Fueling Creativity in Education
The Fueling Creativity in Education podcast provides listeners with unique insights into the field of creativity research, including best practices for applying this knowledge to a traditional school environment. Thanks to deep dive interviews with renowned creativity scholars, respected practitioners, and passionate educators, every teacher and administrator will walk away with new strategies that inspire and support student and teacher creativity in and out of the classroom.
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Episodes
Friday Aug 06, 2021
Friday Aug 06, 2021
Do you consistently reflect on how creative your teaching methods are? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with author and retired teacher, Juliet Desailly. After becoming a lecturer at the Institute of Education, educating a new generation of primary teachers, it became obvious to her that the practice she had developed in the classroom was very much in line with the theories of creativity in education now being written about by academics.
As she reflects on her life as an elementary school teacher in the UK, Juliet summarizes the introduction of the National Standards during the 1980s and its eventual impact on student and teacher creativity in the classroom. She also speaks on how London’s education system compares to the rest of the UK, how to start reflecting upon the creativity in your own teaching methods, and what she would do to change how others view creativity in the classroom.
“One of the things I think is most illuminating is… that where there is difficulty, where there is challenge, it actually makes people be more creative in order to solve those problems. For me, in those inner-city schools, it was about engagement, it was about overcoming attitudes to being in school… every teacher in every classroom will find something.”
- Juliet Desailly
Juliet’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Really get to know your children. What engages them? What motivates them? What fascinates them? Remember, every child and group of children is slightly different.
Try hard to find contexts where the learning can be as authentic as possible. Search for real life or realistic situations and problems your kids can apply creativity to solve.
Find opportunities for cross-curricular learning wherever you can.
“Science, technology, all occupations, they all need creative people. Our countries all need creative people. The world needs them and yet still we are pushed back into thinking that ‘Oh, well creativity’s lovely but I need to get my test results up first’ or ‘Creativity’s great but we only have time to do it in a week before the holidays’.”
- Juliet Desailly
Resources Mentioned:
Creativity in the Primary Classroom by Juliet Desailly
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.
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 Juliet Desailly:
Now retired, Juliet has worked in education for over 40 years. As a primary school teacher for over twenty of those years she worked to refine and adapt the curriculum to suit the needs of the children she taught in inner-city London.
She went on to become a lecturer at the Institute of Education, educating a new generation of primary teachers. It became obvious to her that the practice she had developed in the classroom was very much in line with the theories of creativity in education now being written about by academics. This allowed her to combine the two in really practical but theoretically based advice on practice in the classroom and in curriculum design. She worked as a consultant in schools on creativity and curriculum design and the importance of social and emotional aspects of learning.
She is the author of Creativity in the Primary Classroom and two children’s novels set in Ancient Egypt, with a companion volume of activities for teachers to use based on the books. She currently runs workshops for schools based on her children’s books and being an author.
Visit Juliet’s website
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Friday Jul 23, 2021
How is machine learning and AI related to creativity? How can we use them to prepare for the future? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Bryan Alexander, an award–winning, internationally recognized futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher.
Tune in to learn what it means to be a futurist, how we can use creativity and automation to anticipate the future, and the limitations of artificial intelligence in being creative. You’ll gain insight into how teachers and administrators can utilize AI to optimize teaching strategies and school management systems.
Bryan also sheds light on a few eye-opening trends, like the decreasing birth rate, that are impacting K-12 and higher education and what this means for our children’s future.
“We now have, within creativity, two options: We have the cyborg option where AI can help us be creative and help us expand our creative output, and we also have computers that simply are creative and produce creative outputs.”
- Bryan Alexander
Bryan’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Play with teaching tools that already use AI. Many are free! For example, you can use Duolingo, the language-teaching app.
Look at the overall field of AI studies to get familiar with the various technologies, but also look at some of the criticisms of these technologies.
Look at AI and automation outside of teaching and learning!
Resources Mentioned:
OECD Trends Shaping Education 2019
Deep Dream
Duolingo
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.
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 Bryan Alexander:
Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher. Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles and interviews appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed, the Washington Post, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, UNational Public Radio (2017, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2016, 2020), the Atlantic Monthly, and Reuters.
He recently published Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (January 2020), which won an Association of Professional Futurists award. He is currently working on Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis (2022). His two other recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).
Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.
Visit Bryan’s website
Follow him on Instagram
Follow him on Twitter
Connect with him on LinkedIn
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
What skills are needed to develop creativity and teach for creativity? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Natalie Nixon, a creativity strategist, former teacher, President of Figure 8 Thinking, award-winning author of The Creativity Leap. Natalie helps leaders of all kinds apply wonder and rigor to amplify business value and growth.
“To explain creativity as ‘toggling between wonder and rigor to solve problems is an example of the way I’m hoping to simplify and make creativity a lot more accessible.”
- Natalie Nixon
Tune in to learn Natalie’s unique definition of creativity and what that would look like in a learning environment. She breaks down her 3i Creativity Model, which increases the capacity for creativity through inquiry, intuition, and improvisation, along with how you can apply this model to your students’ or kids’ education. Natalie also sheds light on the role of the nervous system, and even daydreaming, in nurturing your intuition and creativity.
