Robson S., Rowe V. Observing young children’s creative thinking: engagement, involvement and persistence
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Robson S., Rowe V. Observing young children’s creative thinking: engagement, involvement and persistence // Preschool Education Today. 2014, Issue 3 -
p. 68–78.
This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Abstract
This paper looks at young children’s creative thinking as inferred through observations of their activities. A total of 52 episodes of child-initiated and adult-initiated activities in 3- to 4-year-olds in an English Children’s Centre were analysed using the Analysing Children’s Creative Thinking (ACCT) Framework. Results showed that activities such as gardening and construction were as valuable for supporting creative thinking as ones traditionally associated with creativity, for example, music and painting. Outdoor play of all kinds and socio-dramatic play were particularly effective contexts. All adults played a significant role in facilitating children’s initial engagement in activities, and at supporting their speculative thinking and use of prior knowledge. Teachers were often more successful than other adults in supporting the acquisition of new knowledge. Child-initiated activities featured the highest levels of involvement, and were associated with trying out and analysing ideas, flexibility and originality, imagining and hypothesising. This was particularly evident in group or pair play. Children were also more persistent in child-initiated activities. Evidence of risk-taking behaviour was low, although more apparent in child-initiated activities than adult-initiated activities, or activities in which adults were present.
References
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Runco, M.A. 2003. Education for creative potential. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 47, no. 3: 31724.
Singer, J.L. 1973. The child’s world of make-believe: Experimental studies of imaginative play. New York: Academic Press.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. 2007. Creativity, communication and collaboration: The identification of pedagogic progression in sustained shared thinking. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education 1, no. 2: 323.
Siraj-Blatchford, I., K. Sylva, S. Muttock, R. Gilden, and D. Bell. 2002. Researching effective pedagogy in the early years (Research Report 356). London: DfES.
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Sternberg, R.J. 2003. Creative thinking in the classroom. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 47, no. 3: 32538.
Sylva, K., E. Melhuish, P. Sammons, I. Siraj-Blatchford, and B. Taggart. 2010. Early childhood matters: Evidence from the effective pre-school and primary education project. London: Routledge.
Tovey, H. 2007. Playing outdoors. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 1986. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 2004. Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East
European Psychology 42, no. 1: 797.
Amabile, T.M. 1996. Creativity in context. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Claxton, G. 1999. Wise up: The challenge of life long learning. London: Bloomsbury.
Compton, A., J. Johnston, L. Nahmad-Williams, and K. Taylor. 2010. Creative development.
London: Continuum.
Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE). 2012. CACHE Qualification Specification: CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (QCF). St. Albans, Herts: Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education.
Craft, A. 2003. Creative thinking in the early years of education. Early Years 23, no. 2: 14354.
Craft, A., T. Cremin, P. Burnard, and K. Chappell. 2008. Possibility thinking with children in England aged 3-7. In Creative learning 3-11 and how we document it, ed. A. Craft, T. Cremin, and P. Burnard, 6573. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.
Craft, A., L. McConnon, and A. Paige-Smith. 2012. Child-initiated play and professional creativity: Enabling four-year-olds’ possibility thinking. Thinking Skills and Creativity 7, no. 1: 4861.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES). 2007. The early years foundation stage. Nottingham, UK: DfES.
Fleer, M. 2006. The cultural construction of child development: Creating institutional and cultural intersubjectivity. International Journal of Early Years Education 14, no. 2: 12740.
Fumoto, H., and S. Robson. 2006. Early childhood professionals’ experience of time to facilitate children’s thinking. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 14, no. 2: 97111.
Fumoto, H., S. Robson, S. Greenfield, and D.J. Hargreaves. 2012. Young children’s creative thinking. London: Sage.
Greenfield, S. 2012. Parents’ experiences of supporting young children’s creative thinking. In Young children’s creative thinking, ed. H. Fumoto, S. Robson, S. Greenfield, and D.J. Hargreaves, 10717. London: Sage.
Hutt, J., S. Tyler, C. Hutt, and H. Christopherson. 1989. Play, exploration and learning: A natural history of the preschool. London: Routledge.
Kag˘itc¸ibas¸i, C¸. 2007. Family, self, and human development across cultures, 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kaufmann, G. 2003. What to measure? A new look at the concept of creativity. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 47, no. 3: 23551.
Laevers, F. 2000. Forward to basics! Deep-level-learning and the experiential approach. Early Years 20, no. 2: 209.
Lambert, E.B. 2000. Problem-solving in the first years of school. Australian Journal of Early Childhood 25, no. 3: 328.
Meadows, S. 2006. The child as thinker. London: Routledge.
National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE). 1999. All our futures: Creativity, culture, and education. London: DfEE.
Prentice, R. 2000. Creativity: A reaffirmation of its place in early childhood education. The Curriculum Journal 11, no. 2: 14558.
Richards, R. 2006. Frank Barron and the study of creativity: A voice that lives on. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 46, no. 3: 35270.
Robson, S. 2010. Self-regulation and metacognition in young children’s self-initiated play and reflective dialogue. International Journal of Early Years Education 18, no. 3: 22741.
Robson, S. 2012a. Children’s experiences of creative thinking. In Young children’s creative thinking, ed. H. Fumoto, S. Robson, S. Greenfield, and D.J. Hargreaves, 93105. London: Sage.
Robson, S. 2012b. Children’s voices: Young children as participants in research. In Young children’s creative thinking, ed. H. Fumoto, S. Robson, S. Greenfield, and D.J. Hargreaves, 5567. London: Sage.
Robson, S., and H. Fumoto. 2009. Practitioners’ experiences of personal ownership and autonomy in their support for young children’s thinking. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 10, no. 1: 4556.
Robson, S., and D.J. Hargreaves. 2005. What do early childhood practitioners think about young children’s thinking? European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 13, no. 1: 8196.
Rogoff, B. 2003. The cultural nature of human development. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Runco, M.A. 2003. Education for creative potential. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 47, no. 3: 31724.
Singer, J.L. 1973. The child’s world of make-believe: Experimental studies of imaginative play. New York: Academic Press.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. 2007. Creativity, communication and collaboration: The identification of pedagogic progression in sustained shared thinking. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education 1, no. 2: 323.
Siraj-Blatchford, I., K. Sylva, S. Muttock, R. Gilden, and D. Bell. 2002. Researching effective pedagogy in the early years (Research Report 356). London: DfES.
Smith, P.K., H. Cowie, and M. Blades. 2011. Understanding children’s development, 5th ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
Sternberg, R.J. 2003. Creative thinking in the classroom. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 47, no. 3: 32538.
Sylva, K., E. Melhuish, P. Sammons, I. Siraj-Blatchford, and B. Taggart. 2010. Early childhood matters: Evidence from the effective pre-school and primary education project. London: Routledge.
Tovey, H. 2007. Playing outdoors. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 1986. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. 2004. Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East
European Psychology 42, no. 1: 797.