Fueling Creativity in Education

In this short Creativity Tip episode, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood offer advice on integrating the teaching of ambiguity in the classroom. Rather than focusing exclusively on ill-defined problems, Cyndi and Matthew highlight the connection to socio-emotional learning and why it's necessary to help students understand how they feel when presented with an ambiguous challenge or situation in the classroom environment.   Episodes related to Ambiguity:   Listen to the episode with Caroline Brookfield Listen to the episode with Monica Kang Listen to the episode with Wendy Ross Listen to the episode with Ron Beghetto   Eager to bring more Creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website: www.CreativityandEducation.com    You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

What were the biggest lessons learned during the last five episodes in Season Three of the Fueling Creativity podcast? In this final debrief, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood sit down and reflect on episodes that discussed the relationship between Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, breaking with habit-bound thinking, developing a sense of awe in students, and Inward and Outward Creativity.   Listen in as Cyndi and Matthew break down the following insights.   Major Takeaways from Season Two, Episodes 6-10:   Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship. What's the connection? Do different groups have increased value for one over the other? Or are we discussing similar things in a different context?  A sense of awe in students. Awe is a sense of considerable astonishment in a person or topic. How might teachers facilitate awe toward the curriculum or subject? Should that be an ambition for creative teachers?  Inward and Outward Creativity.  Sociocultural theory informs us that the actor engages in internal and external actions that include thoughts, ideas, and reactions in response to an environment. How do internal actions interact with other people inside a classroom environment? Does a sense of connection drive these actions, and is arts a bridge between inward and outward Creativity?   Resources Mentioned:   Listen to the episode with Anna Abraham Listen to the episode with Monica Kang Listen to the episode with Rachelle Archer   Eager to bring more Creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website: www.CreativityandEducation.com    You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

What is Artful Leadership, and how might it help facilitate creativity in teaching and learning? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Rachelle Archer, an arts-based consultant & founder of Artful Leadership. The episode shares Rachelle's 25 + years of experience working at the intersection of arts, education, and healing, primarily with unhoused and systems-affected youth. Discussions include how artful leadership can help students reflect and connect as they interact and engage with others around them.   “Learning happens when we feel safe and when we feel connected to others in a space; it's not just something that happens inside our brains.”              - Rachelle Archer   Rachelle’s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Start with your own curiosities. Don't do anything major.  Find out what your students enjoy. Pleasure is a helpful entry point to creativity. Avoid judgment in terms of this is good or bad, instead celebrate whatever emerges from the experience.   Resources Mentioned: Linchpin by Seth Godin: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7155145-linchpin Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski: https://amzn.to/398PEuX Listen to the episode with Jonathan Plucker: https://bit.ly/3KZ1Ds9   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Rachelle Archer Rachelle Archer, arts-based consultant & founder of Artful Leadership,  helps educators impact young lives sustainably by putting their own well-being first, so that they can lead with a full tank and create a community culture that supports students and staff. She has 25 + years of experience in youth development, working at the intersection of arts, education, and healing, primarily with unhoused and systems-affected youth. She supports organizations with healing-centered professional leadership & organizational development, helping to foster the individual, interpersonal and institutional wellness that will empower them to live into their full potential. Rachelle believes that everyone can be a leader, humans thrive in community, and the well-being of that community starts with us doing our inner work first.   Visit Rachelle’s website Connect with her on LinkedIn  