“In my opinion, a really great teacher is someone who can explain why 1+1=2 in five different ways, just because we all will get it differently, we all will understand it differently.”
- Natalie Nixon
Resources Mentioned:
The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work by Natalie Nixon
A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger
The Book of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger
Article about cognitive flexibility
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.
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 Natalie Nixon:
Meet Natalie Nixon, a creativity strategist and the president of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC. Natalie is a global keynote speaker, author of the award-winning book, The Creativity Leap, and has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, LinkedIn’s Hello Monday podcast, and Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast. Natalie helps leaders apply wonder & rigor to amplify growth & business value.
Learn more about Figure 8 Thinking
Follow Natalie on Instagram
Follow her on Twitter
Connect with her on LinkedIn
Download the WonderRigor™ Tip Sheet
Free sample chapter of The Creativity Leap
Upcoming WonderRigor™ Lab online course
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Why is it important for us to create a safe space in which to learn and create? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Mohammad Issa, Founder and Director of Creativity Lab for Empowerment and Innovation. Creativity Lab is a Palestinian company that helps the next generation of innovators and change-makers use their creativity to respond to social issues and contribute effectively to build a fairer, more caring, and equal society.
“If we are talking about creativity, education, innovation, and entrepreneurship as pillars in order to build good citizens who could contribute effectively to the development of our globe and face the challenges that all of us face, we need to think about a safe space. This is the first rule for creativity.” - Mohammad Issa
Tune in to hear Mohammad speak on the importance of adapting the general theories of creativity to work in his specific environment. In particular, Mohammad talked about the need to establish safe spaces in which to foster learning and creativity. He shares his candid thoughts on how improvement science is being used in education, the challenges he and other educators are facing right now, and how creativity contributes to mental health and psychosocial well-being, especially for Palestinians. Mohammad also shares powerful insights into how he builds creative confidence in both youth and in fellow teachers as well as his hopes for the future.
“For the majority of the Palestinians, creativity is a way to respond to oppression, violence, and marginalization.”
- Mohammad Issa
Resources Mentioned:
Listen to the episode with Vlad Glaveanu
Listen to the episodes with Ron Beghetto
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.
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 Mohammad Issa:
Mohammad Issa has been working as a community development specialist since 1997. He has a Master's Degree in international cooperation and development from Bethlehem University. Mohammad used to work for different local and international organizations. He has trained, coached, and mentored thousands of youth and children. He has represented his country in different international platforms. Over the last four years, Mr. Issa has facilitated virtual and physical workshops as a part of Creativity Lab's program and projects. These projects promote education for social innovation. These projects allow Palestinians to use their creativity to respond to social issues and contribute effectively to building a fairer, more caring, and equal society. Recently, Mr. Issa was appointed as a representative for the MENA Region in the Steering Committee of Action 4 SDGs.
Connect with Creativity Lab on Facebook
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Friday Jun 11, 2021
What is the role of other people, objects and time in creativity? This question is one that sociocultural theory brings to the field of creativity. In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Vlad Glaveanu, a multifaceted associate professor, author, thought leader, and creativity researcher. Vlad is widely published in the field of creativity, imagination, wonder, possibility and social change.
Listen in to learn about Vlad’s work investigating sociocultural theories for creativity and how sociocultural theory is furthering our global thinking around creativity in education. He sheds light on how time, people, and objects are connected to creativity, along with how you can amplify the creative process in your classroom or at home through his three ways to define creativity. Then, he shares his views on possibility and how it relates to creativity and education.
“What sociocultural thinking around creativity does is basically situate the creative person, the creative idea, within a wider context, and more than that, to see that context as an integral part of the creative process.” - Vlad Glaveanu
Vlad’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Being able to take a risk and be vulnerable has enormous potential within the classroom. Be open to exploring an uncertain future. Ask unknown questions.
Playfulness and wonder are elements that will shift a person’s mindset. This allows kids to express themselves.
Highlight multiple perspectives. Try to understand the life experience of other people and bring that into your teaching. Remember, understanding someone’s experience doesn’t mean you agree with it.
Resources Mentioned:
Read Vlad’s article about Educating with Creativity (3 Different Ways to Define Creativity)
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.
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 Vlad Glaveanu:
Vlad Glaveanu is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Psychology and Counselling at Webster University Geneva, founder and Director of the Webster Center for Creativity and Innovation and Associate Professor at the Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology, University of Bergen. He was published widely in the field of creativity, imagination, wonder, possibility and social change. He is the editor of the Creativity Reader, author of Creativity: A Very Short Introduction and The Possible: A Sociocultural Theory (with Oxford University Press), as well as Wonder: The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Experience (with Bloomsbury). He recently founded the Possibility Studies Network and you can learn more about this initiative at possibilitystudies.org. In 2018, Vlad received the Berlyne Award for advancing the field of creativity, aesthetics and the arts from the American Psychological Association (Division 10).
