Creativity Special with Dr. Howard Gardner

In this special episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Dr. Howard Gardner, a developmental psychologist, renowned author, and the Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Listen in as Howard shares his perspective of creativity and how it’s changed throughout his career in education and research. He highlights the fascinating insights he learned from writing “Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Ghandi”. He speaks on how creativity is rewarded in educational spaces and how you can encourage kids to be creative regardless of the process, outcome, and reward.

“My best advice for young people is to be a fragmenter – to take one aspect from one person and a second aspect from a second person, and so on. Don’t be too dependent on one role model. I think that’s a mistake.” – Dr. Howard Gardner

Howard details the role of AI in originality of ideas and having a creative mind, along with why the synthesizing mind isn’t for everybody. Then, he shares his thoughts on the mindsets that are required for the future and what makes him hopeful (and worried) for future generations.

Howard’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:

Every young child loves to explore and gets pleasure out of trying new things. Your job is to encourage children to engage with new things. Don’t worry if they obsessively repeat something or if they frequently switch from one thing to another.
Don’t forget to instill discipline in kids starting at a young age, but also give some slack to kids who do things differently than everyone else.
Find something that you enjoy doing, that satisfies you or is meaningful to you, and that you can get better at (as long as it’s not harming anyone else).

Recommended Resources:

A Synthesizing Mind: A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory by Howard Gardner

Creating Minds by Howard Gardner

Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner

The Real World of College by Howard Gardner and Wendy Fischman

Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?

Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.

What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?

Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.

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About Dr. Howard Gardner:

Howard Gardner is an award-winning developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also the head of the Steering Committee of Harvard Project Zero, an educational research group composed of multiple, independently-sponsored research projects. In recognition of his contributions to both academic theory and public policy, he has received honorary degrees from thirty-one colleges and universities, including institutions in Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, and Spain. He has twice been selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world.

Howard is the author of thirty books translated into thirty-two languages, and several hundred articles, best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences.

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