Robinson (2011) noted that “When people say to me that they are not creative, I assume that they haven’t yet learnt what is involved” (p. 1). Do you find it interesting to consider that creativity can be learned? Or conversely, that it can be unlearned? In this discussion, you will apply your knowledge of creativity and the strategies needed to encourage it by reflecting on a personal experience in which your creativity was either stifled or enhanced. Please review this week’s Instructor Guidance for specific assistance on excelling in this discussion. 

Initial Post: The Instructor Guidance for this week describes some of the things you should pay attention to as you read through sections of an important report that documents the efforts of the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE), a committee in Britain that created a recommended plan for restructuring the education system to support creativity and cultural education in response to the need for addressing 21st-century skills in school. Read the NACCCE report, All our futures: Creativity, culture and education, focusing specifically on the Creative and Cultural Education (pp. 54-60) and Teaching and Learning (pp. 100-123) section. You might also want to read some of the material presented at the beginning to give you a better understanding of the overall project and the purpose of the report.

As you read through this work, describe some of the specific strategies NACCCE recommends for facilitating creativity skills. Make a list of these strategies for future reference. Once you have a clear picture of the types of educational strategies Robinson believes supports creativity, view the When there is a Correct Answer video This is a short two-minute summary of Dr. Segev’s research on creative drawing with children. 

Based on the results of Dr. Segev’s research, describe a situation during your life in which your creativity was either inhibited due to an understanding that whatever you were creating needed to be completed a “correct” way, or encouraged because you were not given such stringent design parameters. Write about this incident in a narrative, storytelling way. Also include in your story a reflection on the NACCCE strategies you listed. Consider how these were either supported or not supported within the scenario you described of the decisions the teacher (or teachers) made regarding the experience. Once you complete your story, post it in the discussion forum. Feel free to be creative with this story. For example, you may want to try Storybird, which is a digital storytelling platform (free accounts are available to students and teachers). If you use a web-based technology to create your story, be sure to post a link to it in your post.