23:2, 143-154, DOI: 10.1080/09575140303105 P.148.

3)Ashfaq Ishaq, Prosperity and Peace through Art. A paper for the 2006 UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (2006) http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ files/ 28777/11286123971Ashfaq_Ishaq.htm/Ashfaq%2BIshaq.htm 4) Creativity and the arts in the primary school. Discussion Document and Proceedings of the Consultative Conference on Education, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (2009) Dublin. Compilation and edition by Deirbhile Nic Craith. p.11 5) Guilford, J. P. Creativity. American Psychologist, (1950). 5(9), 444454. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.plymouth.idm.oclc.org/ docview/614253760?accountid=14711 6) Judkins, Rod, Change your mind: 57 ways to unlock your creative self (2013) Canberra, ACT, Australia: Hardie Grant Books, p14.

7) MALAGUZZI, L. History, ideas, and basic philosophy: an interview with Lella Gandini. In: EDWARDS, C., GANDINI, L. and FORMAN, G. (Eds) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach – Advanced Reflections.

Second edn. Greenwich, (1993). CT: Ablex Publishing. p.77 8) Maxine Greene. Releasing the imagination: Essays on education. The arts, and social change. (1995) San Francisco: JosseyBass Publishers. p.2.

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9) Neelima Chopra. Supporting creativity and imagination in early years, International Journal of Early Years Education (2015) 23:2, 223-225, DOI: 10.1080/09669760.2013.771326 10) Roger Lewin. Observing the brain through cat’s eyes. (1974) published in The Saturday Review, October 5, 1974, pp. 54-57.

11) RUNCO, M.A. Education for creative potential (2003) Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, p.47.

12) Tan, O.S. ASIA PACIFIC EDUC. REV. (2015) 16: 161. doi:10.1007/s12564015-9377-6 p.161.

13) The Curriculum Joutnal. ISSN09585176. British Curriculum Journal (2000) p.146 14) Vlad Petre Glaveanu Children and creativity: a most (un)likely pair? 2011

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MA Design 2016 Dissertation project MarĂ­a F. Parejas

GoCreative 54

dissertation project MarĂ­a Florencia Parejas

tive

MA Design 2016

GoCreative, is a User-centred system that aims to encourage creativity in children aged 9 to 13 years old.

The concept arises from the review of past and current research on the relation of education and creativity, in both local and global perspective.

Crea