Learn more about Vlad & Connect with him
Subscribe to The Possibility Studies Network YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Webster University Geneva YouTube channel
Friday May 28, 2021
Friday May 28, 2021
How is teaching art different than teaching creativity? How do you teach creativity in the context of art? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Tamara Doleman, head of the Visual Art department at Ashbury College in Canada. Tamara has a Master’s degree in creativity and has coached individuals, run workshops, written articles, and presented a TEDX talk on the topic of creativity in schools. She’s passionate about exploring the intersection between art, creativity, wellbeing, and the growth and healing potential it can provide our communities and schools.
Listen in to learn about Tamara’s deliberate approach to teaching creativity in the art classroom and the difference between teaching art and teaching creativity. She details the many benefits of teaching for creativity in schools, especially now during the pandemic, along with how to facilitate a long-term program for creativity in your classroom.
“Creativity is the celebration of pluralism and diversity. I think that our world, in essence, really needs to come to terms with the fact that all of us are different and we all have something to contribute to the world. And so, when we’re teaching for creativity, we’re really teaching an individual how to be comfortable with who they are and start to think about what they want to bring into the world… to make it a better, more enjoyable, beautiful place”
- Tamara Doleman
Tamara’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Read up on creativity, but also read up on what skills and characteristics different artists have. Were they risk-takers, detail-oriented, etc?
Don’t focus on and criticize the outcome of a creative experience. Focus on the creative process and how each student differs from one another.
Acknowledging how you talk to yourself during your creative process is an opportunity for learning in a creative space. Encourage your kids to work through frustration, getting stuck, and their inner critic.
Engagement and connection will increase once you focus on creativity in the classroom.
Set up expectations and awareness around behaviors and how our actions impact others.
Foster a space where kids feel comfortable being playful and coming up with crazy ideas.
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.
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 Tamara Doleman:
Tamara Doleman has been teaching for over 20 years. Her experience includes teaching a variety of subjects in elementary and secondary, in single sex and co-educational schools, both public and private. She is head of the Visual Arts department at Ashbury College in Ottawa, Canada. Tamara has a Master’s degree in Creativity from SUNY Buffalo State. She has coached individuals, run workshops, written articles, and presented a TEDX talk on the topic of creativity in schools. She is passionate about exploring the intersection between art, creativity, wellbeing, and the growth and healing potential it can provide our communities and schools. Her future goals involve getting training in expressive arts therapies.
Visit Tamara’s website
Connect with her on LinkedIn
Follow her on Twitter
Follow her on Instagram
Friday May 14, 2021
Friday May 14, 2021
Why is risk-taking and uncertainty important parts of education? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Dr. Ron Beghetto, a renowned expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. Ron is also the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.
Listen in to gain insight into Ron’s upcoming books and to learn about the impact of risk-taking and uncertainty in learning environments. Ron speaks on why it’s important to expose students to uncertainty, the power of recognizing the beliefs and emotions behind uncertainty, and how to design learning experiences for students that engage them with uncertainty and creative risk.
“When do we need to be creative? We need to be creative when what we’ve done in the past isn’t working anymore… When we have this encounter with uncertainty, when we’re like ‘I don’t know what to do next’, it’s in those moments that we actually have to think and act in new ways to resolve the challenge or problem we’re facing. That’s where uncertainty serves as a catalyst.” - Dr. Ron Beghetto
Ron’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
The only way someone can develop their creative confidence is by working through uncertainty, or something you don’t know how to do.
Let your students identify and explore problems or challenges that mean something to them.
Be willing to take risks and invite students to take risks, too. Model that as a teacher. It might not work, but you’re going to learn from it!
Resources Mentioned:
Listen to Part 1 with Ron Beghetto
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.
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. Ron Beghetto:
Dr. Ronald A. Beghetto, PhD is an internationally recognized expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. He holds the Pinnacle West Presidential Chair and serves as a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.
Dr. Beghetto is the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.
Visit Ron’s website
Buy his books
Friday May 14, 2021
Friday May 14, 2021
How do you teach kids to be creative and behave appropriately within the constraints of the classroom? In this episode of Fueling Creativity, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Dr. Ron Beghetto, a renowned expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. Ron is also the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.
Tune in to learn about Ron’s definition of creativity inside the context of a teaching and learning environment, along with how to teach children how to identify when creativity is most appropriate. He also sheds light on when and why we should be rethinking rules and structures in the education system.
“Most educators are already half way to creativity, they just have to open up the curriculum and the experience for themselves and for their students to do things differently… The really beautiful thing about that is it helps us realize that creativity requires difference.”
- Dr. Ron Beghetto
Resources Mentioned:
Listen to Part 2 with Ron Beghetto
Read the article Ron wrote with James Kaufman
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.
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. Ron Beghetto:
Dr. Ronald A. Beghetto, PhD is an internationally recognized expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. He holds the Pinnacle West Presidential Chair and serves as a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.
Dr. Beghetto is the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.
Visit Ron’s website
Buy his books