Investigating creativity : understanding the perspectives of teachers and students

Includes bibliographical references (pages [140]-147).Educators face new challenges today. Swiftly advancing technology, globalization, and the individual's ready access to boundless amounts of information are changing the old way of doing things. Creativity can help prepare students for a life with these new challenges. Apparel design teachers and students were participants in this qualitative investigation into creativity. Interview and focus group techniques yielded data on teachers' and students' attitudes, perceptions, awareness, and fundamental knowledge of creativity. Data revealed that teachers and students had different perspectives concerning creativity. Teachers defined creativity in cognitive terms, most often as problem-solving. Students defined creativity in affective terms and they were emotionally attached to their products. Most participants had one-dimensional views of creativity and they were generally not aware of the complexities of the researched creativity construct. The teachers agree that creativity can be taught in the classroom, but many students contend that teaching creativity will cause a loss of their personal voice in favor of standardized formats and institutionalized concepts of creativity. The data allow for an understanding of a particular group of teachers' and students' perspectives on creativity. Findings highlight the complexities inherent in the construct and possibilities for misunderstandings in the classroom.Ed.D. (Doctor of Education