Creativity What is creativity?

The Thesaurus definition of creativity is: Originality, imagination, inspiration, ingenuity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, creativeness, vision and innovation. Task: Taking each of these words in turn, apply them to the pieces of coursework you have created at AS and A2. Create a mind map for each of your C/W pieces, justifying how you have demonstrated any of them. How creative do you think you've been? What has prevented you from being more creative? Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what you could make? Were you pinned down too much by the task, or did it free you up to be creative within the boundaries of the task? Ideas and theories to help you "A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones 1993) "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997) "Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation." (Csikszentmihalyi 1996) "There is no absolute judgement [on creativity] All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another." (Donald Larning)

Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production

A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity. Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts, The creation of bringing something new into existence this particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation . (David Gauntlett)

If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham, 2006). Task: y Explain in your own words what you think each quote means. Comment on whether you agree/disagree with it. y Choose 2 quotes you agree with and apply them to any of your own pieces of coursework. y Choose 2 quotes you disagree with and explain why, using your own coursework to support your views. Rube Goldberg

Task: Read the background information on Rube Goldberg. Watch Ok Go s music video This too shall pass (the Rube Goldberg version).

y How do Rube Goldberg s ideas fit in with what you have learnt about creativity? To what extent are they demonstrating creativity? y Which theories could be applied to Goldberg s ideas? Explain why. y Which theories conflict with his ideas? Explain why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w http://mousetrapcontraptions.com/tips-9.html