How does one approach creativity within a global context? How can the creative process help us and the future generations solve global problems, like climate change? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Monica Kang, Founder & CEO of InnovatorsBox, Author of Rethink Creativity & Have You Seen My Friends?, and Podcast Host of Dear Workplace and Curious Monica. She’s a creative educator who’s transforming today’s workforce with the mission to build a workplace for all by rethinking creativity.    Listen in to learn how she reignited her love for her job and her life through a simple mindset shift, curiosity, and creativity, as well as how that led her to help others tap into their innate creativity through InnovatorsBox. You’ll gain insight into the difference between voluntary change and forced change and how creativity and the creative process plays a role in solving complex global problems. Plus, Monica talks about the meaning behind her  books, how she approaches creativity within different cultures, and how you can start incorporating curiosity, creativity, and courage into your curriculum.   “When we embed creativity as a way of living, there’s no limit to how we see and solve and approach.”  – Monica Kang Monica’s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Before stressing about the curriculum, become aware of how you talk about creativity at home and in the classroom. We tend to embed this image of what curiosity, creativity, and courage are supposed to look like, so pay attention to where your kids think differently, identify the action of them being imaginative and creative, and encourage them to enjoy and explore that feeling courageously. If you’re ready to build this into your curriculum, add that action part into your lessons to let them feel and experience curiosity, creativity, and courage.  Make curiosity, creativity, and courage FUN. If they’re doing it for the grade, it’s not fun. Be intentional about getting to know your kids/students and what’s fun to them.   “The whole reason why I wanted to do this was I felt creativity was inaccessible. I felt, as somebody who was in a space that was traditionally not creative, that it wasn’t for me and I know a lot of people that still feel that way.” - Monica Kang   Resources Mentioned: InnovatorsBox Rethink Creativity by Monica Kang Have You Seen My Friends? by Monica Kang Dear Workplace Podcast Curious Monica Podcast   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Monica Kang: Monica H. Kang is on the mission to build a workplace for all by rethinking creativity. She is the Founder & CEO of InnovatorsBox, Author of Rethink Creativity & Have You Seen My Friends, Podcast Host of Dear Workplace and Curious Monica. An internationally recognized expert in workplace creativity, she facilitates culture transformation, leadership development, and team building in a way that is fun, actionable, and relatable. Monica works with clients worldwide including Fortune 500 companies, higher education, government, and nonprofits. Prior to InnovatorsBox®, Monica was a nuclear nonproliferation policy expert. She holds an M.A. from SAIS Johns Hopkins University in Strategic Studies and International Economics and a B.A. from Boston University.   Connect with Monica Kang on LinkedIn   

What are you doing for this year's World Creativity and Innovation Week? In this special episode, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood provide small tips to help celebrate creativity in your life, your classroom, and in your family.    Past Episodes Mentioned:   Listen to the episode with Wendy Ross Listen to the episode with Natalie Nixon Listen to the episode with Jim Friedman   Resources for World Creativity and Innovation Week World Creativity and Innovation Day Website Our podcast interview with the Current Chief Steward of WCIW, Dr. Jim Friedman Creativity and Education FREE Virtual Events Raising a Generation of Creative Thinkers Infusing Creative Thinking into Your Higher Education Classroom Weaving Creative Thinking into your Pre-K-High School Classroom Day of Surprises with your Family Check out the Creative Thinking Challenges Create Junk Inventions Share the Creative Thinking Skills Sheet with Your Students   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website: www.CreativityandEducation.com    You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!    

What is a makerspace and how can makerspaces change the landscape of education? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Caroline Haebig, author of The Maker Playbook: A Guide to Creating Inclusive Learning Environments. Caroline sheds light on today’s makerspace movement and the benefits of high-impact, inclusive maker learning culture inside schools and school systems.   Listen in to learn how educators from different fields can use a makerspace to foster innovative design thinking and creativity, the importance of integrating design ethics into the prototype design process, and the must-have and nice-to-have materials (both raw and digital) to include in a makerspace. Then, Caroline offers expert advice on finding entry points in your curriculum for maker learning and creating a more inclusive culture in your makerspace.   “Maker learning has a lot of opportunity to help kids develop their metacognition, reflection, and self-assessment skills.”  - Caroline Haebig   Caroline’s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Maximize opportunities for kids to share curiosities and ask questions. Provide a scaffolded design process so students know what they’re expected to know, do, and engage with during specific parts of the design process. Get kids to think and talk about the choices and decisions they are making.  Resources Mentioned: The Maker Playbook by Caroline Haebig Makedo morphi app Disruptus Mission Feature Feature Tinkercad ScratchJr   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Caroline Haebig: Based in Wisconsin, Caroline Haebig has extensive experience designing and leading professional learning for teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators nationwide. Focused on helping educators develop innovative teaching, learning, and assessment practices, she has successfully facilitated student, teacher, and administrator preparation for school system 1:1 technology initiatives to support student learning and led district -wide work in the areas of inclusive maker learning and technological literacy.  Caroline Haebig is also the author of The Maker Playbook: Designing Inclusive Learning Experiences, a book for K-12 leaders and educators. An accomplished educator, Haebig was named an ISTE Emerging Leader, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Innovator, and a recipient of the Wisconsin State Superintendent Service-Learning Award, the University of Indiana Jacobs Educator Award, and the ISTE Outstanding Young Educator award.    Connect with Caroline Haebig on LinkedIn Follow Caroline on Twitter

