Creating a Creativity Class in the Elementary School: Research and Development

This project researches the need for a creativity class in the elementary school. Through literary research on current best practices in 21st century education it becomes apparent that schools must alter what they do in preparing students for the future. Changes must be made to foster and value creative expression and creative problem solving. The goal of this project is to investigate how implicit and explicit creativity training and Creative Problem Solving (CPS) work with fourth and second grade children in a private school. The project outlines the steps taken to spread awareness about the importance of offering a creativity class through word of mouth and a written proposal. The actual class that will be offered has not been tested and is not included in what follows, however the process of getting the class approved, which includes validation from the experiences with the students, are explained. The completed work concludes with permission granted to offer the class in the 2012-2013 school year