An Approach to Developing Creativity in the Field of Craft, Design and Technology Through Small Groups

Attempting to identify the separate components of the creative process creates an artifical atmosphere not immediately recognised by the classroom teacher in the workshop, as being of relevance to their job. And yet these components are essentially what is required. The ";sensitivity to all areas of experience"; and ";the quality of being critical of ones products"; are what is being demanded by teachers of C.D.T. (Whether or not they are recognised when achieved is another matter). What is obviously of value and coincidently what can be relatively easily recognised, is that of fluidity. The quality of ideas generated create an atmosphere which enables the qualitive aspects of the work to be enhanced. In other words if you have more ideas to choose from there is a greater relevance to the problem in hand. If we can therefore take these and similar ideas from within the realms of psychological tests into the workshop and classroom and attempt to identify those traits which occur as part of the everyday work of our pupils we may help to promote a fuller understanding of the development of creativity in the practical situation of the school. 1 am convinced that other aspects of creativity, such as originality, flexibility and elaboration could all be identified in the normal conversation of our pupils directed towards specific tasks. This research is therefore based primarily on the analysis of audio tapes recorded during a period of problem solving based in the workshop during a C.D.T. lesson. Following on from earlier work I decided to try a change in methodology and substitute some small group work instead of the chalk and talk methods employed previously. In my earlier work I analysed a lesson which was in two parts. In the first part I was aiming at the introduction of a project by talking to the group as a whole. In the second part of the lesson the pupils were working at a drawing board and I was discussing their work with them in a one to one relationship