Theories

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Howard Gardner:

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Multiple Intelligences Theory

Creativity consists of a constellation of nine different intelligences.Implications: Every young child possesses at least nine distinctive ways of knowing that must be considered andvalued when planning any curriculum that claims to meet individual needs.

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Robert J. Sternberg:

Triarchic Theory of Creativity

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Triarchic Theory of Creativity

Creativity is a cluster of three types of abilities: synthesizing, analyzing, and practicing.Implications: Children need to have role models of creativity, raise questions, have time to use trial-and-error, takesensible risks, define and pursue their own problems, puzzle over ideas, overcome obstacles, earn support for theirideas, and be evaluated in ways that respect creativity

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Optimal Experience or “Flow” Theory

• Mihalyi Csikzentmihalyi:

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Creative individuals acquire competence in a domain of interest and pursue that interest with passion and enjoyment. Implications: Throughout the world, young children will play spontaneously and persist at their play even though no one is directing it or reinforcing them. In studies of eminently creative adults, one consistent finding is that the lines between play and work are blurred and they tend to approach their work playfully.

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Theory: Humanistic

• Carl Rogers:

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The creative person is fully functioning. Implications: If the young child’s natural curiosity, passion for learning, and active imagination are deadened by adults, the child becomes less rather than more capable from a creative standpoint.

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Abraham Maslow:

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The creative person is self-actualized. Implications: When schedules are rigid and tasks are predetermined, children do not have an opportunity to make choices or solve interesting problems. Over time, they learn to depend on others for ideas rather than trusting their own ideas.

hen schedules are rigid and task are predetermined, children do not have an opportunity to make choices or solve interesting problems.

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• Rollo May:

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Being creative is courageous. Implications: Young children’s ideas often seem outrageous or silly to adults who seek large amounts of predictability and control. Yet children need permission to pursue their unorthodox ideas so that they can “dare to be different” throughout life.

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Theory: Psychoanalytic• Alfred Adler:

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Creativity is a way of compensating for perceived physical or psychological inferiority. Implications: Different outlets for creative expression give people ways of forming a more positive self image.

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Theory: Psychoanalytic

• Carl Jung:

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Creative ideas emanate from a deeper source, from the “collective unconscious.” Implications: It is essential that children become familiar with the creative processes and products of other times, cultures, ethnic groups, and races so that they can make personal connections with the sum of human creativity.

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Theory: Constructivist•

Jean Piaget:

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Creativity is a type of problem solving that depends on the child’s thinking processes. Implications: Developing the young child’s problem-solving processes gives children the time and opportunity to explore materials and use hands-on approaches in pursuing interesting challenges.

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Characteristics of Children’s Creative Thought Processes

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• Playful, persistent, and intrinsically motivated• Become intensely absorbed in activities, persist at work or play, and concentrate on asingle task for a relatively long period of time• Explore, experiment, manipulate, play, ask questions, make guesses, and discuss findings• Use imaginative role play, language play, storytelling, and artwork to solve problems andmake sense of their world• Perceptive and curious• Are curious and ask many questions• Are capable of tolerating ambiguity as they explore alternatives• Are curious and ask strongly intuitive and perceptive• Enjoy thinking and working independently• Resourceful, nonconforming, and adventuresome• Tend to challenge assumptions or authorities based on well-reasoned differences of opinion• Formulate hypotheses and conduct trials to test their ideas• Try to bring order out of chaos by organizing their environment• Do something new with the old and familiar and display interest in new ideas• Use repetition as an opportunity to learn more from an experience rather than becomingbored with it

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graphic organizer

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A visual representation of thinking that organizes ideas, such as a web, map, diagram, and so on

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What is the creativity complex developmental system that is shaped by at leastseven influences:

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(1) cognitive processes; (2) social and emotional processes;(3) family aspects, both while growing up and current; (4) education and preparation,both informal and formal; (5) characteristics of the domain and field;(6) sociocultural contextual aspects; and (7) historical forces, events, and trends

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child-centered

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Describes activities and programs that base decisions and policies on the needs of the children and place concerns about the learners first.

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John Dewey, Patty Smith Hill, andSusan Isaacs all strongly promoted play in the classroom

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While children build on what they know in their play, their playcontinually changes by their experiences. For Dewey, play becomes a recurringcycle of learning that is essential to what children know and can do.