For this very special, one-year anniversary episode of the Fueling Creativity Podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood have gone through all 28 interview transcriptions from the Fueling Creativity episodes and identified four powerful themes that have emerged from these discussions. They originally presented these themes at the Creativity Expert Exchange at SUNY Buffalo State. Today, you get to listen in on this informative and powerful presentation!  Or, you can read the transcript here. If you’d like to book Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood to deliver this presentation as an interactive workshop to your school or institution, don’t hesitate to send them an email at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com.   Themes & Subthemes from Year 1 of Fueling Creativity: #1 – Setting the creative environment of the classroom  Trust and Safety Risk-Taking- feeling comfortable making mistakes Openness to new ideas and perspectives Allow time for questions and exploration Encourage respectful debate Challenging students to highest ability- not average Value differences Think beyond the walls of the classroom #2 – Creative Teachers Creative Teachers are designers Creative Teachers Model Creative Behaviors and Attitudes Creative Teachers are Lifelong Learners Creative Teachers are open and willing to try new things Creative Teachers take risks and are willing to admit if they failed or made a mistake Creative Teachers make time for self-care Creative Teachers don’t have all the answers #3 – Instructional Practice Ask Open-Ended questions Embed time for wondering and curiosity Expose students to diverse things (books, museums, nature, etc). Use Inquiry/Problem Based Learning Spend time problem-finding Help students find meaning, purpose and connection to content Work through ambiguity, uncertainty and complexity Get students comfortable with discomfort and failure Shift student perspectives, allowing an openness to new ideas Explore feelings and emotions related to the learning/creative process Give students agency- a choice and voice on what they are doing #4 – The Future Creative (Preparing our students for the future!) A person who is cable of working with people of varied backgrounds and perspectives A person who can think ethically when selecting ideas and developing solutions A person who can work though complex problems and manage change A person who can identify what humans do best, and what machines might do better A person who can work in collaboration with AI “This pandemic, although challenging, is really highlighting the creativity that exists within the teaching profession.”  - Dr. Matthew Worwood   Do you have a theme that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know! Email us at questions@fuelingcreativity.com.   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom? Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!    

What would it be like if creativity was a core pillar of your school system’s education? In this episode of the Fueling Creativity podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Dr. Eitan Buchalter, Creativity Researcher and Practitioner.   Most recently, Eitan has designed and tested a school-based learning initiative that empowers students to look after and develop their creative thinking capabilities. He shares details on this unique initiative as well as his approach to developing a creativity program in school within the constraints of a curriculum or classroom environment.    Listen in to learn how Eitan is expanding creativity research to science as he highlights his research on how scientists generate ideas and produce creative outcomes. The trio also talks about creativity skills that bridge the gap between science and art, how to help your students find their interests and passions, and the importance of teaching your students to articulate their ideas.   Eitan‘s Tips for Teachers and Parents: Incorporate intrinsic motivation and your students’ personal interests into your lessons. Model vulnerability so your students know it’s okay to make mistakes. Make friends with uncertainty and risk.   “I’m a big fan of uncertainty and thinking of uncertainty as an important material.”  - Dr. Eitan Buchalter   Resources Mentioned: Listen to the episode with Wendy Ross Listen to the episode with Sally Reis Nurturing Creative Thinking   Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?  Access a variety of creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity Podcast by visiting our website,  www.CreativityandEducation.com.   Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!   You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!   About Dr. Eitan Buchalter: Eitan is the Director of Innovation at the Global Governance Institute. He has two decades of experience in creativity and innovation which includes education in schools, college and university. Eitan has also brought his expertise in creative thinking to the commercial world and has worked for a wide variety of clients including: NASA, Proctor & Gamble, The Football Association and Tate Modern.    Most recently, Eitan has designed and tested a school-based learning initiative that empowers students to look after and develop their creative thinking capabilities.    Eitan has degrees from Oxford and UCL including a PhD on Ideas in Science. Most importantly though, Eitan is a father of two boys and can often be found chasing them around the beautiful Kent countryside!   Connect with Dr. Eitan Buchalter on LinkedIn