Welcome

This blog is intended to explore philosophical issues related to meaning, creativity, and imagination.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Creativity and Life Experience



 "If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”  

Steve Jobs

Friday, June 1, 2012

John Cleese on Creativity


  1. Space (“You can’t become playful, and therefore creative, if you’re under your usual pressures.”)
  2. Time (“It’s not enough to create space; you have to create your space for a specific period of time.”)
  3. Time (“Giving your mind as long as possible to come up with something original,” and learning to tolerate thediscomfort of pondering time and indecision.)
  4. Confidence (“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”)
  5. Humor (“The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else.”)
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/12/john-cleese-on-creativity-1991/ 

Friday, May 25, 2012

Simplify to be Creative

"Appeal to the buying brain. Clutter forces the brain to consume energy. Create uncluttered environments instead. The Apple Store is spacious, clean, well-lit, and uncluttered. Cables are hidden from view and no posters on placed on the iconic glass entrances. Computer screens are cleaned constantly."


This is an important principle for learning - to keep the learning environment simple so that the brain has less work to do. 

Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2012/04/10-things-you-can-learn-from-the-apple-store.html#ixzz1vvpBXT6K

The Divided but Creative Brain


Neuroscience is making new discoveries and clarifying the functioning of the brain through experimentation and scientific analysis.  We can be more creative and discover more about how we learn if we understand how the brain functions. Please, watch this very interesting YouTude video by McGilChrist to learn more about the role of the brain.










Friday, May 18, 2012

Imagining the Future


""A new study from the January issue of Psychological Science may explain why we are all so optimistic about what’s to come. The authors report that people tend to remember imagined future scenarios that are happy better than they recall the unhappy ones."

Cognitive scientists are very interested in people’s “remembered futures.” The whole idea seems contradictory in a way, as we tend to think of memory in connection with the past—recollections of people and things gone by. The fact is that we all imagine the future, and from time to time we recall those imaginary scenarios. Recent research has shown that the same brain areas are active when we remember past events and when we think about the future. Indeed, some scientists believe that these “memories” are highly adaptive, allowing us to plan and better prepare ourselves for whatever lies in store. If we can remember the actions and reactions we thought about in the past, our future behavior will be more efficient."
This study has implications for reading comprehension, motivation, and well-being.

Go to Scientific America to see full article.




Saturday, March 3, 2012

Tagged 'Creativity' « Whole Child Education

Tagged 'Creativity' « Whole Child Education

Creativity in the classroom


Creativity can be defined as the production of novel thoughts, solutions, or products based on previous experience and knowledge. Learning is a creative process that involves students making information relevant by linking prior knowledge and new knowledge in an individually meaningful way.

Unfortunately, most school environments do not support, and many actively suppress, creative expression because teachers are often ill equipped to develop, support, or evaluate creativity in their students. In addition, much theory and research shows that creative students often lose their creative potential.

Read this paper on creativity in the classroom, it is full of insights for effective teaching and the fostering of creativity.


Friday, February 17, 2012

Play

“When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity.” –  Linda Naiman

Monday, February 13, 2012

Group-think Vs Creativity




Brainstorming and creativity has increasingly become a group process.However, Lehrer's article in 'The New Yorker' contends that brainstorming groups think of fewer ideas than individuals working alone. Rather, it is better for individuals to work alone and then pool their ideas. One of the problems with group think is that people are usually encouraged not to 'criticise' the ideas of others in the group. 
On the contrary, creativity often thrives on criticism because conflict drives creativity. If you want to be creative you have to get past the top layer of predictability. Read the article at:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Tim Brown on Creativity and Play

Another TED talk!


Designer, Tim Brown believes that designers [you and me] need to know how to transition in and out of play. He talks about divergent thinking and convergent thinking. In the divergent mode we need to learn to be more playful while in the convergent mode we need to be more serious. being able to move between those modes is really quite important. You can be both serious and, at times, playful.

We need trust to be able to be playful and we also need it to be serious. He also talks about going for quantity, building with your hands, and doing role play.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Amy Tan on Creativity

In the last blog creativity was associated with belief. The Novelist, Amy Tan delves deeply into her beliefs about how her creativity has developed.

How do you create something out of nothing? She goes back to the fundamental question of, "How do I create my own life?" By thinking about her role in all of it she considers "luck and fate, coincidences and accidents, God's will, [and] the synchrony of mysterious forces."

Monday, January 2, 2012

Creativity starts from a belief.

Creativity starts from a belief watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1c8wggrr8&feature=youtube_gdata_player