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Patty Smith Hill (1923),

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strongly influenced by Dewey’s ideas, also recognized the importance of play for children’s learning. She designed child-centered activities and curriculum based on children’s development and needs and used large classroom spaces to enhance children’s learning through play. In her work-play period, kindergarten children freely explored the objects and materials in their environment, initiated and carried out their own ideas, and engaged in cooperative learning groups with their peers.

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Patty Smith Hill (1923), strongly influenced by Dewey’s ideas, also recognizedthe importance of play for children’s learning.

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She designed child-centeredactivities and curriculum based on children’s development and needsand used large classroom spaces to enhance children’s learning through play.

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child-centered

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Describes activities and programs that base decisions and policies on the needs of the children and place concerns about the learners first.

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active learning

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Concrete experiences that are “hands-on,” challenging, and relevant to the learner.

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Patty Smith Hill (1923),

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strongly influenced by Dewey’s ideas, also recognized the importance of play for children’s learning. She designed child-centered activities and curriculum based on children’s development and needs and used large classroom spaces to enhance children’s learning through play.

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cognitive

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Having to do with knowledge, understanding, and intellectual growth

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neuroscience

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The scientific study of how the brain functions.

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inquiry learning

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The process of asking and answering questions, as taught in the schools of Reggio Emilia.

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whole child.

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The belief that all the domains of children’s development—physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and creative—are fundamental to children’s well-being

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Surplus-energy theory

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suggests that humans have some energy to be used for survival. Energy not used for survival is spent on play and becomes surplus energy. When children have limited opportunities to move around, they seem to have bursts of energy that relieve stress and tension so they can settle down again. Teachers’ views about “getting rid of excess energy on the playground” or “getting the wiggles out” support this theoretical perspective.

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Recreation/relaxation theory,

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in contrast to surplus-energy theory, suggests that play restores energy used in work. The influence of this theory is evident in early childhood classrooms where children alternate between quiet and active activities and in elementary classrooms where children have daily opportunities for recess and physical activity to provide balance in their daily lives.

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Practice theory,

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also called instinct theory, proposes that play prepares children for the future roles and responsibilities needed to survive in their culture. When young children pretend to be a mother, father, or teacher and invent ways to use available materials to represent adult tools and then create play episodes, they are practicing the behaviors and characteristics of significant adults in their lives. When elementary children play board games, they practice such essential life skills as strategic thinking, reasoning, and self-regulation

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Recapitulation theory

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also focuses on instincts. In contrast to practice theory, it posits that play allows children to revisit developmental stages observed in their ancestors and shed any negative behaviors. Play is seen as developing in stages and is a vehicle for learning to live in today’s world. Popular games of chase and pursuit can be categorized within recapitulation theory for all ages.

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Psychoanalytic theory views play as important for emotional release(Freud, 1958)

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and for developing self-esteem as children gain mastery of their thoughts, bodies, objects, and social behaviors (Erikson, 1963). Play helps children enact feelings, without pressure, by being able to relive experiences and master them in reality. Moreover, it provides adults with clues to children’s individual needs. After the birth of a new baby, it is not uncommon to hear a preschool brother or sister at play saying to a doll, “I’m taking you back to the hospital.” Expressing resentment through play enables children to gain control of it in real situations.

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Cognitive-developmental theory examines play as a mirror of children’sdeveloping mental abilities (Bruner, 1966; Piaget, 1962; Sutton-Smith, 1986).

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Piaget proposes that children create their own knowledge about the world through their interactions with people and materials. They use known information to consolidate new information and skills, to test new ideas against their experiences, and to construct new knowledge about people, objects, and situations.

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Bruner (1966) and Sutton-Smith (1986)

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interpret play as flexible thinking and creative problem solving in action. By focusing on the process of play, children engage in multiple combinations of ideas and solutions that they use to solve relevant life problems.

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Sociocultural theory emphasizes the centrality of the social and culturalcontexts in development (Vygotsky, 1967, 1978). Vygotsky (1978) believed thatplay is a “leading factor in development”

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A view that learningoccurs in a social contextand is fundamentallysocial in nature.The major vehicle forlearning is interactionwith an emulation ofrole models.

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invented games

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Variations of common board games that children create such as bingo or Clue that often contain the content they are studying

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developmentallyappropriate practice

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Term that describes what excellent early childhood teachers do in the classroom to ensure that all children have the best opportunity to learn through activities and experiences that they can complete successfully.