Second Graders’ Recycled/Craft Item Products Demonstrate Life Cycle Content Knowledge and Creativity Skills

Creativity is a necessary skill for students to become problem solvers in the rapidly changing 21st century. This study’s main activity allowed students to demonstrate their content knowledge in an engaging way while also exhibiting creative strengths. Twenty-two second grade students (15 female, 7 male) of mixed ability levels at a Title 1 school produced projects using identical sets of recycled and craft items. They incorporated vocabulary words and images associated with the life cycles of four organisms: horse, dragonfly, sea turtle, and bean plant. Projects were analyzed for creative strengths as well as science concept integration. Student-made products showed vocabulary from all four life cycles, but familiar organisms (dragonfly and bean plant) were depicted more frequently. Creative strengths evidenced in student work included: elaboration, breaking boundaries, storytelling articulateness, originality, and emotional expressiveness, among others. The authors recommend teachers incorporate similar creative tasks as assessments of content learning. Additional studies integrating more creative product assessments for a longer duration to show growth over time are suggested