Lucy Jenkins and Tallulah Holley lay out the importance of creativity and culture when championing social sciences, humanities and the arts in the UK.
Terminology that occurs more and more in our school settings is the idea of ‘creative thinking’ or 'creativity in learning'. The Durham Commission uses the following definitions:
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Creativity is the capacity to imagine, conceive, express, or make something that was not there before.
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Creative Thinking is a process through which knowledge, intuition and skills are applied to imagine, express or make something novel or individual in its contexts. Creative thinking is present in all areas of life. It may appear spontaneous, but it can be underpinned by perseverance, experimentation, critical thinking and collaboration.
The report goes on to say “there remains a misconception that creativity is solely the province of the arts. This is not true. Creativity exists in all disciplines. It is valued by mathematicians, scientists and entrepreneurs, as well as by artists, writers and composers.” SHAPE strongly supports a vision of creativity across all disciplines.
Culture can be defined broadly or narrowly, on a collective or individual level. Cultural norms and values are learnt from childhood and impact on the way we view the world around us. Some aspects of culture are visible, easily observed when we interact with another culture. Other aspects take longer to see and define, often resulting in a lack of understanding.
Culture, and our understanding of culture, is linked to our frames of reference. Our frames of reference are in turn based on our lived experiences, which again, link back to the culture in which we have lived, developed and evolved. Sometimes, we can become very singular in the way that we look at the world. We look at it from our perspective, and all that implies, and perhaps disregard the way the world has been experienced by others.
As educators, it's our job to stimulate the intellectual development of children, and that means considering everybody's experience. To truly engage students, we must reach out to them in ways that are culturally and linguistically responsive and appropriate, and we must examine the cultural assumptions and stereotypes we bring into the classroom that may hinder interconnectedness.